“Did Lucas tell you that?”
“No. I overheard earlier.”
“That’s not…Why don’t you talk to Dr. Tucker first?”
“How is talking to Dr. Tucker going to help right now?”
“How is going to the restaurant going to help?”
Sage clenched his fists and didn’t turn around.
“I can smell your anger. And your sadness.”
Sage forgot how sensitive a water monster shifter’s sense of smell was. His alpha could see his anger as a challenge and with any other leader, it would have, but Ramsey was different. He cared about his clan members and it showed. Sage knew Ramsey wouldn’t punish him.
They stood there for several minutes.
“Do whatever makes you feel better, Sage, but don’t ever let me hear you call yourself worthless again,” Ramsey said.
Sage didn’t need to say it aloud again. His inner dialogue told him every single second of the day. Sage walked away and got into his car. He pulled out of the driveway and was down the road in minutes. He felt good about it the farther down the road he got, as if just having a purpose again made him feel just a little bit better.
He was just turning onto the main road that would take him into the center of town when he saw one of the vampires who’d hurt him standing on the centerline just a few dozen yards ahead. The vampire was not the one that he had been seeing, the one that Lucas had killed. Sage remembered that this one wasn’t as strong as that one had been. The knowledge didn’t help Sage. He was stronger than Sage was and that was the bottom line.
It was a hallucination, just like the other time. It was his mind tormenting him. Even so, Sage slammed on the brakes and reached over to press the button to make sure the doors locked.
This was not real.It was just his way of tormenting himself.
It felt real though.
They stared at each other for what seemed like an hour, but probably was only a few seconds. Sage dug his phone out of his pocket and dialed the first number that popped into his head.
It rang twice before Lucas answered the phone.
“I-I…I’m scared.”
“Why? What’s going on, Sage?” Lucas asked. His voice direct, as if on alert.
“I need Garridan,” Sage said the first thing that came to his mind. It was instinctive. He dropped the phone when the vampire started toward him. Sage could see his teeth when he smiled. He started to scream Garridan’s name when the vampire’s eyes turned red.
He remembered the last words the vampire had said to him.“I’m going to own you, Snake.”
He shut his eyes and put his hands over his ears to shut out the words in his mind. The handle of his car door jiggled, as if someone tried to get in. He tried not to look toward the window as he scrambled into the backseat of his car. He managed to wedge himself between the seats so that he sat on the floor. He heard something scrape against the car window and then the roof, as if someone dragged something across it. Someone’s knuckles wrapped against the window and he heard someone call his name. It sounded like Lucas. Then he heard the sweetest, most comforting sound in the entire world. He heard Garridan’s voice saying, “Mine. My mate.” The sound came from behind him, muffled by the car doorat his back.
He opened his eyes to see Lucas through the driver’s side window across the car from where Sage sat on the floor. Lucas’ eyes were wide and held fear in them.
Sage scrambled up on the seat and turned to Garridan. His breath hitched when he saw blood around Garridan’s mouth, and he unlocked the door. Garridan stood there bare-chested and Sage was sure he had flown over to him in his dragon form, so the rest of him was bare too, although the car obscured his lower half from Sage’s view.
Sage reached for the door handle at the same time Garridan did. He ripped the door open. Garridan bent and lifted Sage out of the car. Sage let him do it, even held his arms up like a child, wanting to go to his mate.
He clung, shaking, and let his tears fall onto Garridan’s bare skin.
Just the smell of Garridan’s skin, that chocolate chip cookie scent, calmed Sage quicker than it would have otherwise.
“You’re safe, mate,” Garridan said.
“He was real?” If the vampire wasn’t a hallucination, then that made Sage feel better. That meant he wasn’t insane, and he was experiencing reality for the first time in a long time.
“Yes.” Garridan held him tighter and growled low in his throat.
