52. Sky
SKY
I lay on the couch, staring up at the popcorn ceiling and fiddling with the pop grip on the back of my phone case.
I was supposed to be waiting tables today, but with the swelling in my feet and ankles, Fletcher deemed me “unfit for work” and told me to take the day off to rest.
Which would’ve been great…had I not been home alone and restless as hell.
Adam and Fletcher were both at work. This was their last week, officially, before they took paternity leave for me and the baby, and honestly? I was so relieved. To have them home with me twenty-four seven? At my side, knowing I was safe? I couldn’t wait.
I tucked my phone into my pocket and got up, pacing the floor of the living room. Back and forth, my heart pounding in my chest.
Maybe I needed some fresh air.
Pulling my phone back out, I sent the group chat a text: Going for a walk in the backyard. Need to stretch my legs a bit.
Fletcher: Be careful, it’s muddy out there. Don’t slip and fall!
I know, I’ll be careful, I texted back, then went searching for my jacket and my boots. I went out the back door and went down the steps, immediately splashing into a puddle of mud.
Fletcher hadn’t been wrong.
I glanced around the backyard, scouring the forest that surrounded it. The sky was overcast and gray, threatening more rain despite the standing water in places. I drew a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it back out.
There was no one out here but me.
I walked along the path in the woods, a path worn into the ground by frequent paws. My hands rubbed my belly absentmindedly.
I didn’t know why I was so anxious. I knew the claiming marks had worked—I felt way different in terms of energy spikes—but I just felt off. Unsteady. Restless.
More than anything, I wished the next two months would hurry and get here. I wanted so badly to hold my baby in my arms. To actually see, with my own two eyes, that she was real and alive and mine.
But deep down, I was terrified. Of losing her. Of failing her.
Of hurting her…
I wiped a tear away with the back of my hand, just as I heard a crack of underbrush behind me. I turned, but there was nothing there. I sniffed.
Nothing…
“You’re imagining things,” I muttered to myself, then stuffed my hands back into my coat pockets and continued to walk. My sneakers scuffed over damp pine needles and leaves.
CRACK! Birds startled from the trees, making me jump. I spun around.
“Who’s there?” I barked. My hackles were up, my heart taking off at a gallop. Shit, this was a bad idea. I was so fucking stupid. I couldn’t shift to save myself this far into my pregnancy, not without hurting the baby. I was a sitting duck.
“River? If that’s you, this isn’t funny!” I shouted.
My nostrils flared, and I smelled it then—the faint scent of latex and a hint of formaldehyde.
My blood ran cold.
No. Had I been right to worry all along? I grabbed my phone, already dialing Fletcher’s number.
“Pick up, pick up…” It went to voicemail. “Fuck!” I gripped it in my hand like a lifeline as footsteps approached, cracking and crunching over underbrush, and branches swayed.
My breath came quicker and quicker. No, no, no. Please…
Dr. Thompson stepped out, his white lab coat somehow pristine. He smiled at me with those thin, cruel lips, and panic shot through me like an arrow.
“Go away! Leave me alone!” I shouted.
“Oh, foolish boy. That I cannot do,” he said in the same tone of voice he always used when I was being insolent.
“I don’t want anything to do with you or your fucked-up experiments,” I growled, but it petered into a whine, betraying my true emotions. “Please, just leave me alone…”
I backed away. Thompson approached. I saw the weapon at his belt and my heart wedged itself in my throat, hammering there. Fuck. He came prepared, because of course he did.
“What do you want from me?” I cried.
“Did you really think I’d let you get away so easily, Sky? My prized specimen?” He sneered. “Not when your offspring gave me the most viable tissues for my research. No, your escape was simply a setback. I’ve been watching you.”
“Wh-What?” My blood chilled in my veins.
Thompson laughed, harsh and cold. “I knew where you were all along. You both have tracking chips implanted in the backs of your necks, and they told me exactly where your location is. Running was futile…and now you’ve gone and made another baby. Shame. Is it your brother’s?”
He had the gall to look hopeful. My stomach churned. “No, you sick fuck!”
He sighed. “Guess I’ll have to cut it out and start over, then.”
“P-Please, no… Leave me alone, please. Haven’t you done enough damage? Haven’t you tortured me enough?”
“TORTURED YOU?” Dr. Thompson snarled, his face twisting into a mask I’d never seen before—or perhaps this was the true Dr. Thompson and his mask had finally fallen off. “I’ve treated you no different from any of the other twins in my study. How is that torture? I fed you! Kept you clothed!”
Unable to stop myself, I lurched forward, panic in my throat. “You kidnapped me! You bred me to my brother! You stole my babies! YOU KILLED MY BABIES!” I screamed, shrieking at the top of my lungs.
I tried to grab hold of him, but he struck me across the face, hard enough that my lip split and warm blood flooded my tongue. Hiccuping a sob, I tumbled back.
He sneered at me, fingers curling into fists. “I see you’ve lost your obedience in the years you’ve been away, but no matter. We’ll whip you right back into shape.”
I bared my fangs. “I’m not going anywhere with you, you bastard. I have a family now. Mates who love me—”
“Love you? Hah. Rich.” He threw his head back on a laugh, then narrowed his cold blue eyes on me. “Did you know those so-called loving mates of yours have blood on their hands?”
My breath caught. “What?”
“Fletcher Rose killed a man in cold blood, and walked free.” He was lying. He had to be lying. Thompson must’ve seen the horror on my face, because he smiled. “Why do you think they came here, to Greymercy? To get away from the ghosts of their past, that’s why.”
“You’re wrong,” I uttered. “They wouldn’t do that…”
“And Adam?” he continued. “Adam Sinclair is the eldest son of one of the most cutthroat elite packs in New York. His father has silenced his fair share of shifters, too, and Adam was next in line to secure the throne. His blood is dirty. They’re both mongrels, Sky, and that child growing in your blessed womb is filthy too. ”
“SHUT UP! YOU’RE LYING!” I screamed.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have no choice. You’re coming back with me. We will fetch your brother, and we will start my research anew. Do you understand me?”
“Please don’t do this… I don’t want this.”
“I DON’T GIVE A FUCK WHAT YOU WANT!” Dr. Thompson snarled, grabbing hold of my arm and twisting it. “It’s always about you! When is it my turn?”
“Ouch! Stop! You’re hurting me, STOP!” I struggled as he yanked me forward, but gasped when Dr. Thompson held a knife to my stomach. The point dug into my skin, even through my jacket, and tears slid free, burning silent tracks down my cold cheeks.
“Don’t fight me, or I’ll gut you right here,” he warned, voice dark and dangerous.
I sobbed. “No, no, no… Please. ADAM!” I screamed, but I knew it was in vain. No one would hear me, least of all Adam, hard at work ten miles away.
I felt a pinch, then a hot wave of pain as Thompson stabbed a needle into my thigh and pressed the plunger.
“I can’t have you fighting me, my little blessing,” he singsonged, eerily normal once more.
I cried, my body growing tingly and cold, and then finally numb. My knees gave out, and I collapsed to the ground, my phone falling out of my hand to the cold earth below.
With an ugly crunch, Dr. Thompson crushed it beneath his shoe, then hauled my limp body over his shoulder. I couldn’t fight him. I could barely move.
The last thing I saw was the woods yawning before me as darkness swallowed me whole.