I physically shook with rage and I roared, “Inessa! GET ME TO INESSA!”
The males that had commenced walking to their cells suddenly turned to stare at me. I noticed them from the corner of my eye, then looked at the guard. “Inessa! INESSA!”
I saw the males muttering to one another. When I screamed for Inessa again, 194 suddenly ran to my cell door and stared me down. “Who are you calling for, hui?”
My muscles tensed and my neck ached in his presence. He had called me a dick in Russian.
“Get out of my way,” I warned.
He laughed coldly but lost that laugh when I screamed, “Inessa!”
At the call of Inessa’s name, he slammed his hands against the cell, rocking the loosening metal. “I said why are you calling for her?”
I gritted my teeth, then noticed that the new guard wasn’t doing anything to stop this piece of shit. He was watching the hallway like he was making sure no one was approaching.
194 slammed his hands against the cell door again. “Answer me, fucker! Or I’ll tear your arms from their sockets right here, right now!”
Rage took hold. I was about to strike out when the blond Russian called, “Valentin, calm the hell down!”
My fist, which had been raised, ready to strike this asshole through the bars, stilled. My eyes collided with his … blue eyes … blue eyes the exact color of …
“Inessa,” I whispered, and my heart began pounding too hard and too fast. 194 flinched like I had gone through with the threatened punch. Instead, I lowered my hand and dropped it to my side.
My eyes found the guard again. He was still not reacting. I watched as the trainer walked over to him and whispered something in his ear. The guard nodded. Heat rushed through my veins when the guard smiled back.
He was with them? A Wraith was under their command?
“Why did you say her name? That name?” I stared at 194’s heavily scarred face and shorn black hair as he hissed out his harsh question.
“Valentin?” I questioned, but the male didn’t react.
I met the blond Russian’s eyes. “His name is Valentin?”
He folded his muscled arms over his chest. “Why? Why do you want to know?”
It was … it couldn’t be …
Valentin pushed his broad chest against the bars and hissed, “Tell me why you said her name? Don’t, and I’ll kill you.” He pointed to the guard. “He’s with us and won’t stop me from slaughtering you slowly, painfully, until you’ve been stripped of your flesh.”
The blond pressed his hand on Valentin’s shoulder and then looked at me. “Answer him. He’ll do what he promises. And I won’t stop him if you don’t speak.”
I walked back to the bars. The long-haired Georgian moved closer, extra protection for the two males already confronting me.
I met Valentin’s eyes and asked, “You are Valentin Belrov?”
His eyes widened a fraction before he asked, “Why?”
I inhaled deeply, then said, “Inessa is my female. Inessa Belrova.”
“You lie,” he snarled. His hard grip caused his palms to creak on the metal bars.
“I do not,” I replied just as coldly. I pounded my hand over my chest. “Master needed to bring me under his control, so he gave me his High Mona. I didn’t want her at first, but then…” I shook my head, unable to find the words to confess what Inessa meant to me.
“But you fell in love with her.”
My head lifted as 818 spoke. I frowned. “Love?”
A flash of sympathy flooded his expression, when he explained, “You feel her in your heart. It hurts when you are away from her and you need her with you always.”
The male perfectly described the feeling. I nodded. “Yes,” I rasped. “Then I am in … love … with her.”
“Where is she?” the Georgian asked from behind. I stared at the dark male with long black hair and replied, “Master forbade her to see me anymore, but Inessa came to me last night. I was wounded from the fight. Master killed a champion’s mona and he attacked. So did 140, the other champion. They charged at Master in the stands, killing some of his guests. I was in the waiting cell and tried to fight alongside them.”
The three males all looked to one another. When 818 faced me again, he asked, “Why? Why did he kill her?”
“Because it’s what he does,” I snapped, and felt my anger rising to boiling point.
“And Inessa?” the Georgian questioned. Valentin growled low, his crazed, piercing eyes never leaving mine as he waited for my answer,
I felt my heart turn black with hate as I replied, “He took her. She was here with me. She came to me. And he took her. He found us and took her as they pinned me back with picanas.”
Valentin launched himself off the cell door and began to pace the hallway floor. His fists were balled at his sides. 221 moved to be near the guard. I knew it was to stop him from fleeing down the hallways.
“You knew his name.” My eyes left Valentin and focused on the blond male.
I nodded. My stomach sank when I thought of what Inessa had discovered about us. Ilya and Inessa, from Russia.
“Inessa told me last night,” I said, and watched Valentin pause. He kept his head down, eyes focused on the floor, but I knew he was listening. Gripping the bars, I said, “Neither of us knew our names. Inessa’s chiri discovered that 152 is Inessa Belrova and I, 901, am Ilya Konev from Russia. We were both taken from orphanages as children.”
Valentin’s head snapped up and he muttered darkly, “Wraiths.”