Page 38 of Betrayed Bullied Mate

The rest of his sentence is swallowed into a gust of cloud and smoke as I collapse, cradling my head in my hands. I feel Aris’s arms around me immediately as I whimper, the pain coming in waves so intense it feels like my head is splitting into two.

The first image comes in strong, as if I’m standing in the room. It’s a man and a woman looking down at a little bundle. I look closer, trying to see who it is—they’re both smiling proudly, and the woman is rocking the baby, singing softly under her breath. They’re standing in a kitchen, with warm sunlight streaming in through the windows.

“No need to run from the big bad wolf,” she sings, and I gasp, putting my hand to my mouth. The man and woman don’t seem to notice. They can’t see or hear me. I stare at the man’s broad shoulders, his full, dark beard, and sparkling eyes as he takes the bundle from the woman.

The woman is me. Her hands linger on the baby as she passes it over, her song never stopping, her smile wide and soft. I look to the man. It’s Aris.

We’re going to have a baby? I desperately try to take in the background of the vision to figure out where we are, but it’s already fading out. My body lurches in desperation—I want to stay with them, with the baby. I want to know if it’s a boy or a girl. I want to touch their little fingers, feel them curl around my hand.

But the vision is gone. I wait to come back to my body and prepare to have to pretend I didn’t just see what I did. How can I lie to Aris about this?

The vision doesn’t end, however. It morphs into something else, the soft lighting of the kitchen melting away to the cold, unforgiving glow of moonlight. I see animals—wolves—racing through the trees. In a flash, I recognize one of the areas Eva and I had just been in, collecting mushrooms.

My body snaps into place suddenly, coming out of the vision with a ferocity that makes my head ache, but I don’t have time to focus on it. When I open my eyes, the entire team is staring down at me, concern etched on their faces.

I’m cradled in Aris’s arms, and I fight against him, turning just in time to vomit into the grass without getting any on him. He holds my hair back, and when it’s done, I just barely manage to get a whisper out before collapsing.

“They’re coming. Now.”

Chapter 21 - Aris

Let’s go, I send. We have one second to prepare, then everyone gets up into the trees. We’ll make them think we ran. We move in unison, tossing what’s left of our dinner into the fire. I watch Percy stand and grab the bundles of herbs Linnea prepared from behind the tree stump, dumping them into the fire with the herbs and letting them burn for a moment. Byron and Eva race around the perimeter, their bandanas covering their faces as they dump bleach and ammonia into the dirt and grass.

Bigby, Ado, Percy, and I also affix our bandanas. They’ll help while we’re in our human forms, but once we shift, we’ll have to deal with the stench.

I watch my delicious cornbread catch fire, sincerely regretting its loss. It’s the best thing we’ve had to eat since we left D.C. It makes me wonder about what else Linnea can cook, but I don’t have time to think about domestic life, and I snap back into action, grabbing a jug of vinegar and dumping it out.

Put out the fire, I project. Be as quiet as you can.

Ado puts out the fire, and we all scramble into the trees, me pulling Linnea’s mostly limp body up after me. She seems to understand what I’m doing and tries to help, but her attempts are feeble at best. This vision really took her out, and it makes me nervous about what the next one might be like.

I imagine what it will be like to be on the lookout for her visions for the rest of our lives and wonder if there’s something we can do to ease her pain or remove the visions altogether.

After hauling her up onto the platform, I stare down at her. Would she be sad to never have a vision again? She told me they were mostly terrible, so surely it would be a benefit if they were gone.

Once we’re hidden in the trees, we all collectively hold our breath, watching the area below. Though our scent is hidden from the rogues through the magic of the scent-cover, I can smell them clearly—an unfamiliar, sharp smell that wafts up as soon as they come close. It’s strange how a pack’s scent can change depending on the alpha. I think about the pack’s smell when my dad was the leader and wonder how long it will take to change back once I’ve taken over.

I glance at Linnea again, who’s struggling to sit up, her arm shaking under the weight of her torso.

“Shh,” I say, leaning down and kissing her forehead. “Stay here, stay quiet. They won’t find you with the scent-cover.”

She nods once, then lays her head back down. I feel the urge to tell her that I want to stay in Rosecreek—that I want to raise a family with her. I feel more protective over her now than ever, and I wonder if that’s because of the current threat, the mating bond strengthening, or being back here on my family’s land.

I’m still looking at her when we hear the first scream—a shifter has fallen into one of the spike traps. I watch Linnea smile weakly and feel a rush of pride in her. She’s as smart as Bigby and as cunning as Eva. She’ll make for a great luna.

A moment later, the rogues come sneaking into the area, inspecting the remains of our fire, sniffing around, clearly puzzled that they can’t smell us.

Hold, I instruct, watching them slowly, second after second, let their guard down. Right when it looks like the rogues are going to turn and leave, heading back the way they came, I jump from my post in the tree, shifting in mid-air and taking down three shifters at once.

My team follows a second later, the ripping and tearing of death filling the space around the cabins. I keep my back to the spot where Linnea is hidden, knowing that if I glance at her, I’ll give away her position. If a single rogue so much as looks at her, I’ll rip their throats out without a second thought.

At first, it looks like we’re going to make quick work of the battle. Bigby, in his wolf form, is able to take on several at once, and Ado, who is still in his human form, is threading through the crowd. I watch shifters, both in human and wolf forms, falling in his wake. He’s the kind of enemy who slashes your Achilles on his way through, then your throat on the way back.

I can feel Linnea’s heart racing as she watches us. Something about it feels different than normal, almost like it contains an echo of itself, and I assume it must be beating extra hard because of the violence taking place just below her.

Linnea wouldn’t be much of a match for a shifter in a head-to-head battle, but in her state right now, she’s a sitting duck.

I blink as a body slams into mine, knocking me to the ground. I’m too distracted, thinking about Linnea and her safety, so I’m not at the top of my game. I growl, thrusting another shifter off of me and jumping on him, trying to get my teeth in his throat. We roll again, and he snarls down at me.

---