Chapter 45

Chapter Forty-Five

FREYA

L ightning strikes.

With the sheer force of shock comes radiating waves of guilt, despair, and most obvious, determination.

My dark blanket is ripped away with the flash of energy surging through my body, and yet my feelings are ones of fear and exhaustion. Not guilt, determination or despair.

Except, as the red of my eyelids fades to searing white brightness with each flutter of my aching eyes, the despair does begin to feel like my own.

I'm still here. I never got out. It was all a trick. Maybe some new hallucinogens to keep things interesting.

The thoughts tumble around and around until I realize I can't even hear the thumping of my heartbeat in my ears. A constant ringing is all I hear, making my eyes shoot open, not minding the burn of tears that fall from the sting of lights.

Lights of the clinic. White walls, and beside the white sheet bed I'm lying on is more white marble tile. The clinic .

"No," I think I protest, but the only telltale sign I spoke is the vibrations rolling through my voice box. "What's happening?!"

My hands fly to my ears as I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to force the ringing away. But before I can touch the damn things that won't work, hands snatch my wrists.

I think I scream, and I think my eyes open, but what I see makes no sense. There are no shackles around my boney wrists, just dark, mocha-colored fingers.

My eyes are betraying me, because there is no way Elliott is sitting in front of me. What I'm feeling are the chains holding my arms down. I know it. His mouth moves, but obviously no sound comes out because this isn't real.

Nor is the wonderful mixture of my pack's scent tickling my nose behind the bleach stench of the clinic.

Yanking on my hands to drop them onto the... blanket? So much of this isn't right.

"Leave me alone," I plead when the vision of my alpha tugs my knuckles to his warm chest. Vibrations hum through my fingers, but I squeeze my eyes shut, forcing hot tears to heat my cheeks. "Stop! No! It's not real!"

I could be speaking gibberish for all I know, but it needs to stop. Whatever this is, is too painful. I can't hear my mate's voice, and suddenly the ringing in my ears is starting to sound a whole lot like my pack's screams when I wouldn't submit fast enough to Ken.

Ken.

Automatically, my tongue laps at the skin above my upper lip and all around until I catch the slight coppery tang of blood.

My eyes shoot open in shock . Was it real?

Elliott's nodding and rubbing circles on my wrist. It's a morbid thought, but I can't help but compare his soft attention to the sensitive flesh to my brutality against my abuser's veins.

Then my alpha is there. All around me, holding me while giving me space. Soothing my chilled arms while still gripping my hands tightly to his chest. I almost feel the heat of his kiss on my aching temple, but he hasn't moved.

Almost like the dream. Or was it a dream when my alpha soothed me through the bond after I hit my head?

"R-Real?" I try to choke out.

Elliott nods frantically with a soft smile and crinkled brows. He's worried. Our bond is warm with comfort and affection, but I still feel the twinge of anxiety while he studies me.

I don't trust this. I want to. So so badly. But... sometimes a dream is just a dream no matter how much you wish it could be real.

Slowly, like I needed a sign from the universe, the ringing recedes and layers with muffled arguing and sounds of a scuffle.

Shifting to get a look over Elliott's shoulder, my breath catches. It's then that I realize just how real this really is. I could never conjure the image of the blonde man so vividly if I had never seen him before.

"Beckett, just calm down, man!" Ronan's thundering voice reaches past the underwater warble of sound.

"LET ME GO!" the blonde guy, Beckett I presume, shoves against my pack alpha and yanks on Lucas and Casey, who are holding his shoulders back.

"Give me one good reason why I should let your feral bonded fucking ass near my mate!" Ronan spits.

I almost wish the ringing would drown out their fighting. My skull feels like someone is punching it over and over again, the tempo rising at an alarming rate. I realize I'm panicking when my lungs start to burn, but I can't take my attention off the stranger.

I remember him as the reason my omega broke through her chains and collided with me in one epic show of strength and revenge. This man, Beckett, freed me from the chasm that has always separated me from my other half.

I have questions, but when his piercing blue eyes lock on mine, everything fizzles. My omega careens to the surface with a cry of excitement, only for my exhausted body to shut her down just as she reaches the surface.

The final straw that sends me back under the covers of nothingness is Beckett's declaration.

"She's my twin! My sister! Please!"