Chapter 15
Malakai
She thinks we blocked her out.
“What the hell is going on?” Theon asks looking as confused as I feel.
“Why does she think we blocked her out?” Knox asks. “She’s the one that blocked us out… Right?”
Theon shakes his head. “It doesn’t make any sense. I felt her sadness and pain. It slipped out through the bond.” He glances between us. “She wasn’t lying. She really thinks we blocked her out.”
“Technically we did,” Cyrus says, and we look to him. “At first,” he says. “We blocked her out when she first told us, remember?” He frowns. “I just assumed she blocked us out these last while on and off in return as payback for our shit. But now I’m not so sure.”
“If we didn’t block her out this last few weeks,” I start. “And she didn’t block us out. Then what the hell is going on?”
“Maybe it was the island?” Cyrus says. “Maybe it has some way to block us or maybe it was the cuffs?”
Knox drags a hand down his face. “Let’s just talk to her. Maybe she’ll—”
“She’ll never believe us,” Theon says with a heavy sigh. We all pause to stare at him.
“From her side it looks like we’ve block her out this entire time. And none of us really got the chance to talk to her as soon as we pulled our heads out of our asses.”
Fuck. He’s right.
“We should have talked to her sooner instead of hiding in the shadows,” Theon says.
I agree. But it’s too fucking late now.
My heart fucking shatters. From her side, it looks like we just abandoned her this entire time.
“What do we do now?” Knox asks as I try to come up with a plan to get our mate back.
Fuck, I’ll grovel if I have to. I don’t mind being on my knees in front of her. I’ll crawl to her again if I have to. But first, we need to make sure Levington won’t interfere in anything we do.
He’s playing a game. I just have to figure out which one first so I can beat him at it and then rip him apart.
“Let’s let Levington think we’re playing by his rules,” I tell them. “We can’t all go to her at once anyway. We’ll take turns distracting him and his men while we’ll each go to her to try and figure out what’s going on.”
The others nod agreeing and after weeks of nothing but fucking darkness, a sliver of hope builds inside me.
SENA
Men are idiots. I mean not all men, but most of them. Four men in particular are on my mind as I hit and kick the punching bag over and over again.
I get that they were hurt, but how was I supposed to tell them that I switched bodies?
It’s not something that anyone would expect to go through.
Had any one of them have told me they went through the same situation, yes, I probably would have thought they were crazy.
But I also wouldn’t have completely shut them out.
It should come as no surprise to me that things worked out the way they did. It wasn’t any different growing up after all.
As a child, I thought I was cursed. I seemed to always have a run of bad luck that came time and time again.
I was always sickly and weak. No one wanted me and the foster families that did only wanted a payout. Or a punching bag.
Even with a different body and life, I still feel like I’m her. The girl who only wanted a place to belong.
I thought I was finally getting that with the guys. But I should’ve just waited a little longer for the other shoe to drop before letting them in. I should have been smarter. I should have known better after everything.
I punch the bag harder, trying to purge my thoughts. But no matter how long or how hard I punch it the thoughts plague my mind as it tries to make sense of everything.
Sweat drips down my back as I move around the hanging bag in the small gym that sits on the ground floor of the female dormitories. No one else is here, giving me plenty of space to move around and let out every single ounce of my frustration.
My wrapped hands are starting to ache, but I push the pain to the back of my mind and focus on strengthening my body with the hope that my mind will soon follow.
I need to be strong, my skills sharp and honed if I want a chance to prove myself and earn my place to go to the Hollow.
It may end up being a suicide mission, but it’s a suicide mission that could save the entire Shadow and human race.
The door swings open and shut but I ignore whoever just came in, focusing instead on taking the edge off some of the built-up of emotions inside me that are itching for some type of release.
I don’t feel him until he’s behind me, but spin around when I do.
“You look… frustrated,” Knox says with a hesitant smile.
“Fuck off,” I tell him and turn back around to the bag as he chuckles.
The frustrated itch that was crawling under my skin grows into angry waves that quickly flood my system.
“If you want a fight, then fight me,” he says, and I glare over my shoulder at him.
“I’ll even let you get in a few punches,” he promises but all I hear is… “let” me, like he’s doing me a favor.
My rage quickly revels in finding an actual target and I spin and move forward in silence and slam my fist into his face.
But the dick easily dodges it and spins to the side.
“I know you like a challenge, so I assume you’d want to work for it.” He moves closer and smirks.
My body betrays me as a shiver of warmth slides down my back with his nearness, but I mentally give myself a shake and punch him in the stomach.
He chuckles, unfazed and takes a step back.
“Let’s go. You can do better than that.” He bounces on the balls of his feet, waiting for me to attack.
“Fine,” I tell him before I quickly spin and swipe his legs from under him, knocking him on his ass before climbing on top of him.
He smirks and gazes up at me like he’s just won. “If you wanted to ride me baby, all you had to do was ask.”
“Dream on,” I hiss before pulling back and slamming my fist into his face, but he dodges to the left and I miss it by a couple of centimeters.
Grabbing my hand, he quickly twists his body, switching positions with me before grabbing ahold of my wrists and holding them against the floor.
I swallow my moan as his hard dick grinds into me and he leans forward.
“You already star in every dream I have.” He licks a path up the side of my neck and places and soft kiss under my ear.
Warmth coils low in my stomach as I shiver. But his deep chuckle and smug expression knock me back to my senses and I quickly knee him between his legs.
He grunts and winces in pain as I shove him off me before climbing back on top of him and slamming my fist into his face.
Like the dick he is, he catches my fist an inch from his face and rolls us once more making sure he’s on top. He quickly grabs my hands and holds them above my head once more.
“I’ve missed you,” he says, and I glance to the side of me.
“Oh look,” I tilt my head in the direction and Knox tightens his grip before glancing in the same direction.
He looks back at me with a frown. “There’s nothing there.”
“Exactly.” I give him a deadpan look. “That’s how many fucks I give.”
He stares at me like he doesn’t know whether to strangle or kiss me.
So I raise my head and slam it into his forehead.
“Fuck,” he whispers and winces as his grip loosens.
I move quickly and knock him off before rolling on top of him again.
“Do it,” he says, finally losing his smug expression. “If you need to hit me to feel better, than do it. I’ll take every hit you give me.”
I slam my fist down, and he doesn’t move, doesn’t flinch.
I hear the crack and Knox’s eyes widen as he turns his head to where my fist is creating a small dent in the floor.
“Fuck, Sena.”
I get up and move away from him, starting to feel a throb in and around my knuckles and hand.
“Let me see,” he says as he follows me as I head over to where I placed my bag near the wall.
I hide my wince as I take my wrap off my injured hand. It’s already red and starting to swell and bruise.
“Fucking show me now,” he grits out. “Or I’ll—”
I whip around, “you’ll what? Hurt me? Well too fucking late.”
He flinches but doesn’t lose the rage in his eyes.
“Leave, Knox. All of you leave. Just like you were all going to.” I turn back around and unwrap my other hand before moving to grab my bag, but the heat of his body presses up along my back and his scent envelops me.
His hands slap against the wall in front of me before he leans down to my ear. “None of us would ever have left you,” he whispers fiercely and I still.
“And we sure as hell are never going to. Be pissed at us. Be fucking angry as hell. But know that now and always, we are your family. That’s never going to change.
” He swallows hard and his voice drops. “You’re our entire world, Sena.
We don’t fucking exist without you anymore.
” He places a soft kiss on my cheek and his lips linger on it for a moment before he moves away.
The cool air brushes against my back without his warmth but I stay where I am and a minute later, I hear the opening and closing of a door.
I grab my bag forgetting about my injured hand but frown when I realize it’s no longer in pain.
Glancing down, I check my hand only to realize there’s no swelling or redness anymore and it hits me… The kiss.
Knox healed it.