Before the Orions kidnapped me, I’d actually led a semi-normal life. Granted it was a lonely one, because I’d been on my own since I was a teenager, but still, I heard the stories about mate bonds. It was hard to miss.
I’d always dismissed the idea that you could be so connected to a person that you could feel their pain. But I know without a doubt, that’s what this is.
Every bone in my body wants to move, to run, but the pain…it’s making it hard to breathe.
I have to get to him, I have to—
“Auryn,” Gage’s voice is the first to call out, and I feel Diego shift beside me. “Auryn, what’s wrong?”
“It hurts,” is all I can manage out of my mouth. Diego stirs, mumbling Spanish beside me, but his body stiffens as he sits up too.
“What hurts?” The sharp, calculating voice beside me cuts through the air, and I feel Olly’s hand squeezing my hip.
“E-everything,” I say as I try to work through the pain. I fight to move my legs, though they feel like Jell-O at the moment.
“Auryn—” Gage’s voice is stern. He grabs for me, but I push him away.
“Gage, wait. We should listen to her,” Diego says.
I crawl towards the end of the bed, feeling two sets of hands grasping at me, but only one set of footsteps follows me.
“Auryn, get back here!” Gage growls as I stumble towards my clothes, strewn out on the floor.
“No!” I hiss as I try my hardest to slip my legs into my sweatpants.
“Here, let me help,” Olly says, his voice low and smooth.
“Don’t you dare help her!” Gage growls, and within a flash he is in front of me. “You are not leaving this compound, Auryn.”
“The fuck I am! He is my mate!” I growl back. Gage’s eyes are full of fire.
“I understand that, Auryn, but you can’t go running in there blind. We need to take some time to prepare, to get ready. You can’t go running off alone, especially not to the Orions’. It’s probably exactly what Sneed wants.”
The faintest sound pulls our attention, and the three of us turn to see Diego. Out of bed. Hobbling over to us.
Gage tenses and immediately flocks to him. Olly grabs my elbow, carefully tugging me closer.
“Perhaps we should take a moment to process what you’re feeling.”
The way he says it isn’t completely detached. It is, but…
It’s almost like there’s another reason, beyond science, that drives him to say it. Like he actually wants me to process my feelings. But I don’t have time to do that. Not when Emmett is in danger, in pain.
Another bout of ache fills me as I nearly double over. I grab Olly’s arm, my nails sinking into his skin. To his nature, he goes down with me. My knees hit the floor with a thud and I cry out, and a moment later, his arms are tight around me, and he holds me against his chest.
“Breathe,” he instructs. “Follow my count.” He sucks in a breath. “One…” his voice shakes only minimally.
“Auryn, look at me. Try to relax.”
I look up at Diego, tears forming in my eyes because I can see the pain etched in his as well. The guilt.
Olly removes one hand from where he holds me and strokes my hair softly. “Two,” he says in a tone that is much calmer. I suck in a breath and let it out.
“You are not going off to those bastards halfcocked, Auryn. Not after—”
I glare at Gage, and that’s when I hear a growl. Though I can’t be certain who it’s coming from, my guess would be Diego.
My fingernails sink into Olly’s forearm, but he doesn’t flinch. He wraps his legs around me, holding them against me. Tight. It’s restraint, but it’s not restraining to the point I can’t break free. I know I could.
