Page 42 of Vayn

Rejection! Was that what he wanted to discuss with me, or was I overthinking again? No, I wasn’t overthinking. My mate, the one the Fates gifted to me and gifted me to, was planning to reject me. The guilt was there in his glowing gaze. I wanted to claw at his handsome face but resisted the urge.

Releasing his hands, I moved away from him, needing to leave this place, needing to hide in shame. I didn’t get far. I didn’t make it past his knees. His shadows blocked my path. I muttered a curse when a rebellious tear dripped down my cheek.

How dare it? I didn’t want them to know how badly they were hurting me. I wanted to appear strong even in the face of rejection. Yet, my tears hadn’t gotten that memo. Fuck it. The only thing I could do now was reject them before they rejected me.

“Destiny,” he started again, lowering his hands to his sides.

“You don’t have to say it. I get it,” I said quietly, my voice shaking as the truth of what I knew sunk in deeper. “My fangs came out because of you. I know what that means. And I know you hate humans.”

He didn't even have to tell me why he didn’t want me. I knew he hated humans, and he would never claim me as his mate because I was half-human. Realizing that he’d never be able to see past my humanity hurt more than anything else ever could.

I couldn’t stop my voice from quaking, so I pushed through. I needed to get these last words out, then I’d leave. He wouldn’t have to spend another second in the presence of this half-human.

“You don’t have to worry about claiming me. I re...” I couldn’t even get the word reject out. It hurt to think about it. It was impossible to speak it. More tears spilled down my cheeks.

“Destiny, we have to disc...” Vayn started.

I shook my head. I wasn’t ready to discuss this rejection. I needed to get away. I needed to do it now. I wanted to be anywhere but there. Anywhere but at home, where Beastie, a reminder of Vayn, was awaiting me. Tia. I’d go to Tia. I tried to climb off of the bed. Charm reached for me.

I jerked away from him. They weren’t going to let me leave until their Fallen completed the rejection. I snatched the vial of sleeping potion from the bed before they could stop me and drank a sip. The bottle fell out of my hand as my eyes drifted shut. I could hear Vayn calling my name.

But I couldn’t open my eyes. I thought of Tia as sleep claimed me. I awakened in a white room. This wasn’t Tia’s dorm room. I had to be in some type of medical facility. Three patients were lying on beds with IVs and tubes hooked to them. Beeps sounded from the machines attached to them.

Though the patients were asleep or unconscious, they wore grimaces on their faces, indicating their level of pain. Where the hell was I? Panic flared in me as I tried to will myself back to sleep. Nothing happened.

“I thought you’d never show up,” a familiar voice said from behind me.

I spun around to face my bestie, Tia. Seeing her made my heart cease racing a bit.

“Tia, what is this place?” I asked, moving a step closer to her. “Do you work here?”

She nodded. “I do.”

“I didn’t know you had a part-time job. What is this place?”

The smile that stretched across her face was unfamiliar. It was sinister, so unlike the Tia I knew and loved.

“Tia?” I whispered, pausing midstep, not wanting to move closer to her.

She chuckled. “You’ve finally caught on, huh? It’s about time. The Tia you knew died a year ago. But I did a good job at convincing you that I was her. Didn’t I, bestie?”

“What are you talking about? Tia, don’t play because this isn’t funny.”

Tia yawned as if bored. “It’s been a drag pretending to be the weak bitch who was your friend. Now that you know I’m not her, I no longer have to pretend. Your Tia died when she was kidnapped by me. I brought her here. Like those behind you, she was hooked up to our machines and studied. Once we learned all we could about her pyro abilities, we killed her, which is what we’ll do to you after we find out how your traveling works. Then I’ll go in and replace you to find another student with abilities we can channel.”

My mind was hearing what she was saying, but it was slow to comprehend. Tia, my best friend, was dead? Impossible.

Fake Tia clapped her hands excitedly. “You can’t imagine how surprised I was when I learned you were a dream traveler. To hide it, I toned down my reaction. Inside, I was jumping for joy. We’ve never had one of your kind. My brother is going to be happy to hear that I’ve finally gotten you here. There is so much we can do with your ability. I plan to keep you alive for a very long time. Our students here at Golden Blade Academy will enjoy studying you.”

Golden Blade Academy. The academy for hunters that we learned about as freshmen.

“Your school is behind the disappearances?” I asked, wishing I had that vial of sleeping potion with me right now. This was above my skill set. I needed to get out of here. If only I hadn’t allowed my emotions to rule me. Lesson learned. But was it learned too late?

“You’re right. Our academy is behind the disappearances. How else do you expect us to find subjects for our students to study? Book knowledge is useless if you don’t add hands-on experience to it. Right, bestie?”

Bestie my ass! I never should’ve dream walked out of Vayn’s place. This was what jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire looked like. I was fucked. And though I was subtly trying to escape, my teleportation skills sucked when I was awake. Fuck my life! I didn’t even have time to mourn for my friend who’d died, and I hadn’t fucking known. What kind of shitty friend was I?

“So...” I said, hoping to keep fake Tia talking until Vayn found me. Not that there was a way for him to find me. I just hoped he did. “There was never a new boyfriend, huh?”