Chapter 28 #2
It isn’t just restraint. It’s absence. Like my body has been cut off from me entirely, leaving me trapped inside it, aware of everything and in control of nothing, and panic surges up instantly, sharp and suffocating, dragging me straight back into memories I’ve spent years trying to bury.
No.
Not now.
I force myself to breathe instead, slow and controlled, pushing the panic down before it can take over completely, before it can steal the only thing I still have.
My mind.
In, one, two, three…
Out, one, two, three…
I open my eyes.
The room comes into focus gradually, dim and suffocating under a single flickering bulb that casts long shadows over cracked concrete walls and rusted beams, the air thick with the smell of oil, damp, and something chemical that makes my stomach turn.
Then I see him.
Mason .
He’s tied to a chair across the room, his body slumped forward, his face swollen and bruised, one eye nearly shut, his lip split open and dried with blood. His wrists are bound tight enough to strain against the rope, and when he lifts his head, his gaze finds mine instantly.
Relief flashes.
Then panic.
He shakes his head sharply.
No .
Warning.
My pulse spikes, but I shut my eyes immediately, forcing my body back into stillness, letting my breathing even out again like I’m still out, like I haven’t seen anything.
Think.
Listen.
Footsteps echo somewhere beyond the room, voices low and distant at first, then closer, clearer, and I try again to move, smaller this time, testing instead of fighting.
Nothing.
They didn’t just tie me up.
They gave me something.
A wave of nausea rolls through me, but I swallow it down, focusing on the only thing I can still control.
My breathing.
The door creaks open.
“Why isn’t she waking up yet?”
The voice sends a cold wave through me.
Russel .
“Wake her up.”
The command is sharper this time.
Then cold water crashes over my face.
I gasp, my body reacting before I can stop it, my eyes flying open, and there he is, standing over me, blocking the light, his expression calm in a way that makes everything inside me tighten.
“Hello there,” he says softly, almost pleasantly. “Welcome back.”
The tone makes bile rise in my throat.
“Your brother…” He gestures lazily toward Mason. “Has not been very cooperative.”
Mason jerks against the ropes again, a muffled sound forcing past the gag, his eyes burning with helpless fury.
Russel doesn’t even look at him.
“So I decided to motivate him.”
He steps closer, his presence suffocating, his gaze dragging over me in a way that makes my skin crawl even if I can’t feel his touch.
“You can’t feel it, can you?”
I try to answer.
To tell him to go to hell.
But my mouth betrays me, words breaking into useless sounds.
He smiles faintly.
“There it is.”
A pause.
Consideration.
“I read something interesting recently,” he continues, almost conversational. “A drug that paralyzes the body… but leaves the mind perfectly aware.”
My stomach drops.
“You’re here,” he says quietly, leaning closer, “but you can’t do anything about it.”
No.
No, no, no…
“Bring the mirror.”
A moment later, it’s held above me, angled so I can see everything.
Myself.
Him.
His hand moves, slow and deliberate, testing, watching for a reaction he knows I can’t physically give, and Mason’s muffled cries turn frantic behind him, the chair scraping against the floor as he tries to break free.
I can’t look at him.
Someone grips my head, holding it still.
Forcing me to watch.
He wants this.
My fear.
My helplessness.
But he doesn’t get all of me.
He will not let him get inside my head.
So I close my eyes.
Pain explodes across my face.
My head jerks sideways, my eye throbbing instantly as tears spill over, and I’m forced to look at him again.
“You close those eyes again,” Russel says, his voice dropping into something colder, “and I’ll take them from you.”
My chest tightens, panic pressing in from all sides as his presence looms closer, suffocating, invasive, everything in me screaming even if my body can’t move.
A broken sound tears out of me.
And then the door crashes open.
Everything shifts.
The hands holding me disappear, and my eyes snap toward the entrance.
Dex .
He stands there, framed in the doorway, and for a single second everything else fades, because his eyes find mine instantly, and I see the exact moment something inside him gives way.
Not hesitation.
Not fear.
Something darker.
More dangerous.
A man moves, raising a gun.
Dex is already there.
He moves with a speed that doesn’t feel human, closing the distance in seconds, twisting the man’s arm until it snaps with a sickening crack, the gun clattering to the floor as a scream rips through the room.
Dex doesn’t even look at him.
He takes the weapon. Lifts it.
“Take your hands off her.”
Another man raises his gun.
A shot goes off.
Dex shifts just enough, the bullet missing as the room erupts, and then Cas and the deputies are there, gunfire echoing as the second man drops before he can fire again.
But Dex doesn’t see any of it.
He’s already moving.
Toward Russel.
“Dex,” Cas warns, stepping forward, controlled but tense. “Let me handle it.”
“He’s mine.”
The words come out low.
Final.
Russel smiles.
And makes a mistake.
His hand comes back to my face.
That’s all it takes.
Dex hits him hard enough to send them both crashing to the ground, the impact shaking through the room as the fight turns brutal instantly, fists landing heavy and fast. Russel gets one hit in before Dex flips him, pins him, and starts hitting again.
And again.
And again.
There’s no rhythm to it.
No control.
Just force.
“Filthy…”
A hit.
“Piece of…”
Another.
“…shit.”
Russel tries to fight back, but it’s useless now. Dex is already on his feet again, driving a kick into him that folds him over, then another, and another, until the sounds coming out of him turn from anger to pain.
Around them, voices shout, Cas, Ethan, the others, but Dex doesn’t hear them.
He’s gone.
Lost to his anger.
And I know this is the part he hates.
The part he warned me about.
I pull on everything I have left, every ounce of strength still in me.
“Dex!”
The word tears out of me, raw and desperate.
His head snaps up.
And just like that, he’s back.
He’s at my side in seconds, his hands moving over me, checking, searching, his breathing uneven, his eyes wild.
“Tinker, you okay?”
“I’m… okay…”
The word barely forms, but I force it out.
I look at him, willing him to understand.
He didn’t hurt me.
Please see that.
His hands tremble as they cup my face.
“Did he…” His voice breaks slightly. “Lexy, did he…?”
I try to shake my head.
Nothing.
So I just look at him.
Please.
His gaze searches mine, desperate, then something in him settles, just slightly.
“I can’t lose you,” he whispers, his voice rough as he lifts me carefully into his arms.
He presses a kiss to my forehead, and as his gaze runs over my body, his jaw clenches.
“I’m so sorry, Tinker.”
Why is he apologizing?
The sirens are closer now.
Louder.
Ethan steps in, pulling a blanket over me, checking my pupils.
“I think they drugged her.”
Dex’s arms tighten around me.
“Ethan.” One word, but the restraint and anger in it are feral. “I want to kill him.”
“He’s going to jail, and killing him would put you there too.” Ethan searches Dex’s eyes, but Dex is still staring at me, like he’s trying to make sure I’m still here. “Lexy needs you. Let Cas take care of Russel, okay?”
Ethan looks at me, and I blink once.
I look back at Dex.
I’m okay. I’m here. I’m so sorry.
Dex kisses my forehead again. “I was so scared,” he whispers as I hear paramedics rush inside.
I try to see where Mason is, but I can’t.
“Mason is in the other ambulance.” Ethan tells me and I breathe out. He’s ok.
“Sir, you need to hand her to us so we can take care of her.”
Dex looks up, his stare terrifying.
“I stay with her.”
Not a question. A statement.
“You need to let us…”
“You do what you have to do while I hold her, but I’m not putting her down.”
His voice is low.
Final.
I try to get his attention. “Dex…”
My voice is raw, exhausted.
He looks down instantly.
“I…” I try, but the words won’t come.
I’m okay. Let them help.
I tell him with my eyes, and I see the shift when he understands.
He looks at the paramedic. “I ride in the ambulance with you.”
The paramedic nods.
Dex lowers me carefully onto the gurney, controlled, like I might break.
Then his hand comes into view.
Wrapped around mine.
Holding it tight.
He knows I can’t feel it.
But I can see it.
And I need to.
“Not letting you go, Tinker. Never again.”
Tears fill my eyes.
I’ll never let you go either.
Dex sees it there, in my eyes, and brings my hand to his lips while the paramedics work around us.
“I love you, Tinker.”
I love you too, Pan.