Rolling to her other side, Lizzy tried to find any position that would give her some relief. It didn’t work. It didn’t do a damn thing. She could feel Finn just beyond the walls she’d erected in her mind. It had been seven days since Cain attempted his experiment on her. Before today, she’d eaten regular food and been bored as all get-out. It wasn’t all mundane, though. Lizzy had noticed her eyesight had become sharper, her sense of smell was heightened, and her skin was more sensitive than before. This morning, however, things were much different.
Throughout her waiting, Finn had been her constant mental companion. Each day when she awoke from the strange sleep she kept getting dragged back into, he was there. He talked to her. He shared all about his life with her. And there was a lot of material, considering how old he was. It was better than reading a book. In the past six days, she’d come to care for him and not because he was her true mate, but because she genuinely liked him. Lizzy wanted the chance to know him, to spend actual time with him, not just through their mental bond. She’d begun to believe that might be a possibility. Alice had been back to check on her but had told her the possibility of Lizzy seeing Finn was zero. Cain wasn’t having it. And the woman seemed genuinely sad that she couldn’t give them what they wanted.
“Fudget.” Lizzy groaned. Her arms instinctively wrapped around her midsection, and she squeezed tightly. The pressure helped a miniscule amount, but not nearly enough. Her mouth was dry, and her tongue felt too big in her mouth. While her stomach continued to cramp, she felt a sharp pain in her chest. “Great. I’m having a heart attack,” she stuttered as her heartbeat skipped several beats. Okay, now she was scared. Pain was one thing, but chest pains with an irregular heartbeat? Those were symptoms that commercials always told you to call 911 about. “I don’t have a damn phone, television commercial people. How about you give some advice for those of us who don’t have access to medical—sucky, suckity, suck!” she screamed. The pain from her heart radiated up her arm to her neck and jaw. Holy crap, I really am having a heart attack. “Seriously?” She coughed. “I get injected with supernatural blood but die from a freaking heart attack. How anticlimactic.”
“Lizzy, why do you keep blocking me?” Finn’s voice made it through the barrier. The pain must have distracted her from keeping the walls up.
“Can I just say that I have really enjoyed getting to know you this past week, even if I was in and out of it most of the time, like a druggie.” Her voice in her mind was just as breathless as it was when she spoke out loud. “I’ll admit that at first I wasn’t too sure about you. I mean, a normal person would have called you crazy and then refused to have anything to do with you. But then, I’ve never been accused of being normal, so lucky for you. You hit the jackpot with a crazy true mate. Maybe you’ll have better luck the second time around.”
She felt his hands on her face, and then the pain eased slightly. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurting?” She could tell he was genuinely offended that she had left him high and dry. “The bond has grown stronger since we’ve been using it so much, not just with speaking but through the touches. It all makes the bond stronger.”
“What does that have to do with me letting you know that I’m hurting? Why should we both have to suffer?” Lizzy sucked in a deep breath. It was the first one she’d been able to take in hours.
“I can bear some of your pain.” She felt even more of the pain recede, enough that her stomach unclenched. “I could take more if the bond was complete, but this should help at least a little.”
“More than a little. It’s bad, Finn.” Maybe the reprieve was giving her time to actually think about what she was going through, and perhaps that made her tongue loose, but suddenly words vomited out of her. “I woke up and felt like my throat had a lit match tossed into it, and the fire traveled all the way to my stomach. Then it started cramping, and I couldn’t even sit straight. I’ve been rolled up in a ball.”
“My Lizzy.” He breathed out, pain filling his voice. “How many times have I told you that you don’t suffer alone? Not anymore. I’m with you. And just so you know, there will be no second time around with the whole true-mate thing.” He growled, and she felt his irritation. “You are it. You are the other half of my soul. No one else holds it, or ever will, except for you. If you die, I die.”
“Okay, that got intense fast. I mea—” Her words cut off when another jolt of pain went through her heart. It felt like a hand wrapped around the muscle and squeezed. “I think I’m having a heart attack. Legit, Linc.” She used the nickname that seemed to roll off her tongue when she was feeling emotional toward him. Emotion was something that was new for her. Lizzy had given up on emotions a long time ago, and Finn was totally messing up that whole plan. “Nineteen, captured by vampires, and I die of a heart attack. Just my luck.”
“You’re not going to die,” he rumbled.
“Oh, that’s right.” She tried to laugh, but it was hard to do because she couldn’t breathe. “You forbid me to die. My bad. Let me get right on that.”
“Let me focus a minute.” His hand pressed against her chest, right over her heart. Then she felt his pain. She heard his breath catch.
“Wait, when you say you can ease my pain, you’re not just taking it away. You’re taking it as your own, aren’t you?” The thought of causing him any kind of anguish caused a wave of nausea to wash over her. “Please don’t do that, Linc. Don’t take this on.”
“I am your mate, my Lizzy. When it comes to you, there is nothing I won’t take on. Vampires, hybrids, fae, physical pain. All of it. I will stand between you and them, and when I can’t, I will do whatever I can to aid you. It is my privilege. Hopefully one day, you will understand that.”
Lizzy didn’t have words. Her heart still hurt, but it wasn’t as bad. Now she hurt for a different reason. This man that she’d never met in person was fighting for her and would continue to fight for her. “You really mean it, don’t you?”
“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t.”
Lizzy imagined her hand pressed over his, and she heard him suck in a breath.
“You’re touching me.” His voice was full of awe.
“Is that allowed?” She didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. He’d asked if he could touch her, in completely appropriate ways, and Lizzy hadn’t wanted to admit that she was desperate for touch. Real, kind, gentle touch that was given freely without any strings attached. But she’d been unable to bring herself to touch him back, regardless of the fact that it wasn’t an actual physical touch. It felt so very real.
“There are no boundaries when it comes to you,” he told her. “All that I am is yours. That includes my body.”
If she wasn’t in pain, and worried that she might actually die, Lizzy would probably have teased him about that comment. But as it was, all she could do was focus on the bond. His touch, his voice, his emotions flowing through the bond and grounding her. She felt a tear run down her cheek while she simply soaked up his presence. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as more tears fell. “I’m not good at relying on someone else. I don’t mean to push you away. It’s just easier.”
“Why is it easier?” The hand not pressed over her heart ran his fingers through her hair, and she felt herself pressing closer to the touch.
“If I get attached and something happens to you, it will hurt. I’ve been hurt that way before, and it was horrible, Finn. I never wanted to go through that again. And now, after all you’ve shared with me, even without having been with you, the thought of losing you is terrifying. And I won’t lie. I hate it.” It made her feel weak. Though she didn’t say it to him, she was sure he heard the thought all the same.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to make anything harder on you. I don’t seem to be any good at this mate thing.”
Lizzy shook her head, even though he couldn’t see her. “Are you kidding me? You’re awesome. You’re patient and talk endlessly when I’m sure you’ve got to be sick of talking. You’ve been so understanding with me, and you haven’t killed anyone, so Cain hasn’t felt the need to harm you. That’s a big deal. I feel your wolf, Finn. He wants to fight. He wants to hunt.” And Lizzy had felt the beast that lived inside of Finn. It was single-minded. It wanted its mate. Her. The wolf wanted to get to her and kill anything that got in his way. It was flattering, if not a little scary, considering the intensity of the emotions.
“It’s not enough.” He growled. “I should be able to do more. But I don’t know what to do.”
Lizzy coughed, the burning in her throat returning even stronger. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly and pictured Finn in her mind—the image that he’d shared with her. She looked closely at every detail she could, trying to distract herself from the anguish.
“You’re hungry.” A deep voice came from Finn. It wasn’t his, yet it was.
