Page 12 of Heat Lightning

Scanning the crowd, I saw someone headed our way who also looked me up and down in a way that was uncomfortable, but that wasn’t what made my stomach plummet to the floor. No.

It was the hooded figure a few paces behind him, looking right at us.

Primal instinct screamed at me to bolt. It was him. He’d found me here.

Acute fear made me dizzy. I ducked behind Joey’s friend and tried to find the exit, but my vision spun, and he was everywhere. Standing in every corner of the room, hovering behind every clump of sex-crazed people, blocking every path out of this crush of bodies.

That faceless, hooded figure stood, watching. Always watching.

I didn’t have time to process what Joey and the strangers were talking about, or fight when he grabbed me by the arm again and pulled me away. All I knew was I needed to escape that terrifying figure stalking my every move.

Sweat poured out of me, making my shirt stick to my chest and back. We moved behind a large clump of people and lost my stalker in the crowd.

This was my chance to flee.

“Joey,” I said, “I need to go. Someone followed me here. I think he’s dangerous.”

Joey completely ignored me.

“Hey!” I shouted, trying and failing to wrench my arm away. “Let go. I need to leave. I need⁠—”

“Shut up,” he snarled, dragging me toward a darkened doorway on the opposite wall from the entrance. No one turned to look; my protests went unheard and unobserved in the throng of people surrounding us.

A new fear, even more acute, choked me when he pulled me through that door and down a dimly lit hall, the two strange alphas right on our heels. The only illumination came from the pulsing strobe at our backs, and strips of light along the floor at even intervals.

More doors. Sounds, faint through the thrum of the music, emitted from behind them as we passed. Moans, cries, and outright screams of pain.

Run! My inner voice told me, but I couldn’t, blocked in on all sides with a psycho stalker lost back in the crowd.

We stopped in front of the second-to-last door, and Joey flung it open, throwing me inside. The three of them piled in and slammed it shut behind them. He flipped the lock and wiggled the knob, ensuring it wouldn’t budge.

They stood between me and the only exit, staring. Dread so visceral I thought I might be sick pooled in my gut. My instincts blared like a runaway train. Get out! Get out! Get out!

“Joey,” I said, voice trembling. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I need to leave, right now.”

I’d take my chances with the creep out there. He at least hadn’t tried to hurt me yet, and judging by the way the three of them looked at me now, they definitely planned to.

He ignored me again. The other alpha he’d called Dain stepped up and took a deep whiff. “Good choice,” he said with a low chuckle. “This one’ll be fun.”

I cringed away. “Stay the fuck away from me.” I hated the way my voice shook, and the tears that sprang to my eyes without my permission.

How had this spiraled so quickly? So focused on the first threat, I was completely oblivious to this one until it was too late. Had Joey planned this all along? Is that why he brought me here? To… to…

I couldn’t even think about it. A glance around the room said enough; a stained mattress was pushed into the far corner with a handful of used and discarded knot-compatible condoms scattered across the floor. A single red lightbulb dangled from the ceiling. Combined with the screams that had nothing to do with pleasure coming from next door, the whole scene underscored the horror permeating from the scent of helplessness and terror.

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if it was mine or leftover from the poor soul who was last in here. This room was not for consenting participants of the debauchery happening out in the main hall.

This room was for pain and fear.

The alpha named Eric sniffed the air, nostrils flaring. “He’s not ready yet. Needs something stronger than the fog.”

The fog? What did the fog have to do with⁠—

Oh. Oh, no. My headache, dizziness, and the sweating. Was that from the fog? Was it laced with something? What would it do to me?

The room spun. Whatever it was, my short, shallow breaths did not make it better.

Joey’s eyes dragged me up and down, dead and cold. How the fuck had I ever liked him? It was like two totally different people: the Joey before he picked me up tonight, and the one after. I couldn’t reconcile them.