DEREK'S POV
The holding cell smells like piss and failure.
Fitting, I suppose, given how spectacularly everything just went to s**t.
I'm sitting on a metal bench that's bolted to the wall, my wrists still aching from where Reign's warriors bound me before throwing me in here like common trash. The fluorescent light overhead glitches every few seconds, casting shadows that crawl across the concrete walls.
I was so close.
So f*****g close to everything I've worked for, planned for, sacrificed for all these past years. And now here I am, locked up like a criminal while my self-righteous brother plays hero with his shiny new mate.
Reign's curse was fragmenting, Ravenna was transferring it, and all I needed was five more minutes. Five minutes and I would've had the ancient Alpha magic tha
