“Elena and Gentry both started their chanting. I have no idea what they were saying, but it sounded a little like singing. There was a ton of wind, your ponytail actually wrapped around your neck for a little while I thought you were choking at one point. You kept trying to move, but Gentry told us to keep you in the circle but you fought like hell. Now I know why Elena and Gentry wanted all three of us near you.” His voice is deep and smooth like his honey scent, but it is gravelly too, like maybe he hasn’t slept.
“What!?” I blink my eyes open slowly. The bright white room blinds me for a second. I can’t see anything. “I don’t remember fighting anything. The magic held me to the ground, I couldn’t move my feet.” I grumble, why does my throat hurt so badly?
“Yeah, well I’m glad that you had it nice and easy. I forgot how much it sucks to go up against you on a training day. What the f*ck do they give you at your training camp, steroids?! I don’t even think Cam has ever dislocated my shoulder in a fight and you did just by trying to get your arm free.”
“What!?” Apparently that is all I can say in response to their comments. I cleared my throat, “I was watching the purple magic and then this gold stuff started floating around. I remember my whole body was in pain…I grabbed your arms cause Gentry told me not to move! Everything hurt so bad though, it was like being electrocuted” I can feel my eyebrows scrunch at the thought. Some things are coming back to me. “You saw the magic?” Cam sounds surprised maybe.
“Yeah. If I concentrate I can see some magic. It was like a purple mist on the wolfsbane. The flowers looked like they were lit up, maybe it was to draw people in, maybe that’s how people get sucked into the magic that Mike is using. It was pretty and looked harmless. Then there was this gold light that swirled around, I think that came from Gentry and then it was like the magic on the plants got angry and everything turned red and…” Then it hits me the memory of being restrained and held down, the cuffs around my wrists. I couldn’t move or get away. I can’t breathe and my vision starts to fade again.
“Bitty? Hey Bit, what’s going on?”
“Tiny?”
“SMALLS!”
I’m wrapped up in someone’s arms. “Talk to us. What happened Tiny?” I shake my head ‘no’ I can’t talk about it, I don’t want to think about it ever again. I can’t do this release thing if it’s just going to throw me into my worst memories every time. The scratchy sheets rustle as I’m adjusted into a lap. Strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me back to a chest.
I feel breath on my ear, then pressure on the other side of my head and squeeze of my hand. Then someone has my face gently between fingers and I feel a touch on my forehead. All three of them are in my space. I can smell them all
“Tell us. What happened when the magic got angry. It sent you somewhere in your head. It had some kind of defense. We need to know so we can deal with it better next time.”
My eyes fly open. “NO! There can’t be a next time. I can’t do that again.” I look into Oliver’s eyes. “Please don’t make me do that again.”
“Bitty…” He breathes out and then looks to my right. “You are the only one that can save this pack. You can do this.”
“No! I can’t, I’m too broken. I can’t handle that again.”
“Tiny, you aren’t broken. You just have things that the defensive magic can feed off of.” He rubs his nose up and down my neck.
On my left I can feel lips moving against my temple. “What did you see?” Kotas whisper has my heart stuttering. They are all so concerned for me, but I don’t want to relive it. “Tell me why I have bruises on my arms and why Cam’s throat looks like he was choked out and Oliver’s back looks like it was used for knife sharpening. You have been here for days and our injuries haven’t gone away. But these aren’t ours are they? They’re yours. Tell us, please.”
None of them move, they are barely breathing, like they don’t want to steal air from me. I open my eyes and look around as best I can while in this position. They do look like they have been in a war zone, and recently. It’s been days? They should have healed from everything by now.
“Why do you guys look like that? What happened?”
“Like we said Smalls, you went postal and it was scary as sh*t. You fought us with everything you had.”
“Your eyes glowed purple and it was like you weren’t with us anymore, Bitty.”
“I don’t think I was. The magic… the magic turned red and all I could feel was being restrained and then all I could see was the worst torture I went through.” I closed my eyes and then opened them straight away. The images are so much worse with my eyes closed.
“Tell us, please.” All three of them took on the weird twin speak.
“If this is what happened to you, I want to know everything, Smalls. Let us do this with you.”
