Page 15

It takes me a long time to fall asleep. I force myself to stay still, watching in case they try anything, but when they don’t, I drift off.

My mind is filled with the past, but my memories morph all too suddenly into something unfamiliar and strange. A dream? I’m not sure, but I’m inside someone else’s body. Fear courses through me, then agony, my body jittering and shaking on whatever I lie upon.

My eyes scan the area in desperation, searching for a way out. The lights are bright and blinding, coming from every angle, and I see cameras aimed my way. Pain rips through me again. Lifting my upper body as far as I can, I glance down in horror.

My lower half is not human. I have the legs and giant stinger of a scorpion, and it’s being cut off with a saw. A man in a medical mask turns to look at me, his eyes alight with delight and intrigue as he watches me writhe and bellow in agony. There is another, a blurred figure in the distance, but it is him who speaks.

“It is yet to be seen if the specimen will regrow this appendage.” The garbled voice reaches my ears, penetrating the pain enough for me to hear. “Unlike the other of his kind, this one is stronger and has survived four procedures. This will be the fifth. I will dissect the stinger and its poison and see what riches it yields.”

The words fade into a blur as my entire body begins to shut down, dying from blood loss as I feel each sawing motion.

My eyes roll back from the pain, and the very last thing I see is a huge brown and black stinger being lifted into the air like a trophy as it’s finally cut off my body.

Sitting upright with a gasp, I cover my chest. I’m sweating, the sheets sticking to me, and I ache to run. I struggle as flames lick at me, called by that . . . that dream.

A commotion in the living area has me slipping to silent feet. I walk over to the doorway and see them. My mates. They are all awake and carefully circled around Bram, who is panting with his head hanging between his legs, but it snaps up when he hears me. His eyes lock on me, and his face transforms for a moment, holding the same pain I felt in the dream. As I watch him, realisation hits.

“It was your dream,” I whisper as I stare into his furious eyes. All the others turn to see me in the doorway. “Not a dream . . . a memory. I felt it. I saw it.”

Bram roars and barrels towards me, more beast than human, but Kitt and Emrys move between us, holding him back. “Get out of here now!” Kitt bellows at me, the order harsh. I hesitate until Torrin shoves me towards the door.

“Go now,” he sneers, “or we’ll let him rip you to pieces and then see if you can survive.”

Grinding my teeth, I shoot one last look at Bram, who is fighting their hold, before turning and opening the door. The temperature outside has dropped. I could wait or walk to the village, but for some reason, my eyes turn up.

Fear and pain still linger on my skin, until I feel the need to outrun them.

There is no trail or path as I walk into the darkness and climb the mountain. The higher I get, the colder it becomes. My nose freezes, and I wrap my arms around myself as I shiver. The moon is all I have to see by, but I’m used to darkness now, and I climb the terrain easily.

The snow and ice once felt like my home, and I would escape into the freezing wilderness to avoid the expectations and duties placed upon me by my mother. The temperature and focus it took to survive such harsh elements once calmed me. Now, it only enrages me, the ice and snow melting under my feet from the heat emitting from my body as the memory rides me. I practically sprint up the mountain, trying to outrun ghosts that are not my own.

I can still hear my mother’s voice screaming into the void, warning what would happen when she caught me, but now it’s joined by the doctor’s voice and Bram’s screams of pain. For a moment, the terrain in front of me shifts into a familiar frozen lake surrounded by trees. If I turned, I would see the castle upon the frozen cliff. Shaking off the thought, I almost tumble off the edge in my distraction.

I refuse to let the memories take hold—his or mine.

I’m so preoccupied, I did not notice, but it’s too late now.

I’m being followed.

CHAPTER

NINE

Her breathing is laboured as she finally sinks to her knees in the snow at the top of the mountain. The verge is shallow but still wide enough for her to kneel upon. The cold is enough to kill most humans, but she doesn’t even shiver as she grips the snow in her fists and tips her head back, letting the cool air wash over her. I know she senses me, but she doesn’t speak for a while. I transform back, wondering what she will do. I changed to my other form to follow her better, as my human one is not made for temperatures and climbs like this, though she seemed to have no problems with it.

“Worried I would run while you weren’t watching?” Her voice finally breaks the stalemate, gruff and low. My lips quirk at her words as I move silently closer.

“No, we would simply find you again. That doesn’t mean we can let you out of our sight though. You’re dangerous, after all.”

When she looks at me over her shoulder, something in my heart aches. Her eyes are forlorn, burning with pain and heartache, and her lips are twisted in a cruel sneer. “Don’t forget it.”

I chuckle. “I’m sure we won’t. It will be a pleasure to fight and kill you.”

“I’m too tired to argue with you right now,” she says, surprising me. Her voice sounds subdued. This is the most emotion I have heard from her since we first stepped foot in her cavern. Nothing seems to stop this woman, but right now, she looks lost, alone, and exhausted, fighting demons both in her head and ours. I do not know what to say, so I venture closer, stopping behind her until she can feel my heat at her back.

“Does it mean the bond is growing stronger if I saw his nightmare?” she asks.

“Yes.” My voice is soft, almost kind, though I am not sure why. She represents everything I hate, but I feel a little sorry for her. It’s easier in my fox form, as he cares for nothing or no one. He merely tolerates the others. We both lapse into silence, so I sink down at her side and look out. I cannot see much, since the darkness is almost absolute, so I find myself talking just to fill the silence that reminds me too much of a time I never wish to revisit. “It reminds me of Gehenna.”