His Miracle Mate

Chapter 23

It was dark. The trees around me were tall, dark shadows reaching for the night sky. The distant sound of music and laughter filled the air. Cotton filled my head and a sense of wrongness twisted my guts.

There were two men nearby. One of them was suddenly in front of me. His eyes darkened, pupils taking over the irises as he ordered in a steel-laced tone, "Don't move, don't speak."

The words snapped around me like chains, locking me inside my own body.

"And that's how it's done, youngling," he told the other guy. "Since you brought her here, I'll give you a taste, but don't expect anything else. I'll have my own fun with her later...."

Then there was pain in my neck, it pierced through my foggy mind and felt like someone was pouring liquid acid in my veins. I wanted to scream and call for help, but no sound made it out of my throat.

"Orla!"

The desperate voice was familiar. My body shook.

"Orla! Wake up!"

My eyes snapped open with a gasp. Ezra's face filled my vision, chasing away the scene from my nightmare. His face was half-illuminated by the bedside light as he hovered over me. His hands pressed my shoulders down into the bed, his eyes wide with fear and worry.

"Orla?" he whispered.

My breaths came out in pants and gasps, my heart hammering an uneven staccato in my chest. The images from my dream played in my mind with an eerie clarity. Then something cracked inside my head. An explosion of memories burst to the surface in a rush of images and sounds and sensations.

My head pounded, a persistent ache that grew the more memories escaped their chains. I gritted my teeth against the pain. Ezra helped me sit up. He said something, but his voice couldn't penetrate the rush of memories plaguing my senses. I clutched my head as my ears rang and shut my eyes against the onslaught.

Brownies. A man leading me into the woods.

"Come on, let's take you home before you get sick."

"You want to come with me."

The sudden urge to follow that went away as soon as it came.

"It seems your compulsion isn't working, my dear friend. It is to be expected however, you are still young. What are you? One century this year?"

The urge to run and find Ezra breaking through the heavy fog in my mind.

"Don't move, don't speak"

"Since you brought her here, I'll give you a taste, but don't expect anything else. I'll have my own fun with her later..."

Than burning pain and debilitating fear.

A growl. The danger disappearing. Ezra. Ashley. Haley. Sam. Zach. Everything after that came back to me. Everything.

"Ezra, stop! You're going to kill him!"

"Orla, Are you okay?"

"Sam, I'll take care of that asshole. Help Zach get Ezra off the bastard before he kills him."

"We need to go, please. Let's go home."

"She's high!"

"Well, even if you're not happy now, it's okay. Cuz I'm going to make you happy!"

"Can I have more brownies?"

"Blood!"

"I killed him. I swear it-it wasn't on purpose. I was just p-playing and he wanted to take it from m-me, but then there was- there was a boom and then blood and screaming and- I tried to wake him up but -but-"