Chapter 34
Along claw misses my face by an inch as I spin out of the way and move back into the darkness. I run aimlessly, trying to find some light, but there’s nothing but shades of deep gray all around me.
I hear movement from behind me and glance over my shoulder, my eyes widening when I spot the long thick tendrils of shadow reaching out for me.
They reach me faster than I can run and coil around my hips and legs, squeezing me tight, stopping me in my tracks.
A scream bubbles up my throat but the tendrils move quickly and coil around my throat.
Just as the darkness begins to swallow me, a loud scream calls my name.
Cyrus appears in the dark just as something else forms in it. A male form.
But the form is covered from head to toe. He turns and rushes off, and Cyrus spots him.
Cyrus presses his hands to my chest before rushing after the strange figure.
I awaken with a gasp as my eyes pop open to find Knox, Theon and Malakai around me.
“Sena? What happened?” Theon asks, as he pulls the blankets back revealing dozens of large bruises on my hip and legs.
“A nightmare,” I reply but it comes out more like a whisper, my throat feeling raw and tight. I reach up to touch it and wince at the throbbing pain.
Theon immediately reaches out but frowns when nothing happens. “I can’t heal you,” he says.
Knox and Malakai try next but neither of their touches work either.
“What the hell is going on?” Knox asks growing more irate than confused.
“It’s fine,” I tell them before glancing between them. Maybe we’re all just worked up. “How is—”
“It’s not fucking fine,” Malakai grits out. “I’m taking you to the healing center.”
“In a minute. Just let’s take a minute to try figure this out,” I tell him, and he shares a worrying look with the others.
“How is this possible?” I ask. “How can he attack me when I’m with you all?”
Then tension is the room is palpable with clenched fists and jaws.
“He?” Malakai asks with a frown.
“It took form in the dream and Cyrus…” I glance around realizing he’s not here. “Cyrus chased after him.”
“Good. Hopefully Cyrus will bring him back so I can torture him slowly,” Knox says with a snarl before he narrows his eyes on me. “I’m still pissed that you didn’t let us kill Levington and Dakson.”
“Your rage is giving me heartburn.” I rub my chest trying to rid the strange feeling coiling inside me.
“Nothing should be able to reach you with us nearby. Whoever it is must be stronger than we thought,” Theon says, taking my hand.
“I lost him,” Cyrus says quickly gaining everyone’s attention as he walks into the barracks, his eyes nearly completely black.
He heads straight for me, scanning me from head to toe and doesn’t relax until he’s beside me.
“Why didn’t any of you heal her?” he grits out and each of them narrow their eyes on him.
“We fucking can’t. It won’t work,” Knox snaps back.
Cyrus reaches out and tries to heal me just like the others, but the familiar warmth doesn’t appear and after a minute of frustrated silence, he pulls his hands back and looks just as pissed and confused as the rest.
He opens his mouth to more than likely tell them we’re going to the healing center, but I quickly cut him off, needing to figure out something else first.
“What happened?” I ask him and he turns to me with a sigh.
“He completely disappeared once he went into the shadows.” He frowns. “But there was something about his scent that was almost… familiar.” He glances between us all. “But I don’t recognize it at all.”
Knox points at me. “You’re staying glued to one of us at all times until we figure out who the hell is attacking you.”
“Fine by me,” I tell him, and he pauses when I so easily agree and instantly relaxes a second later.
“Come on,” Theon says. “Let’s get you healed.”
No longer able to push the pain to the back of my mind, I nod my head, and the guys help me throw on some clothes before Theon takes my hand once more and we head outside.
We only make it a few feet outside before I feel it. The familiar soothing warmth. It spreads through my throat and neck before seeping through the rest of my body, completely healing me.
I pause and the others stop to stare at me.
“You’re healed,” Cyrus says, and I nod with a sigh of relief while the others frown around me in confusion.
“Not that I’m fucking happy about it, but why didn’t it work a minute ago?” Knox asks but no one has an answer.
It’s not until I’m glancing back at the barracks does something niggle at the back of my mind.
“Wait here,” I tell them before heading back inside the barracks. But I don’t feel any different. In fact, I don’t feel anything at all. My bonds…. I stare down at my hands before looking around and finding a blade near Knox’s bed.
Moving over to it, I pick it up and press it against the tip of my finger to cut it.
Blood drips from it as I glance out the small dirty window to my mates. None of them make a move toward me, when I know for a fact they’d be rushing in here if they felt even the slightest bit of pain from me.
Wiping the blood away, I take the blade with me and clench my fist and hide my wound before heading back outside.
They all watch me but none of them look like they have a clue what I’m doing.
It’s not until I step in front of them does Cyrus take my hand and unclench my fist revealing my small cut that he instantly heals.
“You didn’t feel that until now, did you?” I ask and he shakes his head.
“How?” he asks, and I glance back at the barracks.
“I think there’s a block around your barracks similar to how the shields block us out,” I tell them and turn back to find them all growing tense.
I take a step back from Theon and whip out the blade. They try to move toward me, but I stop them with a look. “Just wait.” I slice the blade down my palm and hide my hiss of pain from the sharp burn.
“There better be a fucking damn good reason why you just—” Knox starts but I cut him off as my gaze finds Cyrus.
“You can’t feel that, can you?” I ask him and he shakes his head.
I look to Knox. “Try talking to me Knox.”
He stares at me like he wants to strangle me, but I hear nothing and a second later his look changes to one of frustration.
“Nothing,” I tell him before taking a step forward.
“I’m going to leave your ass raw for what you just did,” Knox says into my mind, and I raise a brow at him.
“I heard that,” I tell him out loud but there’s not an ounce of regret on his face. Instead, he gives me a savage smirk.
“Good,” he growls before stepping forward and taking my hand, healing it in seconds.
I open my mouth to tell him he can go fuck himself—after he fucks me, of course—when Theon distracts us.
“So that’s why we couldn’t heal you and why you were attacked in your dream,” he says, and we look to him. “Not only that, but it’s also probably been going on since we arrived here.”
Malakai looks downright murderous. “You mean when we all thought we were blocking each other out?”
“Fuck,” Knox curses before looking at me. “We did block you out at first when we were in the male dorms. We were idiots and felt like dicks but once we were moved into this shitty shack, we never blocked you out.”
I swallow hard and glance between them. “Who would do something like this? And why?”
“It has to be Levington or Dakson, that fucking freak. I caught him burying that glass orb, remember?” Knox says.
I narrow my eyes on him. “What glass orb?”
He actually has the decency to look a little guilty. “Sorry, babe. I forgot to tell you with your flying test going on.”
I roll my eyes at him and drop it. It’s honestly not worth having a fight over and we have way too much shit going on for me to really care.
“But wait…” I look at Cyrus. “Cyrus and I bonded in the barracks. And I felt him. So how…” I frown not understanding how my theory works now.
“I couldn’t feel you at first…” Cyrus says watching me. “…and then it’s like something broke and I could feel everything.”
“I found Dakson burying the orb a day after,” Knox says before smirking between me and Cyrus. “I guess Cyrus’ shadows didn’t like that he couldn’t be close to his mate and broke it.”
My brows rise as Cyrus gives me a little smirk. Shit. He broke it?
“At least we know it can be easily broken,” Malakai says with a frown. “In more ways than one.”
Knox moves away from us and starts walking around the barracks, scanning the ground for something. We follow him and now that I’m paying more attention to them, I immediately feel the loss of our bonds as we move closer to the ground near the barracks.
Knox comes to a small patch of land that appears to be freshly dug and bends down to start digging it up. Seconds later he pulls out a glass orb that pulses.
I reach down and touch it and instantly feel the wrongness of it. Like something is off about it.
“Let’s see if your little theory is true,” he says before grabbing the orb and breaking it.
The bonds between us immediately springs to life and warmth fills my chest once more.
“Fuck,” Theon sighs.
“So, Dakson is in on whatever game Levington is paying,” Malakai points out as Knox drops the broken orb into the hole and covers it with dirt once more.
“What are we going to do about them?” I ask.
“Kill and torture—” Knox starts but Malakai cuts him off.
“We’ll deal with them when we get back,” he says, dragging a hand down his face. “Let’s get some sleep, we’ll be heading to the War Camps in a few hours.”
Great... We start making our way inside when a memory flashes across my mind reminding me of the time I went into Levington’s tent in the War Camps and couldn’t sense my mates either.
“I think Levington has the same kind of block in the War Camp,” I say before telling them about the time I first met him in his tent.
“We just thought you blocked us out,” Theon says with a sad smile.
“We’ll have to be more careful,” I tell them.
“We’ll stick together,” Malakai says. “Use our own tent and not one he places us in,” he gives the boys a savage look, “and when we get back, we’ll deal with Levington and Dakson once and for all.”
I nod my head agreeing. It’s time we figure out what kind of game they’re playing and how far they were willing to go with it.