Oh my God.
I had been right.
“Ransom?” My voice was weak.
Hewashere.
Had he been here since term started?
Ransom hadn’t moved. His chest was heaving as he stood beside his bed, eyes fixed on me like I was prey.
But I wasn’t afraid of him. It was a soul deep truth that he needed me just like they had.
His scent was odd… Not like Umbra and Dusk’s had been, yet somethingwaswrong about it.
I took another step into the room, tentatively, trying to make him out. He hadn’t responded to the sound of me entering and the room dimmed as the door finally swung shut behind me.
At the sound of the latch clicking, Ransom reacted. His aura split the air, and then he made for me and?—
Fuck.
Those were chains around his wrists. Dark iron chains.
I stumbled back as he crossed the distance between us, too afraid to even turn. The violent clinking of metal drowned the sound of Dusk’s keys hitting the floor.
My back slammed against the wall, hand fumbling desperately for the door handle that I couldn’t find. I flinched, breath catching, but with an almighty clang of metal, Ransom came to a jarring stop, his face was inches from mine. His wrists were suspended by chains in the air on either side of him.
A growl ripped from his throat and he threw his weight against his bindings. I flattened myself against the wall further.
I was shaking.
What the hell was going on?
The iron around his wristshadto be made of the metal that could contain an alpha's strength—otherwise, he’d be free by now. But it was rare and expensive.
Low rumbles rolled up his chest with each deep exhale, and his eyes, a shade of deep, forest green, were wild.
A thousand fears crowded my mind. Memories of Tom when he’d caught my scent. The way the light had died from his eyes. The fury in them as he’d leaped at me.
It was happening again.
I glanced to the side, and realised the door was to my right.
I jumped violently once more as Ransom fought his chains to get to me, but his wrists wouldn’t budge, and this time a low, strangled whine tore from his chest. He looked as if every breath was killing him. I examined that, trying to calm my breathing.
I took him in, truly, for the first time. Messy dark red waves of hair reached his shoulders, and his olive skin was clear and smooth over the angles of his lean face. He had a strong jaw and a straight nose, and his expression was twisted into a snarl.
Not angry or hateful at all.
Painwasn’t what I expected…
That wasn’t what Tom had been like. He hadn’t been in pain. He’d been wild with fury and disgust, as if my mere existence was a threat.
But Ransom waschainedin here—Dusk must have done that.
Oh.
“You’re…” My whisper was rough as I realised what I was looking at.