I could have died…or cried…or sighed. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do more. He looked down at me, all the way to my toes, and slowly back up. "You look so good." He pressed his face into my hair again. He groaned his words, "I could eat you up."
My heart skidded and he leaned back to smirk slightly. I barely had caught my breath when he brought one hand up to lay against my heart. "Caleb," I sighed, "you can't do that kind of stuff in here."
"And why not?"
"Because I need to be ladylike and proper and you're making me want to drag you to my room."
He leaned his head against mine and groaned. "Did you go to a school that tells you exactly what to say to drive a guy insane?"
"Maybe," I said playfully, thinking that I needed to mingle with the others more before the night was over, though I could have stayed right there.
He leaned down and kissed my cheek. He hovered and then dragged my lips to his in a slow and agonizing assault that left me sighing and clinging to his tux front. "One for the road," he said when he finally let me go. "Now go mingle."
He smirked at my inability to say anything. I lifted my hand to my hair, my star bracelet jingling in my ear. Then I looked for my next victim. Bish was standing there watching Jen, who had been grabbed by Jonathan to get some punch with him. They weren't allowed to dance together. Only imprinted significants could dance…and me. So I chose Bish, though technically he probably couldn't be considered as mingling.
"Hey, you," I said. He turned to me and tried to smile. "Come on," I beckoned with an open hand.
He went willingly but we were stopped by Maria. She gripped Bish's hand and looked up at him. "Can it be my turn now?"
"You betcha," he said and looked at me. "Sorry."
I shook my head. "Don’t be." I smiled as I watched them. She had her hands on his arms and watched their feet. Everyone watched them with smiles. Jen watched, too, and gulped as she did so. Jonathan was holding in an eye roll. He thought Bish was trying to use Maria against Jen as a cheap shot. Little did he know.
Walker took that opportunity to snag me again. He took my arm and began walking toward the door with me. "I would like to discuss some things with you, if you'd like to go somewhere more private."
"Alone with you? Hmm."
"I'll make it worth your while," he promised, but made it sound like an innuendo.
I thought about it. This was it, whatever he had planned was about to be executed. I flicked my gaze around the room casually to see that Marla, Marcus nor Donald was present any longer. Caleb could follow us without the guy knowing. I had to do something. "Ok, let's go."
Caleb, follow us. He said he has something to tell me.
I know. I've been listening. I'm behind you. Be careful.
"Follow me this way," Walker said and held his arm out for me. I took it and let him lead me down the hall. Once we reached the end he opened the door to the stairwell leading to the roof. I faltered for a second, but then went on. As soon as I turned, I felt him wrap his arms around me from behind and press a cloth to my mouth. I screamed, but that was the wrong thing to do. When I inhaled to scream, the poison went right into me…and I went right to sleep.
~~~
I woke with a start with my heart going nuts in my chest. I remembered everything perfectly. I had been drugged and was now tied to one of the greenhouse posts to sit upright. I looked at the rope and yanked against it, but when I did I got a shock. I gasped which prompted someone's laughter. I looked up to see the man who'd taken me.
"You like those charmed ropes?" he said and grinned.
I wondered where Caleb was. He was following me…but then I screamed as my eyes found him. That's why my heart was beating so fast. It had been alerting me that he was in danger.
They must have been waiting for us to leave, and for Caleb to follow us. Dang it, of course they know he's never let me go by myself. And they had beaten him to a bloody pulp.
He was awake, and watching me from the corner of his eye. One of his eyes was swollen shut and the other was barely a slit to see from.I'm fine.
You're not fine!
They jumped me. You're right, they knew I'd follow you. And that's not all.
He jerked his head to the other side of the greenhouse and there was Kyle and Lynne. They were both tied up opposite each other and both still knocked out with whatever they had given me. How long had we'd been gone already?
A long time. At least an hour. I've been…awake.
That caused the sob in my throat to release. He shook his head for me to stop, but I couldn't. Before I could say anything else, a shadow crossed over me and I looked up, blinking against the harsh lamps above, to see Donald.
"Visionary, what a predicament you've gotten yourself into."
"Don't speak to her," Caleb growled at him, my ever ready hero.
"Caleb, you're in no position to command things of me, boy!" He laughed. "The Jacobson prince, now the Jacobson Champion." He shook his head and put his hands on his hips. "Really, times have changed for us to lower our standards so drastically."
"What do Kyle and Lynne have to do with this?" I asked to keep him from continuing his rant.
"Nothing. I just hate it that they imprinted. And I needed some leverage."
"Leverage for what?"
"Leverage for you to agree to come live in the palace and let me control you." He smiled. "You see, these people actually think you have something to offer them and they would blindly follow you if only you'd grow a little backbone to scare them into it. But instead, I want you to come here and keep your mouth shut. Nothing needs to change, nothing needs to be fixed. I am my family's new Champion and Haddock is the councilor. We still reign control over everyone as we always have. With you locked away, they'll think we're following your lead. Think about it," he leaned down to be eye level with me, "you'll be pampered and taken care of. You never have to lift a finger here. You'll be spoiled beyond your wildest dreams."
"I have a significant to spoil me," I argued.
"I knew you'd say that."
"Plus, I saw where you kept the last Visionary. She wasn't being very well taken care of, now was she?"
"I didn't know you were going to say that," he said dryly. "Sneaking around the palace? Marcus wasn't doing a very good job at watching you, was he?""
"You've been pulling all the strings this whole time. Marla, Marcus…"
"Of course I have. And you can add Sikes to that list as well. He thought no one would find out about his little experiment with his wife, but I knew. I told him to get going on another experiment; you. He refused so I used Marla and Marcus for a little persuasion. He didn't know that they were helping me and they didn't know that I had him either. It was pretty enjoyable to watch."
"This whole time…" No, I stopped that thought. I would not feel sorry for Marcus or Marla. "You can take your little deal and shove it right up-"
"I knew you wouldn't just accept my offer so easily, so I brought Lynne and Kyle to sway your vote." He walked over to them and patted Kyle's face until he woke. He immediately called Lynne's name in his groggy disorientation, but when he saw Donald over Lynne, he jolted from anger, then he jolted from the shock he received from the ropes. He breathed out in anger and confusion, but when he turned and saw us he got this look of hopelessness. He winced at Caleb and turned back to Lynne.
Donald had Lynne's face in his hands and she was definitely awake now. I bit my lip at her scared thoughts. But when Donald pulled a box cutter blade from the tabletop next to him, I no longer stayed silent and still. I used my mind to knock the blade from his hand…but I received another shock from the ropes when I did it and it seemed to drain me.
He laughed as he picked up the blade. I tried again and again, using my power to push him away from Lynne, but every time I tried, my ability seemed to weaken.
Finally, I was spent, used up, and all I could do was watch in horror as Donald put the blade to Lynne's cheek. Kyle was yelling and cursing at him, but Caleb pulled the little bit of power I had and used it to force Donald's hand down. His gloved hand shook as he fought it, but Caleb managed to get one of the lines of the rope cut before he finally slumped against his ropes as well and groaned in defeat.
Donald was done smiling. He looked at Kyle who was giving him the look of death. "Now, you can watch your human significant bleed and scream while you can do nothing. But don't worry; I won't kill her, or you. No, I'm going to leave you here long enough so that you can't heal her face. And then I want you to live forever looking at that scar and remembering how you sat there and watched it happen."
Then he sliced Lynne's cheek in one swipe. She tried not to scream, but she failed, and Kyle's rage filled roars were even louder.
I yanked against my ropes, the painful consequences be darned. Kyle was doing the same, although cursing loudly in his thoughts from the pain. Donald saw Kyle and pursed his lips in annoyance before having my date, Walker, come. He punched Kyle so hard that his head snapped to the side and he fell over as much as he could with being tied up.
He and Donald starting talking in hushed voices. I glanced at Caleb to see he was barely hanging on and my heart ached for him. I pushed down the ache to focus on getting us out of this. I felt my hands being maneuvered and a 'Shh' in my ear. Rodney.