Page 99 of Embracing Sky
Fletcher nodded, but it was very small. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe me, but I could tell he didn’t have faith in the situation.
“I’m just scared,” he whispered.
I whispered back, “Me too…”
We drove a little further, pulling into the empty parking lot of a closed cafe. “I guess we wait for Gracie’s okay,” I said finally, but Fletcher shook his head.
“If we see police cars and EMS, we’re following them,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Alright, kitten,” I agreed.
We left the engine running, heat trickling out of the vents, and we sat together in the quiet, hand in hand.
Waiting. Hoping.
58
SKY
The forest was eerily silent,save for my sobs and River’s ragged breathing. Thompson didn’t move, and neither did his men; their feet were rooted to the ground, awaiting orders from their boss.
“You…bastard…” River choked out, pushing himself up despite the blood soaking his shirt.
Thompson didn’t give him the chance. He strode forward and placed his boot directly on River’s wounded shoulder, digging his heel in hard. River cried out in pain, bucking beneath him.
Panic rose inside me. “Stop!” I cried. “Stop it! You said you wouldn’t hurt him! You said?—”
My breath halted in my lungs as Thompson turned the pistol on me. “Shut up,” he snapped. “I’ve had enough of your whining. And you…”
He ground the heel of his boot into River’s bullet wound, drawing out a broken cry from my Alpha brother. “Just because I need you alive for my experiments doesn’t mean you don’t have to suffer. Keep fighting. I dare you. I’ll chain you in silver and beat you bloody, then when it comes breeding time, I’ll harvestyour seed and implant it in your brother myself. You’ll never see him, or anyone else, again. Don’t test me,mutt.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, my body shaking with silent sobs. This wasn’t what I wanted. I was a monster. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, but all I could smell was blood and dirt and the awful bite of Dr. Thompson’s formaldehyde reek.
I blinked twice to dislodge the tears, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. A flash of silver through the woods, shrouded in shadow.
My heart skipped. A wolf? No… They needed to leave! They needed to run away, or else Thompson would hurt them too.
“Alright,” Thompson barked. “Enough lolly-gagging. I want to get our guests reacquainted with their rooms. They’ll be spending a lot of time there, after all.”
He smiled coldly at me, then gestured at River as he stepped back and wiped the blood off his boot in the damp grass.
“Get him up. Let’s go.”
Two of the guards dragged River roughly to his feet. When he stumbled, one punched him square in the gut. River buckled over with a groan.
I forced myself to look away. Another wolf came running out of the woods, dark-pelted and as stealthy as the shadows that surrounded it. How had no one seen it? I glanced away, my heart pounding.
I hated this. River said the pack was here to save us. That he needed to stall Thompson, but with River injured, were they out of time? Could I buy us a little more?Think, Sky, think!
As the men dragged me to my feet, I willed my body to go completely limp. I collapsed on the forest floor with a cry of pain.
“C’mon, you stupid wolf,” the man said, jerking at my shoulder.
“I-I can’t!” I uttered. “I can’t feel my legs!”
“What do you mean you can’t feel your legs? Stand up!”
“I’m trying!”
