Chapter Twenty
We have a short rest whilst we wait for Knot to return and give us the all clear. As soon as she does, we carry on trying to navigate our way towards the road through pure guess work and the help of Knot’s nose.
“What do you think the fox is?” Jett asks everyone in general.
“Knot.” I say.
“Huh?” Erin asks. “Not what?”
“It’s her name.” I say, still making sure I stay behind everyone else; I can’t risk them seeing the state of my back and slowing down.
“I like that it’s . . .” Erin starts before she’s interrupted.
“Shhh, do you hear that?” Dash whispers.
We all pause to listen, our breaths whispering out quietly, even Knot has her ears up and alert listening to the faint sound of engines. Knot transforms into her raven again and flies out of sight.
“I think she’s going to check whether it’s friend or foe.” I say when everyone looks at me questioningly.
“How is she going to know if they are friend or foe?” Jett asks.
“How does she turn into a raven or seem to sense and know things she shouldn’t?” I shrug, “she’s not a normal animal.”
Before anyone else can weigh in their opinion, she comes swooping back, effortlessly switching back to her fox form.
She yips happily at me.
“Friend, those are our vehicles. We can hear!” I tell them.
They all whisper yell various sentiments of enjoyment, so as not to alert anyone on our trail.
Knot gives me a concerned look before trotting to the front of the group and leading us towards the sound of vehicles.
We move as quickly as possible; I start to lag behind as my back starts to bleed again.
I may not be able to feel pain in my current state but I’m sure as hell starting to feel the effects of blood loss.
We are all exhausted and hurting, apart from the drink from the stream I haven’t had any water since I was on the plane, and the others have gone even longer without food and only minimal water.
As if to reinforce my point Erin trips and goes down, all the guys rush to her.
“Are you ok?” I ask.
“Yeah, I just felt dizzy for a minute.” She reply’s before getting up and dusting herself off.
“You aren’t ok, Ren,” Jett says using a nickname I haven’t heard before, “let me see your arm.” He demands.
“It’s fine Jett it’s just a scrape, I just want to get out of here!” Her eyes plead with him and he relents.
We start off again at a slightly slower pace and I’m grateful for it.
My back is not doing so well, at all. Knot disappears through a thick wall of trees and we each force our way through until we finally reach the road on the other side.
We all crouch low as several SUV’s approach from the distance.
“It’s alright they’re ours!” Jett yells, before glancing down at Knot who just nods as she comes to sit next to me.
We all step out from the trees so we can be seen.
Jett, Erin, Dash and Damon all start waving their arms so we can’t be missed.
I would join in, but I can’t possibly lift my arms with my back screaming at me loud enough, that I can feel it even through the barrier around my emotions and physical pain.
Several of the SUVs shoot past us and the others start to exchange worried looks before one comes screeching to halt.
I watch as the doors are thrown open, the engine left running and two men I don’t recognise jump out and race towards Erin scooping her up and holding her closely.
A second SUV comes screeching to halt and my guys jump out.
My barrier bursts with the sheer amount of joy and love I feel at seeing them again.
I’m instantly flooded with all the emotions I buried and the physical pain of my back.
The intensity of it bringing me to my knees.
I watch in horror as the protection I had weaved over the Soulmate Bond, suddenly snaps and my men all suddenly fall to the floor yelling in agony at the sudden onslaught of pain.
“What’s going on?” Erin yells panicked.
“They can feel my pain!” I grit my teeth and answer through the tears making rivers down my face.
“Beautiful!?” Kai panics.
“I’m here Kai.” My heart pounds at the sound of his voice.
The pain slowly seems to be fading from the guys and they all get up looking around for me.
“Where the fuck is, she?” Levi growls in a voice I’ve never heard before.
I realise I’m unintentionally hidden behind Jett’s team and I’ve been viewing them through the legs of the team.
They realise this at the same time and move aside quickly.
I catch the shocked looks on their faces as they move though.
It’s obviously very rare that Levi sounds this out of control.
My guys gaze drops down to me kneeling on the floor and they all rush over, skidding on their knees along the grass verge as they come to a stop, I’m vaguely aware of Erin’s team watching from the side-lines but my attention is solely on my men.
“Titch!” Maverick growls, his pine green eyes panicked.
“Where are you hurt Darling?” Levi asks his voice only slightly more controlled than before.
I glance around looking for Jax and Kai, this is going to affect them the most. Jax is on my left and I reach to grasp hold of his hand firmly, I see Kai standing off to the side slightly and watch as he fights the demons in his eyes, his fists clenched and shaking at his sides.
“I need Kai.” I say looking up to my gorgeous Hunter and begging him with my eyes to understand.
He clenches his jaw tightly in understanding and gets up to grab his brother, pulling him over. I hold Kai and Jax’s hands firmly in mine.
“My back,” I look over to Jax, “don’t look.” I plead with him.
The others get up and walk behind me.
“Fuck, Sweetheart I’m going to have to cut this off to see the damage ok?” Hunter rumbles unsuccessfully hiding the emotion in his voice.
I nod once. Jett’s team slowly rounds me to see what’s wrong.
“You fucking let her run losing this much blood!” Levi growls at Jett, his voice uncontrolled once again, he takes a threatening step forward, Maverick at his side and the other team back up slowly.
“Levi!” I snap shocking him into turning to me.
I can see the barely contained fury he’s trying to contain flaring in his green eyes, the gold flecks flaring brightly.
“They didn’t know. I put a barrier around my emotions and pain, even I couldn’t feel how much pain I was in. How the hell were they supposed to guess when I told them I was well enough to fight and run?”
He looks at me confused but is distracted when Hunter begins to talk.
“I’m going to take it off now Sweetheart, it’s going to hurt. It’s started to stick to the wound underneath.”
I don’t have the heart to tell him right now that it’s more than one wound, he will figure it out momentarily. I nod in acknowledgement and clutch Kai and Jax’s hands tighter. I feel it when he slowly peels the fabric from my back and just barely manage to bite back a scream of pain.
“Holy fuck!” Hunter curses.
Maverick moves back around me, and I feel Jax start to move but grab him tighter. He can’t see this. Logically I know he’s going to see it eventually, but he doesn’t need to see the fresh wounds.
“Oh fuck!” Maverick curses savagely before he stumbles away, and I can hear the sound of him throwing up.
Levi comes to crouch in front of me, his face is ghostly pale, but his eyes are bright with rage, his hands clenched at his side. Jax and Kai exchange a panicked glance and try to tug free. I refuse to let go of them though.
“Sage, Darling, what happened to your back?”
I know I’m going to have to tell them and that I can’t protect Jax from it completely, he wouldn’t want me to anyway. I will keep him from seeing it though, hopefully that will lessen the impact a small amount.
“I remembered the year I lost. It’s all connected all the fucked-up parts of my past are connected.
They wanted to see if my powers had awakened yet.
” I pause and whisper, “They figured I wouldn’t use them willingly and that the best way to force my hand was torture, they used a steel tipped whip.
” My eyes never leave the side of Jax’s face.
As I finish his head whips up, his haunted and panicked eyes meet mine before being completely eclipsed by rage. He starts to stand up and I grip his hand for all I’m worth.
“You don’t need to see Brother.” Maverick places a hand on Jax’s shoulder.
“I do! I need to see it!” Jax says his voice harsh.
Whatever Maverick sees in his eyes convinces him and he nods to me to let go.
Extremely reluctantly, I release the death grip on Jax’s hand.
He stands up shakily, takes a deep breath and walks slowly round to face my back.
I don’t know what I was expecting but the deathly silence has me more worried than if he was cursing up a storm.
He suddenly appears as if out of nowhere directly in front of me and making me jump slightly, his sudden appearance shocking the others too.
His large hands softly frame my face, being careful of all my bruises and his sad dark blue eyes stare into mine.
“I am so sorry Sage.” He says solemnly.
“Not your fault, Jax.” I say leaning into his hands.
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have time for this. Sage needs to get to the hospital, now. She’s lost too much blood.” Levi tells us.
Kai has been so quiet that I’m worried about whether he has been sucked into a memory. He is still clutching my hand though so I’m hoping that’s a good sign. The edges of my vision are starting to grey, which causes my panic to rise. Before I can voice my panic, a voice interrupts.
“If you want to help her, you’re going to have to do it fast, she’s lost to much blood and is going to lose consciousness if you don’t do something.” Dash says.
“We can’t move her; it’ll cause her too much pain now that she’s taken the barrier down.” Erin adds.
“We need to have a talk about everything that went on as soon as Sweetheart is ok.” Hunter says.