Page 46 of Awakened and Betrayed
My shivers start to morph into convulsions and judging by the terrified look on Enoch’s face, something is seriously wrong with me. My breaths are quick and shallow, and I’m trying so hard to speak, but my mouth won’t cooperate.
Have I been poisoned?
Thoughts of Talon and toxic shifter saliva float through my foggy brain, and I try to think of when someone could have slipped me something. The only thing I really ate was dessert. Fucking cheesecake, and fucking Elder Cleary for ruining cheesecake for me. It had to be him.Car doors slam around me, and I realize that I’m being cradled in the back seat. I feel the car start to move, and Nash leans in and places his hands on my head and chest.
When they warm to try and heal me, it feels like a brand against my skin. I can't bite back the pain-filled scream that tears out of my throat. He pulls his hands away, but the pain doesn’t go with him. I’m flooded by it and drowning, I can’t breathe or grit through it, and I realize at that moment, whatever this is, I think it’s going to kill me.
24
Everything hurts. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. It means I’m not dead, but it’s getting harder and harder to keep from wishing that I was. The pain is unyielding. Sometimes it feels like I’m burning alive, other times I feel like I’m being flayed. I thought getting my runes was bad, but this—whatever this is— is infinitely worse. Whoever is holding me, brushes hair away from my face and speaks close to my ear. Their breath feels like needles against my neck, and their words are lost in the pain that saturates every inch of me.
I can’t control the screaming. My throat is raw from it, my voice slowly giving out. My body can’t decide if it wants to crumble in on itself or arch to escape the pain, and I twitch from one position to the other. Cool air brushes against my skin and I feel myself being passed over to someone else. I force my eyes open, hoping to see one of my guys but Becket looks back at me instead. He shouts to the others, and suddenly we stop moving. Enoch, Nash, and Kallan peer down at me, asking me if I’m okay, but I’m about as far from it as I can be.
I will one trembling hand over to the other and run a shaky, pain filled finger over the runes that will call my guys. Beckett and the others watch me confused, but I’m not capable of giving them any answers. It’s all I can do to keep my eyes open, to focus on the task of calling my Chosen. They’ll come. I just hope I can hang on until then.
Becket starts moving again. I close my eyes against the pain the jostling of his movements spark, and grit my teeth against the scream trying to force its way out of me.
“We should have taken her to our dads, at least they might know what the hell to do! What the fuck are we going to do for her here?”
“Becket, shut the fuck up! For all we know they did this to her. She didn’t want to go back into that house for a reason!”
“Fuck you, Nash! You can shove your bullshit accusations up your ass!”
Something cool presses against the back of my body, and I realize that I’m being placed in a bed.
“Both of you stop! Becket, she’s here now, so figure out something more helpful than bitching about it. Until we know what the hell is going on, Nash, keep your issues with the elders to yourself. Kallan call Aydin, see if he has any idea what’s going on.” Enoch’s voice booms around the room, and the others fall silent at his commands.
The bed presses down next to me, and he runs his hand over my forehead and down my cheek. I try to turn away from him, but I can’t move. I can’t speak. My scream-abused voice has finally abandoned me. All I can do is whimper and hope, one way or another, this ends soon.
* * *
“What the fuckis going on? Get away from her!”
Knox’s deep baritone breaks through the silence, shattering it like glass and pulling me from the blackness I’ve been floating in and out of. My heart rate picks up, knowing he’s near, and I try to fight through the pain and my body’s sluggishness to get to him.
“What the hell are you doing here?” several voices ask simultaneously, and I hear movement around the room.
“I said, get the fuck away from her!”
The body taking up space next to me is ripped away. A scuffle seems to break out judging by the shouts and movement. The mattress dips down next to me again, and I’m pulled into big strong arms and surrounded by a scent I would know anywhere. Knox.
“Killer, what’s going on?” His voice caresses my face, and I hear a slight break in the tone as his arms tighten around me.
“What happened?” Ryker asks, his voice close. I feel him lean over me as he places his hands on my head and neck.
Before anyone can stop him, Ryker’s palms heat up, and he tries to press Healing magic into me. It burns through me like lava. My back arches in agony, and my mouth opens in a silent scream.
“Don’t fucking do that; it hurts her! You think we haven’t tried that already?” Nash shouts at Ryker, who yanks his hands away from me.
“Fuck, Squeaks. I’m so sorry! What the hell is going on?”
“She can’t talk. She was screaming in pain up until twenty minutes ago, but I think her voice is gone now. We don’t know what happened. One minute she was yelling at us, the next magic is pulsing out of her, and she’s been like this ever since.” Enoch recounts.
“She’s going through her Awakening,” Aydin announces, from somewhere else in the room.
“What are you two doing here?” Bastien growls out.
“We called him for help. You guys still haven’t explained what the hellyou’redoing here,” Kallan sounds off from the corner.
