25. Split Personalities
CHAPTER 25
Split Personalities
Rez
I groan in discomfort as something jostles me awake. What the hell is happening?
Blinking rapidly, I take in my surroundings only to see black and white fur beneath my cheek. Lifting my head slightly, I catch sight of Moni riding on top of a rhinoceros as they disappear inside a massive brown tent.
‘Lynx?’ I guess as I see Slayer, Knots, Zeke, and JP run into the tent behind Moni.
‘Ah, Sleeping Beauty is finally awake. I was wondering if Slayer really had a magic dick. I was starting to worry that he was actual competition.
‘Competition?’
‘Of course. Remember, I still hold The Guinness World Record.’ He chuckles. ‘Hold on,’ he warns and leaps down from his platform to the ground, following everyone in.
Once inside, Lynx lays down, and I shakily slide off him onto the ground in a heap. I’m too exhausted to move, and for some reason, my body feels as if I’ve participated in a triathlon, though I don’t remember much of the Rage level.
“Rez!” JP calls out.
“Are you okay?” Levi asks.
“Show us where you are hurt,” Knots demands.
All my men surround me as I allow them to prop me up against Lynx and look me over.
“I think I’m okay. I’m just tired,” I explain.
“Well, before you go to sleep, let’s get some food in you and definitely get you cleaned up,” JP says, giving me a sheepish smile before moving away.
He walks over to the middle of the tent, where a fire pit is dug out and lined with rocks, and above it is a hole allowing for the smoke to filter out. I watch as he efficiently starts a fire and pulls out a frying pan and a pot. I guess I will be treated to some of his cooking tonight.
The tarp flutters on the far side of the tent, and Chester falls through the flap before correcting his stance and pushing up his glasses. Glancing in our direction, he smiles and holds up a piece of paper.
“It looks like we’re in for a treat tonight, guys,” Chester says with a smile. “We have a ten-hour break.”
“Thank Bubble Boa and Hamster Balls. I feel like I could sleep a whole month,” Moni chirps as she flies around Chester’s head before landing on his shoulder. “Oh, by the way. The bathroom is on the other side of this flap.”
Well, now I feel like we’re glamping.
“Just wake me up when it’s time to eat,” I say, rolling over and curling up into Lynx’s fur.
‘Rezzi-bear, you know I love you, right?’
‘Uh huh.’ I snuggle deeper into him.
‘And I would do anything for you?’
‘Get to the point, Lynx. I’m tired and getting grumpy.’ I yawn.
‘I’m all for cuddling, but you stink. I’m sure you really don’t want to be dragging parts of the Typhlotic chicken around in your hair all night,’ he points out.
‘What?’ I sit up and examine my outfit in horror, gagging at the sight. My once black leathers are covered in a dark red and other questionable substances. Hastily standing up, I move away from Lynx but find myself wobbly as I reach out.
“I got you,” Knox says, reaching to steady me. Reaper chooses that time to come up, leaning against my legs with a whine.
Levi whispers a spell under his breath, easily cleaning the gore off of me before Knox pulls me further into his grasp. “Are you okay?” he asks, tucking a stray clump of hair behind my ear. My eyes widen as his look intensifies, his green eyes scanning my face as if he’s looking for something.
“Yeah. I’m fine, just exhausted,” I assure him, giving a small smile and then gasping in horror as I see his neck.
“Knox! What happened to you?” I shriek, looking at the mess of a bite he obviously got on the last level.
“You don’t remember?” he asks tentatively, and all I can do is shake my head. “Here, let me hold you for a few before catching you up.”
Knox pulls me down into his lap, and I follow without complaint. I release a small sigh as I melt against his broad chest, soaking up his heat as he wraps his arms around me. Levi gives me a sweet but worried smile before leaving to clean the rest of the group, which I finally notice looks as rough as I feel. Reaper slowly creeps up by my side and gives me his puppy eyes, and I give in, allowing him to crawl into my lap and Knox to take on more weight.
“Are you all okay?” I ask the group, concern lacing my voice, but I can’t bring myself to move from Knox’s lap.
“A-okay, bestie! Me and Chestie tore up the place. He’s a real beast. Grrrr,” Moni says, bobbing up and down and showing her teeth, mimicking a ferocious monster.
“Yeah. I saw.” Catching Chester’s eyes, I raise my eyebrow, “A rhino?”
Chester’s cheeks turn bright red before he clears his throat and pushes up his glasses.
“Yeah. Umm. I don’t like using him as much because he has worse eyesight than me.” His voice cracks, and I stifle a grin. “He’s practically blind,” he grumbles, looking bashful, and my heart goes out to him.
“Well, I’m grateful that you did. You saved our asses out there,” JP admits, handing him a bowl of food. “Eat up, guys, while the food is hot,” he announces and whistles for Reaper to join him for his own meal.
Before I can even contemplate food, Lynx offers to get ours. I watch as he grabs three bowls and carefully balances them on his arm, then drops down before us.
“Here you go.” He smiles and digs into his meal with gusto.
From the smell of the bowl, JP whipped up some kind of chicken meal, and my stomach growls in approval. As I dig in, the group goes around recounting their own versions of Rage and what happened while we were apart.
As JP gathers everyone’s dishes and Levi helps clean them, we all get comfortable with the large pillows lying around, and I find my sweet spot against Lynx. “So Rez, want to tell us what happened to you?” Ryker calls out lazily. His arms are behind his head as he lays on his back, but his eyes are focused only on me.
“What do you mean?” I ask, leaning back into Lynx’s tiger form and trying to ease the scrutiny of his stare.
Keeping his promise to let me curl up into his fur after dinner, Lynx is back, already fast asleep. I don’t blame him after hearing what his group ran into when it came to Rage. They were fighting from the very start.
“You weren’t yourself when we found you,” Knox provides, pulling me back to the present. He’s lying by my feet and brushing Reaper’s coat out, trying to settle him down to rest.
“Can you tell us what happened?” Zeke coaxes from JP’s arms by the fire.
Closing my eyes, I try to pull the memories of the enemies I fought and the feeling of losing control, but I draw a blank as a cold shiver runs down my spine.
“I-I…I don’t know what happened,” I admit honestly, and I cringe at the sound of insecurity in my voice. “I found myself alone, and I had to fight my way through the mobs. It wasn’t until I saw Reaper surrounded by beasts that the voices started,” I tell them. Reaper, sensing I’m talking about him, crawls closer to me and snuggles against my chest. He licks my cheek, bringing a brief smile to my lips before I continue. “It started off as if something or someone was guiding me or showing me the best movements. Like the sweet spots in my targets…” I trail off, unsure how to explain it.
“They’re the kill spots,” Knox inserts. “As shifters, we assess for the weakest points to cause a chain reaction if we can’t easily terminate the kill spot. Our instincts or animals help guide us through it.”
A line forms between my furrowed brows as I shake my head in confusion.
“Kitten, there’s something else.” My heart rate increases as I feel a spike of concern and apprehension through our link before it disappears. Knox purses his lips slightly before continuing. “When we found you, you were in an awakened state. I could hear an inner voice coming from you, but it didn’t sound like yours.”
Awakened state? Like I was on another plane? What is he getting at? I blink at him with a blank stare, and he continues.
“An awakened state is when shifters give in to the rage inside them and lose their humanity in the process.” He squeezes my ankle, sending a wave of comfort down our link, and I bite my lip.
“I do remember the voice, but I’m not a shifter, Knox,” I point out.
“Maybe it’s because of our mate bond.” He shrugs.
“Is that what happened to your neck?” I ask, pointing to the bite, horrified at what the answer might be. Levi has already cleaned it and put a salve on it to help heal, but it still looked red and irritated.
“The only way to break you of that state was for you to fuck it out of your system,” he tells me with a soft smile.
My jaw drops as I get a flash of a smirking white-haired, blueish-gray-eyed man with piercings.
“Slayer?” I ask, shakily covering my mouth in horror. What have I done?
‘We weren’t complaining at the time, and I consider it an honor to be with my mate in her time of needing a beast to fuck.’ His smokey, arrogant voice rings out inside of my head.
“Knox, I am so sorry.” I move to get up and go to him, but he squeezes my foot, stopping me.
“Kitten, it’s okay. It’s not like you cheated, and the only wound that seemed to cross over to my body is this one,” he says, gently touching the skin around his bite.
I know he’s trying to reassure me, but I sit up straighter until Lynx shifts slightly, and I relax back down, not wanting to disturb him.
“What do you mean the only wound?” I demand.
Knox purses his lip but decides to explain anyway when I give him a pointed look. “Keep in mind, I wasn’t completely there, but I did feel everything.” Knox’s cheeks turn a light pink, and I’m taken aback by the blush. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my shifter blush like this. “I had claw marks down my chest and abdomen, along with a new hole that I could put an earring in if I wanted to.” He smiles, trying to lighten the blow.
“What he’s trying to say is that you’re a hellcat, but we already knew that,” Ryker comments with a chuckle, but I ignore him and focus back on the issue with Slayer and Knox.
“Alright, back to this whole awakening thing.” I shake off my troubling thoughts of a new possible disaster. We don’t need animals popping up like roulette jack-in-the-box and having Knox disappearing on me. “Has that ever happened between shifters before? As in, one shifter will awaken but another one will experience the effects? How does that work with non-shifters? Or how about having one of your animals take over your body and shifting into a different person?”
He shakes his head, and my stomach plummets.
“Hey, cheer up, Buttercup! It could be another unknown talent of your species since we don’t know what you are yet. And maybe Slayer was lucky enough to get a perk of your mating bond with Knox,” Zeke offers up with a toothy grin.
“Thanks, Zeke. That’s a good point.” I smile, but it doesn’t reach my eyes. It’s just one thing after another that seems to pile on me. But if this is part of my powers, that might explain how Slayer was able to morph into a human body and allow me to fuck him.
“The most important thing is we got you back, and you’re safe,” Levi states, fiddling with his watch. “We made it out of that level barely, using up most of our time, so we should use this time wisely and get some rest.”
“Yeah. Rage was a horrible level, and I’m glad we don’t have to deal with anything like that again.” Chester yawns loudly before pulling Moni close to his chest.
“What’s next, by the way?” Moni asks, her bark cycling to dark gray, showing her nervousness.
“Sitri occupies Level Four. He’s about deception,” Knots speaks up finally. I almost forgot he was a part of our group with how quiet he’s been acting. Glancing over in his direction, he doesn’t look like he’s in bad shape at all. His wings are sprawled out as he sharpens his sword, and there seems to be an inner glow about him. It seems our break-up has done him well. The bitterness of that fact makes my jaw hurt as I clench it, and I close my eyes, blocking out the burning sensation behind them.
Pulling Reaper closer to me and snuggling into Lynx, I quickly drift off to sleep.