I came to with a splitting headache, pain throbbing behind my eyelids so strongly that I whimpered.
‘Demi! Fucking answer me!’ Sawyer’s angry voice screamed in my head and I grabbed my temples in agony.
My eyes snapped open as the memory of everything came crashing down on me. I kissed that other guy… thinking it was Sawyer… and then he announced he was taking Meredith as his new wife!
He didn’t believe me… and then the vampires kidnapped me.
Oh God.
The necklace. He’d been wearing some kind of ugly-ass necklace that was no doubt magically affecting him.
I peered around the room to find that I was lying on a cold concrete floor. There was a water bowl, like you would set out for a dog… and that was it. The room was tiny, more like a jail cell, but with a normal door and handle. The walls were plaster and I wondered if I could somehow peel at the plaster and break through into the next room or the outside. My eyes flicked down to the cuffs at my wrists and I whimpered again.
‘Demi! Enough with this shit. Where are you?’ Sawyer thundered again in my head and tears filled my eyes.
‘Fuck you,’ I managed to send before the cuffs sent an electrical jolt up my arms, causing me to cry out in pain.
Talking to Sawyer mentally must use magic, and that triggered the cuffs to hurt me.
Great.
‘Demi!’ Sawyer’s voice threaded with annoyance at hearing my reply. ‘Where are you? I’ve got half the damn campus looking for you. Eugene says he lost you and—’
‘Fuck you,’ I said again, and the pain shot up my arms for a second time, but this time I clenched my teeth and pushed through the discomfort. My current anger at Sawyer was making this pain bearable. It was nothing compared to the ache in my heart.
I felt him bristle; we were tied together emotionally through the imprint, and it was hard to tease his emotions from my own.
‘Demi. Why do I feel pain from you? Where. Are. You?’
What the hell did he care? He chose Meredith. Magical necklace or not.
That motherfucker.
I sighed, realizing he was my only link to the outside world. ‘Vampire City, I think. Kidnapped. Can’t talk much. Cuffed. Electric,’ I sent back as shock after shock ripped through me and into him.
‘No!’ he screamed, before I felt a possessive surge overcome me. My wolf bristled as Sawyer’s alpha presence overwhelmed us both. It was as if he was trying to jump through our imprint and join me here.
‘I thought you were lying about the vampires…’ he said, his voice devoid of emotion. His actual emotions were something else completely.
Something wasn’t right with him. He felt off, as if anytime he had a normal emotion it was tamped down. I had nothing to say to that so I stayed silent, deciding to sit up and have a look around. How long was I out? Were there drugs in the water? I didn’t want to drink from the bowl like a dog; it seemed like an interrogation tactic to make me feel less human. But I was thirsty. I scanned the ceiling and then the air vent, zeroing in on a tiny red blinking light.
Camera.
I peered right at it and gave whoever was watching the middle finger.
‘I’m coming for you,’ Sawyer said, but I ignored him.
Fuck him. Fuck everyone right now.
The clickity clack of footsteps echoed down the hall and I bristled. Maybe the middle finger was a bad idea. Before I had time to prepare, the door burst open and two men in lab coats entered with Queen Drake.
I froze upon seeing Vicon’s mother. After what he did to me, and knowing she was trying to get Sawyer arrested for his murder, it made fresh hot rage surge inside of me. Her black hair was pulled into a tight high bun, and she wore a white silk blouse that nearly matched the color of her skin.
“What do we know?” she asked the man in the white lab coat, ignoring me as I stood, fisting my hands together and preparing to fight them. I might only be a useless human with these cuffs on, but I was a decent fighter and I wouldn’t die without at least breaking her nose.
“Lay back down!” the second vampire in a lab coat said to me, producing a long stick with two blue glowing wires at the end.
Hmm, that looked a lot like—
He shoved the prod into my stomach and I fell to my knees screaming as searing pain jolted my entire body. My teeth clacked shut so hard I thought they would break.
‘Demi!’ Sawyer cried out, having probably felt that through our bond.
Queen Drake looked at me like I was a nuisance, like my scream was too loud for her perfect ears.
“I’m hypothesizing that we need to take off the cuffs in order to bottle her power,” the first lab coat dude told her and showed her a tablet screen.
Bottle her power.
He said bottle… in relation to me.
A sickness rolled into me as I started to glean why they might have kidnapped me. I thought it was in retaliation to Vicon’s murder, but no… they knew what I was and they meant to… bottle my power?
Oh hell no.
I jumped up, lunging for them both, when the second lab coat guy met me halfway, shoving the electric stick right into my chest.
The prods pricked my skin and my heart squeezed like it might burst; blackness danced in my vision, pain shaking me like nothing I’d ever felt before. Wetness pooled between my legs and I blinked, realizing I’d peed my pants.
How did I get on the floor? Where were the lab coats and the queen? I must have blacked out…? I looked down to see a red dot on the inside of my arm, like they’d taken blood from me.
No.
A sob burst from my chest as I realized how incredibly screwed I was.
‘Demi…’ Sawyer’s voice was much softer this time. ‘What happened? You went dark. Where are you? In a building? A house?’
The absolute heartbreak of Sawyer choosing Meredith over me, of him not trusting me, it all came down on me like a pile of bricks, crushing my soul.
‘You didn’t believe me. How could you not believe me!’ I whimpered as the pain from the cuffs lit up my arms. ‘Take off that fucking necklace, Sawyer. It’s spelled.’
‘I have eyes! You kissed another dude. What was I supposed to think?’ he shot back.
‘You were supposed to trust me.’ I didn’t even feel the pain anymore, I was numb. ‘Take off the necklace,’ I whimpered, repeating myself.
‘I’m coming for you,’ he repeated. ‘I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I… still love you.’
I scoffed at that. ‘But you’ll marry Meredith?’
Silence.
‘I have to protect my family,’ he said finally, and the pain in my heart somehow got more intense. ‘And Meredith loves me,’ he added, sounding confused.
‘Take off the necklace, Sawyer!’ I shouted, crying at the pain that talking to him was causing me.
‘No. Meredith gave it to me. It was a special present.’ He sounded like Smeagol protecting the one ring.
‘You don’t love me.’ I spoke it like the fact it was.
‘Yes I do.’
‘This isn’t love, Sawyer! Love and trust go together. That guy I kissed was you. He looked and talked like you. I was tricked, and someone who loved me would believe me.’ I could smell burning hair and skin from the cuffs as they singed my arms. And I wept as this current hell became reality.
Silence.
‘I want to believe you…’ he said. ‘I’m… confused. I feel… off.’
That fucking necklace was a love spell. I just knew it. This wasn’t him. This wasn’t my Sawyer.
‘Get Sage. Show her the necklace Meredith got you,’ I whimpered as black dots danced at the edges of my vision. Maybe someone with some sense would rip that fucking thing off of him.
‘If I kissed Meredith, and then you caught me, and I said I thought it was you, would you believe me?’ he growled, ignoring my comment about the necklace.
‘That’s different, you’re dating Meredith, you’re dating half the goddamn school, Sawyer!’ A cry ripped from my throat and the pain became too much.
‘I never touched any of them,’ Sawyer growled. ‘Ask around, I didn’t kiss a single girl since I met you that day at Delphi.’
My heart couldn’t possibly break any more, but it did. I realized in this moment that the bone-crushing heartache I felt was part his. Through the bond, his heartache and mine had merged into a single beast that felt like it would kill us both.
‘You think I would kiss some rando knowing you were right outside? How stupid do you think I am? Take off that necklace. It’s spelled, you idiot!’ The cuffs were so hot, I half wondered if they would catch fire and burn me alive.
His pain and agony laced through our bond, wrapping around me like a snake.
‘Demi, I spoke to the high priestess of the Witch Lands. She says there is no magic that could make another look like me.’
My heart fell at those words.
‘Then she’s lying!’
Silence. I was in too much pain, holding on to too much anger to deal with any of this anymore.
‘When I free you, we can talk more about it, but—’
‘But nothing,’ I whimpered. ‘Your family curse has fucked you up. You’re broken and you don’t know how to trust people. It’s not my job to convince you of something I didn’t do wrong. If you can’t trust me… it’s over.’
‘Demi, wait—’
‘No,’ I whimpered. ‘In what reality would you ever be this mean to me, Sawyer? Think about it. Your necklace from Meredith is spelled and you’re a fucking asshole. Goodbye.’
I couldn’t deal with spelled-necklace-Sawyer anymore. I tore myself away from our bond so fast that I felt something fracture inside of me. A headache slammed into me at the same time the cuffs ripped so much electricity through me that everything went black again.
When I regained consciousness a second time, I was strapped onto a gurney. Bright lights blasted in my face as muffled voices faded in and out of consciousness.
Queen Drake’s voice filled my ears. “Jesus, why does she look half dead?”
A sharp male voice answered: “Looks like she tried to use her power too much. The cuffs reacted in doing their job.”
“She’s a fighter. That bodes well for the potency of the elixir transfer, right?” Her voice was smooth yet terrifying.
“Yes and no,” the male voice said. “It seems the full potent magic we need to harvest from her will only come out with the cuffs off. I’ve tried everything else on her and it’s like trying to tap power from a human.”
She clucked her tongue. “Then we run the risk of battling her full powers.”
“That’s right, My Queen,” he answered. I couldn’t see their faces, they were blobs of darkness as the blinding light overwhelmed my vision.
“Well, that’s fine, I can get a team of soldiers—”
“My liege,” he interrupted. “Even with a full contingent of soldiers—”
“Did you just interrupt me?” she hissed as the bright light over my face suddenly went dark and a body flew across the room, taking the lamp with him. A noise crashed to my left as his body hit the wall.
Holy shit.
I was grateful for the reprieve from the brain-numbing light until the queen peered over me, saliva glistening on her teeth. A shriek tore from my throat when I saw the bleeding heart in her hand, crimson blood trickling down her fingers. In the dim light I peered at the guy she’d thrown across the room. An open cavity lay in the center of his chest as his body slowly decomposed to ash.
“I wonder what she tastes like raw?” the queen queried to someone else in the room, and my gaze snapped back to her.
Holy fuck.
I could feel the evil coming off of this woman as fear melted out of my chest and settled into my limbs. Her bun was so tight that it pulled the corners of her eyes up, making it look like she’d had a facelift. But her eyes, they were as black as her soul, and held no life.
“I’m sure one feeding wouldn’t jeopardize the project,” a second man said from behind her.
That got me moving. I bucked against the straps that held me to the table, fur running down my arms as my wolf tried to be free. Pain shot up my arms as the cuffs engaged and the queen laughed, a high shrill sound.
Before she could step any closer, the door at the far wall burst open and a man wearing black army fatigues skidded to a stop at the foot of my gurney. He was barely winded, but his cheeks were slightly flushed, which was saying something for a blood sucker who was dead.
“What is it?” the queen growled at him, never taking her eyes off of the pulse at my neck.
“Werewolves. West gate. They’re asking for the girl,” he responded, and my heart suddenly grew wings.
He came for me. That fucking asshole who I was so pissed at I could punch in the balls, came for me. I’d torn our bond; I couldn’t really feel him like I could before. Only if I dug really deep and searched for him inside of me did I feel his essence. His strong, loving, and fragile soul was linked to my strong, guarded, and broken one.
‘Demi!’ Sawyer shouted suddenly in my mind as if he felt me searching for him. ‘Oh my God, Sage ripped off the necklace and then punched me in the face. I’m so fucking sorry. It was a spell. Please forgive me.’
A tear slid down my cheek at the relief that Sage had gotten that freaking thing off of him, but I was in such shit right now it didn’t matter.
“Fuck,” the queen said at the guard who had spoken, and then pointed at a man in a lab coat. “Get me that elixir, and if she dies during the extraction process, throw her body in a woodchipper. I can’t be caught being involved in this. I have the Magical Creatures Council on my ass enough as it is.”
“Yes, my lady.” He bowed to her as my stomach sank.
Throw her body in a woodchipper? Say what?
I screamed as I bucked against the restraints and she lunged for me. At the same time I felt something snap. Not the binds or anything physical—something inside of me. But it wasn’t me… it was Sawyer. His alpha power washed over me, filled me up. I pulled on the bindings once more and was rewarded with the satisfying crack of metal as the hinge gave way.
He lent me his power… it was a fleeting thought before I lurched from the gurney and headbutted the queen of the vampires before she could attack me.
Pain exploded between my eyebrows as my forehead smashed into her nose and she hissed.
Dizzy and stiff, I launched from the table only to trip and fall to the floor. My ankles were bound. I splayed out my hands to catch the brunt of my fall, and then rushed into a standing position as quickly as possible. With another burst of Sawyer’s energy, I kicked out and snapped the chain holding my legs together.
“That bitch broke my nose!” the queen roared as I made it to the open doorway at the back of the room. I was just about to reach the hallway when a million volts of electricity slammed into my back.
No.
A wail ripped from my throat as pain laced across my skin, causing it to burn and tighten. My whole body shook as agony encompassed me. Falling to my knees, I barely had time to get in another breath before a knee crashed into my face, hitting me right in the eye socket. Sharp pain exploded in my brain and then my lip as the queen crashed down on me with powerful fast blows, one after another.
“The wolves have reached the main castle, my lady,” a male voice said, and she stopped immediately, freezing with her fist in the air.
When I looked up into her dead black eyes, I understood how Vicon was able to easily do what he did to me. I mean if he was raised by this demon, then I expected nothing less of him. If this was his role model for how to treat a woman, then I was no longer shocked he’d raped me with his friends.
“Drain her essence and bring it to me while I deal with the dogs,” she snapped, and left the room.
I curled into a ball in the doorway, hurt, scared, and unsure what to do. Another man in a lab coat held the prod out, threatening me with another jolt that I wasn’t sure I could take, especially not without rapid healing. I was all but human with these cuffs on.
“No. Please,” I whimpered.
Two guards now glowered over me and I couldn’t see a way out of this, not in my current shape. My wolf wanted to come forward, but I pushed her back. I couldn’t take another jolt.
‘Fight. Fight back.’ It was a faint whisper, but I heard him.
Sawyer.
I didn’t dare respond for fear of activating the cuffs, but he clearly felt through our broken and tattered bond that I was in trouble.
“I can’t,” I whimpered aloud. “I’m done.” A sob escaped me.
The man in the lab coat frowned at me. “Get her back on the table,” he snapped to the guards.
The two vampire guards bent to hook their hands under my armpits when two things happened simultaneously.
- A fire alarm went off.
- Sawyer’s alpha power surged so strongly through me that I felt his wolf nearly jump inside my body. The cuffs didn’t activate though, so I breathed a sigh of relief.
Not questioning anything, I punched both of the guards in the throats simultaneously with precision. They fell to their knees coughing and I lunged out into the hallway like a maniac, pumping my wobbly legs, still dangling a thin silver chain behind me. I turned right and ran as fast as I could while the fire alarm blared so loudly my head felt like it was going to explode. I hit a dead end and then turned left. The fire alarm ceased its blaring, and footsteps pounded behind me. Ducking into a room to catch my breath and think of a plan, I pulled the door closed behind me, panting.
This building must have been some type of science building, because I was now in an empty room with a stainless-steel table, filled with beakers and Petri dishes. Along the far wall was a giant windowpane overlooking a thick forest. There were machines I didn’t recognize but it all looked very high-end. When my eyes fell on the maroon leather briefcase, I stilled.
It was the same one the vampires’ lawyer had brought to the meeting and indicated it held Sawyer’s DNA.
My heart hammered in my chest as I stepped forward. Footsteps thundered just outside the door and I froze.
“I don’t smell her!” a male screamed.
“Because of the cuffs.” I recognized Mr. Lab Coat’s voice.
I crouched behind the stainless-steel table just as the door opened.
My heart leapt into my throat as I peered around for a weapon, but then to my surprise the door closed and the footsteps retreated.
Holy shifter, that was close.
Salty copper filled my mouth and I realized I was bleeding. Standing over the stainless-steel table, I caught my reflection and winced.
Black eye, split lip bleeding into my mouth, haunted eyes. It reminded me of the night of my attack and I just wanted to get the fuck out of here, but I also wanted to help Sawyer.
I still loved him, even though he chose someone else over me. I knew it had to have been the necklace.
Reaching out with shaky hands, I opened the briefcase and held my breath.
It was empty.
Oh God no!
Searching the counter, I noticed what looked like some hair and pipette. Was that Sawyer’s fur? The machine on the far wall was whirring and I wondered if it was some type of DNA extractor or whatever they were called. I didn’t watch enough CSI for this shit. There was only one way to make sure Sawyer’s fur never left this room.
Reaching out to one of the Bunsen burners, I grabbed the matches that sat right in front.
Sawyer’s energy surged within me as I felt his presence wash over me.
‘Run, Demi. There are too many of them. They are trying to keep me from searching for you without a warrant. Can you get out?’
Shit.
I couldn’t respond to him, I couldn’t take another jolt.
I spun on the gas and lit the match, igniting the flame of the Bunsen burner as I had dozens of times at Delphi High. After setting the lit Bunsen burner on the table, I turned and grabbed the metal chair nearest to me. I needed to make sure I had a way out of here before I blew the place up and destroyed Sawyer’s DNA. Picking up the chair took every ounce of whatever strength I had left. This was one of those pretty view windows that didn’t open, it was just for looks. Pulling the chair over my head, I chucked it hard at the windowpane and it crashed into it, caving it outward with the chair stuck in the glass.
Not ideal. Not like in the movies. Dammit.
It had made the loudest noise possible and I still had no exit. Pulling the chair out, I threw it again, sweating as it crashed into the glass and finally fell out the other side.
Crisp autumn air blew inside and I knew it was time to get the hell out of here. Grabbing two glass chemical bottles, I spun the lids off without even looking at the label and prayed they were flammable as all hell. If Sawyer’s DNA was in this room, then I was going to incinerate it.
Stepping up to the edge of the window, I turned over my shoulder and chucked the bottles onto the flame, just as the door to the room opened. Kicking off the ground, I leapt out the window as an explosion rocked the building.
Heat and pressure pushed into my back, but I ignored it as the ground came up to meet me. Rolling into the fall, I crashed down on my right shoulder, which flared with pain as I heard a popping noise. But I knew I had not a moment to lose, and burst to my feet, running for the woods.
I didn’t look behind me, I didn’t even know where I was going, I just ran. My shoulder throbbed, my arm hanging limply at my side. I thought it was out of socket but not broken. My head still pounded and the skin around my cuffs was bleeding, but I was alive.
‘Tell me you got out! I see smoke, Demi. Tell me you are fucking safe or I’ll go crazy!’ Sawyer roared in my mind and my headache intensified.
‘Got… out,’ I sent back as the cuffs’ magic ignited, sending a burst of fresh electricity through my body. It was too much, I’d taken on too much. My skin felt raw and I sobbed, stumbling as I fell to my knees in the forest.
‘Run, Demi. Run until you reach a new territory. If you head west, I can meet you. If that’s not possible, head east to the trolls. Don’t go south or you will hit the Wild Lands and the Ithaki.’
I managed to stand, trying to figure out where the fuck west was when I heard feet pounding on the forest floor far behind me.
I took off running like my ass was on fire, through the thick trees even though everything hurt, even though I wanted to fall down and give up. My injured arm flopped wildly around as I tried to pin it to my chest with my good hand. Tears streamed down my face because I had no idea where I was going. I was still mad at Sawyer for not believing me and choosing Meredith even though he wore a spelled necklace, and yet I wanted to run right into his arms.
My feet pounded the damp earth as I skipped over fallen logs and bushy ferns.
Run.
Run.
My inner wolf cheered me on. I ran blindly until I couldn’t hear the footsteps behind me anymore and my legs burned. I started to stumble, unable to keep up any longer. How long had passed? An hour? It felt like ten. My chest heaved, lungs burning as exhaustion settled into me. Slowing, I felt relief wash over me when I saw the little red flags that demarcated a property line. Just beyond the flags was a small two-foot-tall bush hedge.
Please be the wolves. Please be wolf land! A sob ripped from my throat as I tasted my freedom.
Don’t be the Wild Lands.
Don’t be the trolls.
Please be the wolves.
I was crawling now, sobbing and crawling with one usable arm as the fight left me.
Inch by inch, I neared the border and finally crawled over the red flag line, falling onto my back, looking up at the sky and wondering if I would die.
If I was going to die, then this wasn’t a bad way to go. The sun was up, birds were chirping, and the trees rustled in the wind.
‘God, please don’t let me die.’
I went to church once with a human friend and it was actually a nice experience. The singing, the handshakes and hugs, everyone was so nice to me; I wasn’t used to being accepted like that. I’d meant to send that prayer up to God as an internal thought, but I must have sent it to Sawyer because the cuffs jolted what was left of me. I had no more tears to cry, so dry sobs racked my body as Sawyer’s energy bristled against me.
‘No. No. No. Don’t say that,’ came his reply as his severed and broken soul bled into our fractured bond. ‘I should have believed you. Even under a spell I should have known. Jesus, Demi, how will you ever forgive me? The necklace. You have to believe me, I… wasn’t me.’
I sensed that he was distracted, and our bond wasn’t the same after I’d torn myself away from it. He felt so far away. I was too weak to respond, but his grief was nearly choking me alive. I felt it even though it was distant and diluted the internal shame and regret he was feeling bled into me.
‘Demi, you’re my true mate. I’m so gutted that I hurt you like that in front of everyone.’ His voice cracked. ‘Please tell me there’s a chance you’ll forgive me?’
Tears streamed down my face as I thought of the time we first made love, how tender he was, how he asked permission. How I didn’t feel complete without him in my life, and I never would. This was Meredith’s fault, and I knew from Raven that love spells were dangerous and all-consuming, sometimes driving the person who took them to go mad or commit suicide. I was just glad it was broken. I wanted to be in his arms again.
I risked one more shock to tell him something in case I really did die.
‘Forgiven,’ I huffed, and then yelped at the shocks that racked my body.
Relief rushed through our bond on his side. ‘Just hang on. I’ll find you. Wherever you are, I’ll find you, Demi. Don’t give up.’
Blackness faded at the edges of my vision, and then a blur of brown hair flashed in front of my face.
“Sawyer?” I whimpered, looking up at the sky. Had he found me already?
A perplexed yet strikingly beautiful female troll looked down at me and grimaced.
No.
The trolls were in an alliance with the vampires. She’d hand me over for sure. I wasn’t in Wolf City or the Wild Lands. I’d just landed myself square in troll territory, and with that I’d signed my own death warrant. The beautiful young woman pulled a shotgun from somewhere at her hip and held it firmly in two hands.
“Stop right there, blood sucker,” she growled, and my heart thundered in my chest. Looking above me, I saw a male vampire standing just at the edge of the red flags.
“She’s ours,” he hissed, and took a step forward.
She cocked the shotgun and he stopped.
Looking down at me with deep soulful eyes, she nodded her head to the vampire. “You with him?”
“No,” I croaked with what little energy I had left. “Help me… please.”
He lunged for me and the shotgun went off, sending a ringing sound throughout my ears. I flinched as a hole the size of a baseball appeared in his chest.
The troll leaned down and the smell of jasmine washed over me. “Your arm looks out of socket. Want me to reset it so you don’t heal wrong?” she asked, her eyes still full of concern for me. Packard and the other troll assholes at Delphi were the only interaction I’d had with her kind. I wasn’t prepared for her generosity.
I just nodded.
She stepped away for a minute and brought a wheelbarrow with her; there were a few ears of corn inside of it. “Get in. In case you pass out, I can bring you back to the house.”
I tried to stand and swayed as she swooped in. “Poor thing. What did they do to you?” She clicked her tongue as she inspected my bleeding cuffs. I helped her as best I could, but it was painful to move. Dropping me slowly into the wheelbarrow, she inspected my arm, shaking her head as she squeezed the shoulder blade and I whimpered. Reaching out, she grabbed one of the pieces of corn and shoved it in my mouth.
“Ready?”
Fuck no.
I just nodded. Knowing that if this didn’t set right and healed wrong, I could be permanently maimed. Good thing my cuffs kept that from happening anytime soon. She pressed her left hand on my shoulder and grabbed my elbow with her right. The mere act of grasping it lightly caused a whimper to rip from my throat.
“One,” she said, and yanked so hard I screamed into the corn and bit down as blackness finally took me into its sweet embrace.
