Chapter 22: Kali

22

KALI

F loating somewhere between slumber and wakefulness, I squeeze my eyes shut and attempt to cling to my dreams.

The crackle of a fire and a dripping sound pokes at my subconscious, ruining my peaceful slumber. The brush of fur against my skin and the warm, comforting heat pressing against my back gives me a moment of happiness. I smile and reach down, stroking the thick blanket wrapped around me, while trying to force myself back into sleep.

But it's no good, the howling wind outside catches my attention and reality beckons.

My grogginess fades, and I grumpily give up on being able to doze off again.

As I brush my fingers over the soft fibres beneath my fingertips, it slowly dawns on me that this blanket is unusually soft. Pressing my fingers into it, the give beneath has me puzzled. I crack my eyes open, looking for the familiar decor of my house, but frowning when I don't recognise anything.

It's not the dark wood of my rented cabin as I was expecting, but rough, untreated walls.

A fog sits over my mind, stopping me from connecting the dots, and I tilt my head in confusion. Blinking hard, I struggle to comprehend what's happening.

Am I dreaming?

I raise myself onto one elbow to rub my eyes and get a better look, then a shooting pain jolts me fully back to consciousness, and a lingering dread crawls across my skin.

Moving was a bad idea, and I'm definitely not dreaming. Or this is worst dream I've ever come up with. I concentrate on my breathing until the pain passes, and I curse before tentatively bringing my fingers to my heavily bandaged abdomen.

How the hell did I get here? And where on earth am I?

My face feels tight. When I touch it, my skin feels hard, and bits of dried mud flake away. Looking down at my arms in the dimly lit room, I see dark streaks running down my skin where someone attempted to clean me, but traces remain. Except it's not muck, it's blood. My blood.

The blanket shifts beneath me, and I freeze. Hot breath tickles my neck on each exhale.

Rugs don't breathe.

I may not know why I'm here, but I know I should be alone in my own bed.

Choking back a scream when the bulk behind me moves, I force my breathing to stay calm and in tune with the rising and falling mass at my back. I grit my teeth against the unbearable pain in my side, trying to carefully edge away, until a low growl of warning makes me freeze.

It all comes flooding back to me then, and my heart rate skyrockets.

Serena. Holly. The other missing women. Am I next?

Panicking, I scramble away from the presence at my back, ignoring the shooting pain all over my body. I sit up and clamber to my feet, intending to flee. Sensing rather than feeling the beast behind me rising, adrenaline surges through me, driving me to move faster, despite my injuries.

I spin, turning to face my captor, arms raised to protect myself, if need be, but I'm still struggling to understand what's going on. My vision tunnels until everything goes black and spots dance in front of my eyes.

The last thing I remember, I was in the forest fighting Serena, trying to buy enough time for Evan to find me and Holly.

A memory teases the edges of my mind. My cabin and Maisy. Voices. The smell of antiseptic. The pain of a needle being pushed through my skin, over and over. But even as the fragments of my memory piece back together, I can't work out how I got here. Not that it matters right now, I just need to figure out how to get away.

My legs are shaky, and I stumble, grabbing the back of a chair blindly as I almost fall, crying out in pain when my wounds split open. Blood flows down my legs, making the soles of my feet slippery. Some colour leeks into the periphery of my vision, but I'm helpless. That doesn't bode well if I'm up against Serena.

Even though she might be bigger and stronger than me, I won't go down without a fight. Except, when I call on my beast, she's nowhere to be found. My heart sinks in defeat. I'm too weak to shift. And if I'm too weak to shift, I'm not strong enough to fight. Which means I'm a dead woman.

A scraping noise in front of me has me jumping to attention.

"Stay away from me!" Holding my hands out, I scramble backward toward the small countertop that doubles as a kitchen. I swipe at my face, rubbing my eyes, willing my sight to come back. Turning my head to the side as the huge black beast before me slowly comes into focus, I pause.

It's not Serena.

Who else would want to hurt me? It could be someone from my hometown, but this is a beast I've never met before. I'd have remembered him. He's dark and monstrously big, with a wider snout than any I've seen. His eyes glow in the inky blackness as his chest heaves, a steady rumble vibrating deeply behind that wall of defined muscle.

The beast blinks once and takes half a step closer, continuing to stare at me intently.

I wobble on my feet as a fresh wave of pain rips through me, forcing the air from my lungs. I throw out a hand to brace myself against the wall as dizziness makes it hard to stay on my feet.

Standing was a very bad idea.

Spots appear in front of my eyes again, and my hearing becomes muffled. Before I collapse, I slump over the nearest surface, closing my eyes against the spinning room. Resting my head in my hands for a minute, I wait for the wave of nausea to pass before looking back up and meeting his steady gaze.

His beast just stares back, no indication that he intends to shift back to human form and allow us to speak.

I glance around, surprised to see a small fire going on the far side of the room, along with a small card table set up beside the bed, covered with medical supplies.

"How did I get here?" I try again, desperate to understand what's happening, but he continues to just blink at me, a determined look in his wide eyes. "Does anyone know where I am?"

The sharp jerk of his head tells me that no, nobody knows where I am. Which makes my position here precarious.

Narrowing my eyes, I try to get a good look at him, but my face is swollen, my vision is blurry, and he's careful to stick to the shadows.

"Please tell me where I am."

More blinking. More stubborn stares.

Cursing, I look to the ceiling, praying for patience. "What do you want from me? Are you trying to kill me by bringing me here?"

When he finally moves, I expect the beast to come closer, maybe nuzzle before he shifts back, but instead, he just looks furious. He turns abruptly to retrieve a small packet from the table and holds it gently between his teeth. He comes closer and drops the pain medication in my lap before retreating to his bed and laying down, his unhappy gaze burning into me.

What did I do wrong? Other than suggesting it's not the best idea to carry a badly injured woman off into the night, away from the medical attention she desperately needs, and her family, who must be freaking out.

"You need to bring me back."

Taking a stern tone doesn't work either. In fact, it only makes things worse. Without lifting his head from where it rests on his massive paws, the beast lifts one side of his mouth in a dangerous growl.

When my eyes drift to the window where the wind whistles through the branches outside, those amber glowing eyes narrow at me, daring me to try and leave.

Recognising that his animal is firmly in the driving seat, I resign myself to staying here, tonight at least.

I lie back and try not to freak out, refusing to take the pills he's given me. I need medical attention. It's not safe for me to be out here, so far from help. If my beast is still too weak to shift, she could be too weak to heal me. And if I don't heal, I can't fight, and I can't escape.

The light bounces off the trail of blood I've left on the floor. Along with the stitches, most of which I've burst now by moving, it's a harsh reminder of how badly I've been hurt. This is serious. If I pick up an infection in my weakened state, I could die out here before anyone can even come and rescue me.

Deciding that I'll be able to think better after some rest, I snuggle deeper into the warm blankets, keeping the beast in my sights. After one last defiant glare at my kidnapper, I stop fighting my fluttering eyelids and allow them to close.

The beast huffs, the sound mocking. He knows I have no choice, no way of escaping, for now, at least.

Inside I curse, because as annoying as he is, he's right. I'm not going anywhere.

"You can't keep me here forever," I whisper. "My cousins will come for me, and if you hurt me, they'll hunt you like the dog that you are."