Danika
How I had gone from an ass kicking anxiety attack in that garden to complete relaxation. Comfort. Contentment. I was with my mates and I had never felt safer or more at peace than with Varin and Thomar holding me between them like this. The stars shined down into the darkness of the room like tiny fairies sparkling in the blackness of deep space. The moment felt magical and surreal. This wasn’t what my life was like, at least not until now.
I settled into the quiet with my mates and they must have sensed my longing to remain for they made no attempt to move or leave the space.
With my cheek pressed to Thomar’s chest, I listened to the steady beat of his heart. Slow. Calm.
Something stirred in the back of my mind, a sensation I had felt before but never quite been able to name.
Voices. I heard voices inside my head. And they weren’t mine or my mates or anyone’s I recognized. Dozens of them.
Screaming. Crying. Begging for help.
In English.
Holy shit.
I bolted into a sitting position, Thomar and Varin both tense and ready to fight.
“What is it mate?” Thomar slipped his feet to the floor and moved to place his body between me and the door as Varin did the same, blocking all access to me from the back of the room.
“Not now.” Varin’s eyes narrowed as a blade of pain stuck me through our collars.
“Gods.” Thomar shook and I knew he felt even more pain than Varin did. Still, he remained in place, protecting me. But from what?
“Do you hear them?” I asked, massaging my temples. I remained seated between the two hulking males. Nothing was getting near me, I was confident in my mates’ protection. But the threat wasn’t coming from somewhere outside, but from inside my own mind.
“Hear who?” Varin scanned the area behind him. Apparently satisfied there was no threat, he knelt at my feet and looked into my eyes as Thomar remained on guard, watching the door. “Who do you hear? Who is hurting you?”
A blood curdling scream sounded directly behind me. I turned so quickly I lost my balance, Varin’s hold the only thing that kept me from falling to the floor.
Less than a second later something stabbed into my thigh. Something huge, like a knitting needle looking for a vein.
“No. Please, stop. I’ll do it. Anything you want. Please!”
The woman’s voice was frantic. Panicked. In pain.
“Did you hear that?” I looked into Varin’s jewel toned eyes and prayed he wouldn’t think I was crazy. Maybe I was. I honestly didn’t know. I’d heard cries like this before, in prison, when someone was being punished or broken by the others.
Varin lifted a hand to my cheek and I leaned into his gentle strength. “I hear nothing, mate, only the constant buzz of the Hive implants and Thomar’s pain.”
“But, the women? Can’t you hear them?”
“No. I hear nothing. We will take you to medical at once.”
“No.” I turned to look up at Thomar, reached for his hand. I tugged until he turned around to look at me. “Can you hear them?”
“I hear many things, mate, but no females.”
The woman screamed again, this time the knife-like pain was moving through my lower abdomen, the pain similar to the nightmare cramps I’d had when I was a teenager on my monthly cycle.
Dizzy, I tumbled into Varin’s arms, still holding Thomar’s hand. “They’re doing something to her.”
Searing fire, sharp, like a blade cutting me open.
I screamed.
From what seemed like a million miles away, I heard Thomar’s voice calling for a medical team.