Chapter 324
Clementine:
“What are you up to now,” I whispered, more to steady myself than to call her.
I had been sitting silently, watching Oriana with my mates, and everything was suddenly, painfully clear.
I wasn’t sure if that clarity made me feel better or worse.
It only reminded me how many times they had tried to explain themselves, and how I had refused to see it.
Guilt clawed its way up my chest.
Ian was nowhere to be found.
After briefing both the White Squad and my own on the plan to kill the Whisperer, everyone had gone to rest.
Everyone except me.
I couldn’t rest. Not while Oriana was still toying with them.
When she led them upstairs, I felt something twist inside me.
Exhausted but driven, I followed. I was halfway up the stairs in complete darkness when I heard her voice.
“Come on, touch me here p>
The sound of it made my skin crawl.
“Okay, wait– let me take off all my clothes. See? Then you’ll feel it p>
That was it. I stepped out from behind the wall, my heart hammering in my chest.
The scene before me froze me in place.
Yorick was pacing, running a hand through his hair, too tense to even look at her.
Haiden sat on the floor, elbows on his knees, face buried in his palms.
Troy stood stiffly in the corner, staring at the ceiling instead of at Oriana.
And Oriana, that shameless witch, had already stripped down to almost nothing.
She was reaching for her last piece of clothing when I burst in.
“Hey!” she gasped, snatching a hand to her chest and fumbling to buckle her bra again.
My rage was instant.
The men’s reaction said it all, the shock, the quick jerk of their heads toward me, the relief flashing across their faces like they’d just been freed from something suffocating.
Oriana started zipping herself back into her bodysuit, her movements were so frantic that she kept messing up the zipper.
I noticed something when I initially spotted her with her body suit down her stomach.
But I didn’t say anything at the moment as she was going to use my mates as her shield.
They were still under her control.
I couldn’t confront her outright yet, if she gave the command, they’d attack.
And I wouldn’t let them bear that guilt.
“What’s going on here?” I hissed, stepping closer.
She frowned, fumbling with her zipper until she caught Yorick’s reflection watching me instead of her.
“Come on, help me with the rest,” she snapped at him, like he was her servant.
He didn’t move.
“Yorick!” she barked. “Pull the zipper up p>
His jaw clenched. I could see the veins in his wrists straining, his fists tightening, his face turning red.
He was fighting her, fighting whatever magic she had on him.
I couldn’t stand it any longer.
“You bitch,” I spat, storming forward. I grabbed her by the hair and yanked her away from them.
“Ow! What the fuck!” she shrieked.
I threw her off balance, sending her sprawling onto the polished floor.
She slid, hitting the ground hard beside the staircase.
“Attack her!” Oriana screamed at my mates, panic twisting in her voice.
But even as she barked the command, her hands were trembling, fumbling to finish zipping up her outfit.
Her hair caught in the zipper, and she shrieked in pain.
For the first time that night, she looked afraid.
“What are you doing standing there? Attack her!” Oriana screamed again.
This time she must have known I was going to attack, because I was ready to pounce. She didn’t turn to face me, she bolted down the stairs.
“When I come back I want her beaten up,” she shouted as she fled.
I drew a deep breath and turned, expecting my mates to obey.
Instead, they stood broken and in pain. Haiden bit his fist.
Yorick clutched his hair in his hand. Troy was punching the wall, wincing with each hit.
“It’s okay. I’ll apologize to Oriana,” I said, trying to steady my voice. “You don’t need to hurt yourselves. You have defended her like she ordered you to p>
Slowly, they began to calm. Haiden pushed himself up, his voice rough.
“So you—you’re not going to mess with her anymore?” he asked.
“Yes, Haiden. I’ll apologize, and I’ll make sure she knows you did an amazing job,” I answered.
Relief flowed through him like a visibly.
Troy turned, and I saw bruises starting to form across his knuckles.
Yorick stared at me with hollow eyes, but he was still looking. Tears threatened his eyes.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t realize sooner,” I told Yorick, meeting his gaze. “Now I see. I’ll help you all p>
A faint, grateful smile flickered across Yorick’s lips.
Then a loud scream ripped from the second floor, Oriana’s scream, and everything snapped.
The three of them surged past me, instincts kicking in as they rushed to her aid.
They left me standing alone, guilt rising in my chest for what she had done to them.
I rushed after them. Part of me believed Oriana was being dramatic again, trying to pull their attention and drag them away from me.
But another part whispered that it was something else, something darker.
The moment I reached the bottom of the stairs, I understood.
Fleshmingos were charging into the mansion, the door was wide open too.
I ran downstairs, scanning the chaos around me. Everyone was panicking.
Jack was nowhere to be seen. Nate was missing too, the two people who were supposed to be on lookout.
Oriana was gone as well.
I rushed to the couch where Joshua had been sleeping, but he wasn’t there either.
My mates were already fighting off the Fleshmingos, thankfully without waiting for Oriana’s approval, but their blows lacked strength.
They weren’t fighting hard enough.
Grabbing a knife in each hand, I swung wildly, forcing the creatures back and protecting the mates who barely seemed interested in saving themselves.
“Go upstairs!” I shouted. “Open the window and jump out, save yourselves! Or get on the rooftop, anything p>
But they didn’t listen. Of course they didn’t. They would only listen to Oriana.
And then I saw it, the Fleshmingos rushing toward the bedroom where my three innocent Red Squad members were sleeping.