Athena's Jewel (Aya Harris Collection 2)

Chapter Seventeen

The alarm knocked me out of a fitful sleep and nearly gave me a heart attack. I shot straight up and out of bed, my head colliding with the drywall ceiling over my bunk. A splitting headache accompanied the panic that grabbed hold of my heart and had me gasping for breath. The bed began to shake underneath me, vibrating through the noise.

“What’s going on?” I yelled. “What is that?”

Tala’s face appeared next to my bunk, her yellow eyes wide. “It’s the assessment. The girls told me Wesley does them randomly every week to keep the girls on track. We have to line up in the ballroom.”

Suddenly, the bed stopped moving. I put my hands down to my side and took a deep breath. Athena’s Jewel was really starting to work its magic. My powers were growing stronger every day. It was an amazing feeling.

“Come on.” Tala wrapped a silky pink robe around her thin waist. All around us, the girls rushed to the door. “We don’t want to be late. He’ll punish us.”

I narrowed my eyes. Wesley Blake was the last person I wanted to see today. If his plans had gone right last night, he would’ve forced a stranger on me. It was unforgivable. Luckily for me, Gideon had showed up in just the right place at just the right moment. But I had to fake my misery for Wesley Blake now.

I hopped to the floor in my pajamas and followed her. Tala had yet to ask me about last night. I think she didn’t want to know the details. She could be in the same situation in less than a week. Maybe it was her way of trying to accept the inevitable.

We clamored down the grand staircase and into the ballroom. The gold decorations had been dismantled and put away. Now, a shiny wooden floor and white paneling was all that remained.

In the middle of the expansive floor stood Wesley Blake in a white button up shirt and black pants. Again, it struck me how unassuming he looked. If I had met him on the street, I wouldn’t have given him a second glance. His beard was freshly trimmed, his sideburns neatly combed. A light tint of pink colored his cheeks. Five inches above his outstretched hand, a ballpoint pen floated, as if to remind us of the immense power he held. With a steady gaze, he regarded each girl lined up in front of him as nothing more than an object. There was no lust in his eyes. Just pure business.

My mother stood behind him in a tight dress that hugged her curves and showed off her thin arms. She watched me enter, worry etched on her face. Desperation showed in every tense move that she made, her shoulders high and stiff. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she actually cared what happened to me.

We had one day until the HQ took this place down. I needed to warn her. No longer did she have to work for a monster like Wesley Blake. She was a free woman. She didn't have to be afraid anymore.

Wesley waited until all the ladies had lined up and stood silent. Then, he marched forward and assessed each woman with a calculating gaze, starting with Anastasia.

“Stand up straight,” he commanded the nymph.

She straightened her spine and lifted her exquisite head. Even half asleep and with messy hair, she still resembled a Barbie doll.

He took her chin in his hand. “Beautiful, as always, my dear.”

Her lips parted in a charming smile that dissolved as soon as he moved on to the next woman in line.

“Too thin,” he chided the dark woman in front of him. I hadn’t met her yet, but she seemed like a loner. “Start eating some breakfast.”

He moved down the line, declining to comment on a few of the women until he got to Patty.

“I heard good things from the Wizard of Atticus. He’ll be back for seconds this week.”

She bowed her flaming red head and stood back up, adjusting her large bosom. Behind Wesley’s back, she raised her middle finger and crossed her eyes. I coughed and held in a laugh. This wasn’t the time to laugh. Wesley was moving fast down the line and soon he stood in front of me.

“I suspect you learned your lesson last night, my little harpy?”

Just to the right of Wesley’s shoulder, I saw my mother shift in place, her black stilettos nearly carving into the wooden floorboards.

Lowering my chin to my chest, I tried to look contrite. If he suspected anything, I was dead.

"Ah, I think my punishment worked," he said a little too loudly, so that every girl could hear. "Just let that be a warning to you. If you're not making me money, you're of no use to me."

He softly brought his right hand to my jawline and stroked my neck with the lightest touch of his fingertips. It would've been a loving gesture if not for the way his other hand grasped my wrist like a vice.

"Third chances do not exist around here," he whispered in my ear, the warmth of his breath tickling my skin. "Disappoint me one more time, and you'll be nothing more than a lab rat in Dr. Kim's cage."

I closed my eyes and waited for him to release me and move on. When I opened them again, my mother was staring me down, her hands folded tightly together. The corners of her mouth pulled down in a deep frown that made tears spring unbidden to my eyes. I couldn't wait to see that man behind bars. I would be sure to attend his execution personally.

"And how is my wolf this morning?"

Tala sucked in her cheeks and stared at the little white buttons on Wesley's shirt. "Fine."