Tethered Souls | Books 1, 2, and 3

30 | Fight

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• Luna •

Lying flat on a metal slab in a treatment room, Luna feared for her life. She was strapped down and almost stuck to the table, sweat pouring down her body. As she heard the doorknob twist and watched Dr. Kim stroll in like he wasn't doing anything wrong, completely at ease with no remorse for hurting her, a slow smile crept onto his face.

With her hands wrapped around the loop of her restraints, trying to wiggle her fingers to unhook them, he spoke before she could get free. 

"Don't even think about it. You nor Camille are getting any better. I knew she'd be tough to crack, but you were the one who surprised me the most." He barely passed her a glance as he walked around the slab, eying her. Then he pulled up his small seat and sat down. "Cami and the one she is tethered to will be captured before long. So will yours and both of you will talk. You need to understand these sessions will continue until you tell me what I want to know." 

A deep growl settled inside Luna's throat as she lay there, helpless.

He glanced at the monitors and then back to her and tsked in a quiet tone. "Luna, I had so much hope for you to utter your companion's name. Once we locate him, well, you get the picture." 

It took everything in her not to shoot a wad of spit on him. "You jerk! I hope you get what you deserve!" 

One dark eyebrow rose. "Yes, I hear that a lot. Does it seem like I care?"

Grinding her teeth again, irritated by how much agony she'd endured over this, Dr. Kim was trying to make her say Amir's name. "You don't have to care, but kidnapping people who have a special gift is grounds for torture?"

Dr. Kim brushed his fingers down his pants and flipped one knee over the other. "Don't think of it as torture, Luna. This is different." He laid a hand over one of the tubes hooked up to her, adjusting it. "Hopefully that is less . . . uncomfortable." 

"Lying here numb and defenseless is uncomfortable." 

He tensed close to her face and gazed down. She couldn't understand how she ended up there, or how he knew about the Tethered Species. That must be what this hospital was about. Collecting them and doing horrible things to patients.

"I was really hoping you would say the person's name by now. We need to locate them and find out everything we can. I'm thinking it's a man. Maybe in Morocco, or perhaps Moscow? You've yelled out those locations before while we shocked your brain." 

Anger was like poisonous acid in her body as she stared up at the doctor. She doubted he was a real doctor. His methods of getting information were horrendous.

It was the nurse who broke the silence between them; her soft voice was level as she stared down at Luna. "We just need a name."

Glaring up at her, Luna saw how her face was pale and her eyes were round but overdone with eyeliner. They wanted Amir's name because they'll capture him and torture him the same way they do to her. 

Maybe a false name would do?

Dr. Kim spoke as he kept his eyes on her. "Tell me, Luna, why are you insistent on keeping quiet about this? Do you care for this person?"