Wolf Obsessed (Betrayed by Blood Book 3), page 5
She peered around me, her eyes widening as she put her hands on her chest. She let out a sigh when she realized Lincoln hadn’t moved. “I swear I was only sleeping for a second.”
I gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Hey, it’s okay. I was gone way longer than I thought I’d be. It’s well past midnight. You must be exhausted.”
Willa’s attention snapped to me. “Everything okay?”
I plopped down on the side of the bed and buried my face in my hands. “There was a wolf who attacked me while I was on my run. He was sent here by Pack Wolf Blood. We caught him, though, and he won’t cause any more trouble. I think everything’s fine now.”
I still couldn’t believe that Dad had offered him a chance to earn a spot in our pack. He’d extended the offer to the other three guys too once we found them. It seemed risky. But my dad was right. Sometimes people made bad choices for what they thought were the right reasons. I hoped that was the case.
Willa yawned and reached her hands up above her head as she stretched. “I’m glad you’re okay. Thank goodness they caught him. Terrifying he was able to go undetected with all the patrols.”
I hummed my agreement. It was very unnerving and something I would need to bring up to my dad. I’d heard him mention something to Mark about doubling the patrols, so it was likely already on his mind.
I was too exhausted to think about all that tonight, though.
I covered my mouth as I yawned. “You should get back to your room and get some rest in a real bed. I can’t imagine that chair is doing anything for your leg or your back.”
Or her neck. She was already massaging the spot right next to her collarbone.
Willa groaned as she let her legs fall to the floor, and then she stood. Her hands went to her back, and she stretched, pushing her chest forward. “You’re right, I definitely feel it.”
I chuckled and waved her toward the door. “Go get some rest. I have a feeling Jacob will be off duty soon.”
Willa smiled and waved before exiting the room.
I stripped out of my clothes and put on some new, clean pajamas before sliding in next to Lincoln. I’d shower in the morning because right now, I was beat.
I curled under the blankets and scooted close to Lincoln so my head rested on his chest, then I closed my eyes and reached out to him through our mate bond. Nothing was there, just a big black void.
Emotion clogged my throat, and I sniffled, fighting back tears. I splayed my hand across his chest and listened to the steady thrum of his heart.
Soon, the beat lulled me into darkness, where there was another presence, something cold and dark. A chill zipped down my spine. I turned in a circle, narrowing my eyes as I searched the never-ending abyss.
My pulse hammered, and my mouth went dry. I reached my hands out, feeling for anything, but my fingers met air, which only made my muscles tense more.
A scream ripped through the silence, echoing around me like I was in a cavern. I couldn’t breathe as a weight pressed against my chest.
Lincoln!
I sprinted in the direction of the scream, my arms outstretched as I blinked my eyes rapidly. I still couldn’t see anything.
“No!” Another cry pierced the air.
It was Lincoln. I was sure of it.
The blackness ebbed away, and a set of stairs materialized in front of me. The same stairs that had been in the house Lincoln and I had been in just a few days ago. I rushed up them, thundered down the hall to the bedroom, and threw the door open with a gasp.
Mikey hovered over Lincoln on the floor, a syringe in one hand and the other wrapped tightly around his throat. Mikey got in Lincoln’s face, yelling something unintelligible before he jabbed the needle into Lincoln’s chest.
Lincoln grunted, his hips bucking up as he pounded his arms against the floor. His face contorted, his mouth opening in a silent cry as his eyes bulged.
Mikey threw his head back and cackled. “You aren’t so tough now, are you, big brother?”
Lincoln writhed, his eyes rolling back until only the whites showed.
Mikey stood and kicked him in the side between his ribs and hips. “Sawyer always was the strong one. I never understood why he did so much to protect you.”
He dropped again so he crouched in front of him and grasped Lincoln’s hair, yanking his head up. “He’s not here to protect you now. And neither is that pretty little girl of yours. It’s just the two of us, and I plan to enjoy myself.”
Mikey fisted his hand in Lincoln’s hair, jerking him into a sitting position. He screamed at him so loudly and belligerently that I had no idea what he was saying.
He shoved Lincoln back to the floor. Lincoln’s head cracked against the wood, hard enough that it bounced.
Mikey wiped his mouth with his arm. His nostrils flared, and his cheeks turned crimson. “You think you’re so smug, don’t you? You thought you were smarter than me. That you could best me. Ha. Joke’s on you. You’re at the end of the line.”
He wrapped his hand around Lincoln’s throat and began to squeeze. “It’s all over for you now, big brother.”
I shrieked and dove at Mikey. But this wasn’t real. It was all in my head. Or Lincoln’s. I didn’t know which.
My body floated right through Mikey, and I landed hard on the wood on his other side.
I kicked at him and then moved to my knees to punch him, but my feet and fists went straight through him. Tears blurred my vision and trickled down my cheeks. “No. Stop. Please, please stop.”
Lincoln’s eyes bulged. His fingers twitched, and his body shook like he might be having a seizure. He was too weak to do anything to defend himself. The wolfsbane coursed through his veins, poisoning him.
I crawled across the floor and peered over him, putting my hands on either side of his face. His eyes were glazed over and didn’t fixate on me.
I pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Lincoln, please. Please fight for me and Sawyer, please. You have to fight him. Don’t give up. I’m right here. I’m with you.”
I couldn’t breathe. My chest tightened, and dots blotted my vision.
I screamed Lincoln’s name at the top of my lungs as my fingernails dug into his face, trying to get him to see me.
Lincoln blinked, his gaze landing on mine. He mouthed my name. I gasped, and then the room began to ebb away.
I shot my eyes open. The bed shook beneath me, and I was lying in a puddle of water.
I bolted up and twisted. Lincoln thrashed in the sheets. Sweat covered his body, and large droplets dribbled down his forehead, pooling on the pillow.
His breath became rapid and raspy. He kicked out with his feet, and his fists squeezed the sheets like a lifeline.
I put my hands on his face and gave him a gentle shake. “Lincoln. Lincoln, get up. Wake up.”
The heart monitor to my right went berserk, beeping and growing louder and faster by the second.
Reality dawned on me. I’d be in Lincoln’s mind and in his nightmare because he was dying.
But if he died there, did that mean he would die in real life?
Seven
Lincoln
My sneakers squeaked against the tile as I walked through the brightly lit mall. My heart pounded, and my mouth went dry. I clenched and unclenched my clammy hands against my thighs.
The shops were empty, all except for one. I knew where I was. When I was.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. My legs grew heavy the closer I drew to the corner. I knew what was waiting for me.
Pain and death.
Gunshots rang out, making me flinch. Screams echoed down the long corridor. Emotions clogged my throat. Part of me wanted to dig my heels into the floor and not go any farther, but my legs moved of their own volition.
Most people had escaped the mall unscathed.
My mom, sister, and I hadn’t been so lucky. We were in the shop the gunman had been targeting. The police said it was a jealous ex, and it was a case of the wrong place at the wrong time.
I’d spent too many nights wondering if there was something else I could have done. If I’d been stronger, maybe they would still be alive.
Then Dad wouldn’t have gone insane. This war would have never started. Sloane wouldn’t have a target on her back, and Sawyer wouldn’t have to play a double agent.
I swallowed as I rounded the corner, and my chest tightened as I stared at the shop. The glass had fallen in a cascading waterfall when a wayward bullet had struck it. Many lights had shattered from a couple of bullets that had struck the panels in the ceiling.
I trembled when I saw my mother cradling me and my sister. Hannah lay splayed out on the ground, limp and motionless. I clung to my mom like a scared child when I should have been defending her.
I gritted my teeth and mashed my lips together as I watched my nightmare unfold. Tears streamed down my mother’s face. She rocked Hannah and me like she had when we were babies and murmured softly to us.
She smoothed her hands over Hannah’s face repeatedly. If my mother could have willed her back to life, she would have.
My jaw worked as I stared like an outsider looking in. Blood coated my mom’s shirt. My hand and arm were covered in it too. My mom’s blood. She was so pale, so white. Her eyes kept drooping shut, but she snapped them back open again.
I was curled against her, crying like a coward. I should’ve done something. Anything.
Footsteps squeaked behind me, and I turned to look over my shoulder. I shuffled backward, my hands fisting against my thighs. What was he doing here?
Mikey rubbed his hands together as a wide grin split across his face. “Back to where it all started, I see. You really did screw this one up, didn’t you, big brother? You could’ve saved them both. Instead, look at you wallowing in Mother’s arms like a tiny, helpless baby.”
I clenched my jaw and exhaled through my nose. “This isn’t real. It’s a memory.”
More like a nightmare.
I squeezed my eyes shut, but all I could feel was an ebbing darkness around me. Nightmares had plagued me for days. I was stuck in my head, forced to live out the worst moments of my life. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t wake.
I pictured Sawyer and Sloane. At times, I thought I could hear them, but they sounded so far away, a million miles, while I was here alone.
Mikey shoved me, making me stumble backwards.
My eyes narrowed.
Mikey put his hands on his hips. “Nobody is going to save you. Not Sawyer. Not Sloane. And definitely not Father.”
He shrugged as he looked behind me. “Mom can’t either. You let her die. Every awful thing that has happened is because of what you did in this moment.”
I lifted my fists in front of my face and moved into a fighting stance. “Get out of here, Mikey. Leave me alone.”
It was bad enough that I had to relive the worst moments of my life. I didn’t need my jerk brother rubbing my nose in it, too.
Mikey mirrored my movements and cocked his head back and forth as he waggled his brows. “Do you think you can take me? The last time we fought it out, it didn’t go so well for you.”
I bared my teeth. “Because you cheated.”
“There is no such thing as cheating in a fistfight, Lincoln. You’re just sad that you weren’t smart enough to think to use wolfsbane.”
I planted my feet and snarled. The wolfsbane had been my undoing. “And you know that you can’t win in a fair fight. But don’t worry. I won’t make the mistake of thinking you’ll fight fair again.”
Mikey cackled. “You’re right. You won’t make that mistake again because you won’t have another chance to. Today is the day you die, big brother.”
Mikey lunged and tackled me to the ground like we were playing a game of football. He landed so that he straddled me and immediately started delivering blows to my face.
I drew my arms up just in time to protect myself. His punches were relentless, hitting me hard enough that my arms ached.
He growled. “Fight back, Lincoln. Or are you too big of a coward?”
Mikey threw another punch and then a few more. I caught his next jab and jerked it to the side. I bucked my hips up, throwing him off me and rolling with my momentum so that I hovered over him.
I balled my fist and hit him square in the nose. Blood gushed out, and he scrunched up his face as he cried out in pain.
Then he snarled. Red coated his teeth as he bared them at me.
I growled and balled my fist, but before I could punch him again, the blackness returned and swallowed me whole.
The abyss didn’t last long. Blinding white light surrounded me. I grunted, shielding my eyes with my arm. Buzzing filled my ears and then stopped. I blinked.
We weren’t in the mall anymore. I lay on my back with Mikey over me. We were in the house, the one that Sloane and I had been in just a few days ago.
Mikey had a syringe in his hand. I reached out to stop him, but I wasn’t fast enough. He plunged it into my chest, injecting the cool liquid into me. But then the wolfsbane began to scorch as it entered my body and coursed through my veins. I was on fire, burning from the inside out.
My vision blurred. My limbs went numb and leaden. My arms flopped to the ground with a thump. I willed them to move so I could protect myself, but they wouldn’t budge.
The world bounced around me, or maybe I was shaking too hard. I couldn’t be sure. Pain exploded in my side, and my vision darkened.
Sloane’s voice filled my head. She sounded muffled, far away. Worse, I could hear the emotion in her voice.
I cracked my eyes open to see her leaning over me, her soft hands cradling my face. Tears streamed down her rosy cheeks, and she was saying something that sounded like my name, like she was calling for me, calling me back to her.
“Sloane.” I mumbled her name over and over again, searching for her like she was a lifeline.
She might as well have been. I needed her. Her and Sawyer both.
Pressure slammed against my neck so I couldn’t breathe, so I couldn’t swallow. My arms refused to budge. They weighed a million pounds.
Mikey appeared and grabbed my hair, seemingly reaching straight through Sloane, like she was a projection and not really here. He got in my face, blocking her from my view.
“She can’t help you now. No one can. You are mine, and I’m going to make you pay for what you did.”
The pressure on my throat loosened, but there was still a tightness in my chest making it so I could only wheeze in and out. I darted my gaze around, looking for Sloane.
She was gone.
Maybe she had never been here. I could’ve imagined her.
Mikey punched me in the gut. The air whooshed out of my lungs, and I wheezed, trying to draw in a breath. “You had it all, you know. Father looked up to you. He trusted you. You and Sawyer both.”
I tipped my head back and laughed. “Father never trusted me or looked up to me. He made it quite clear that I was a failure in his eyes.”
Mikey smacked me in the face. “I’m not talking about now. I mean before…”
I groaned as I tried to fill my lungs with air. They protested, aching with each move I made. Then his words hit me.
Understanding washed over me. Dad had been a different man before Mom and Hannah passed.
“That’s right, you let Mom and Hannah die. Father thought you were perfect until then. Then he saw the truth. You were pathetic and weak. You failed them. Just like you’re going to fail Sloane and Sawyer. I know what he is up to, you know.”
Emotion clogged my throat. He was right. I should have done more to help my mother and sister. Father always thought that and had mentioned it multiple times. It was why he hated me.
Wait! He knows what Sawyer is up to?
This isn’t real.
What if I’d been recaptured? What if this was some form of torture? I could be floating in between consciousness. I could betray my brother by accident and give Mikey the ammunition he needed to take us both out.
Mikey gave me a shake. “You couldn’t save them, and you aren’t going to be here to save your little girlfriend, either.”
He crouched next to me. “Sloane will be mine. I might keep you alive. Just long enough so that you have to watch me with her.”
I ground my teeth for a moment and then spit at him. A bloody glob hit him in the face. “You’ll never touch her.”
I won’t fail you, Sloane. I promise.
The room blurred, and everything shook. I squeezed my eyes shut, and when I reopened them, we weren’t here anymore.
I was someplace else where flames licked around the walls. Heat surrounded me like an inferno, making sweat bead on my brow. I lay in a bed unable to move. My limbs rested limply against the mattress, too weak to move.
Sloane cried out. She was calling for me, shouting for me to help her.
Mikey leaned in front of me. “Sloane is mine now. And there’s nothing you can do to help her. You failed her just like you did Mom and Hannah. And just like you will Sawyer. Once Dad finds out, he’ll kill him.”
I clenched my jaw. “I’ll kill you.”
Mikey threw his head back and laughed like I’d told the funniest joke in the world. “You couldn’t save Mom. You couldn’t save Hannah. There’s no chance to save Sloane. And I’m going to go after Sawyer too. You failed them all. Their blood is on your hands.”
Sloane’s screams filled the air. I had to get to her before it was too late. The flames were closing in. It grew hotter in here, bathing me in a pool of sweat.
I twisted and tried to move my legs to get them underneath me, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get up from the bed.
Mikey laughed in the background, and Sloane shrieked louder. Maybe he was right. Maybe I couldn’t save them at all.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try, though. I pictured Sloane and Sawyer. They weren’t Mom and Hannah.
Both of them were still alive. They had to be. This wasn’t real. It was all in my head. I had to get back to them.
I opened my eyes. The flames practically danced right on top of me now. The blankets had caught fire, and the inferno crawled its way across the lavender comforter toward me.
