Page 10 of Clawed
She’d lived it before.
“Who amI?”His tone was wry.“That’s rather insulting, Miss Bowman.”
Tension stiffened her muscles at the way he knew her name.
Miss Bowman.
She knew that voice, didn’t she?Anxiety strained at her chest, making it difficult to breathe.
“Given everything we’ve been through together, I would have expected you to know me.”
As though he’d ordered them to open, her eyes fluttered at his retort, though as she blinked around the gloomy room, she was struggling to focus.Unhindered by her pupils, panic exploded in her mind, sending adrenaline flooding her system.
He said we’d been through something.What does that mean?
Terror knotted in her tummy as she realized who could be looming over her, but still, she rebuffed it.
It couldn’t be.It wasn’t him.
This isn’t happening.
“It’s okay.”His voice was softer that time.“You’re okay.It’s only the sedative wearing off.Be a good girl, and look at me.”
Nausea simmered in her stomach as she turned her head and acknowledged him.Whoever he was, he seemed huge, towering over her, but she couldn’t persuade her head to lift and take in his features.
“My face, little girl.”He chuckled, as if her confusion was amusing.
Hang on.Her mind was battling to keep up.Did he say sedative?Why was I sedated?
The cold chill of trepidation she thought she’d left behind her traveled up the length of her body.She’d been drugged.
It was happening all over again!
“Oh God.”
She wasn’t sure if the words actually escaped her lips, but they ricocheted around her brain like an alarm.Oh God, Oh God, Oh God!
She watched in silent horror as one of his hands neared her chin and gently maneuvered it in the direction he wanted, and for the first time, she realized she couldn’t move her hands properly.She tried, naturally, insisting her wrist rise to counter him, but however hard she fought, her arms wouldn’t seem to respond.
“Here.”He took a step forward, the position of her head providing the perfect angle for their gazes to lock.“That’s better.”
As she finally laid eyes on the man who sounded so cool and in control, she was certain time had stopped altogether.
“Lawes.”Yet again, she didn’t know if she really spoke or if the word only boomed in her mind, but staring at him, it hardly mattered.
The monster from her nightmares—from her history—was back.
Another hallucination.The conclusion soothed her, even if she didn’t truly believe it.Just like last time.This isn’t real.
But what if last time had been real, and she’d only dismissed it as a trick of her mind?What if Lawes had been there, and her friends just hadn’t noticed him?Freezing dismay rose to her throat, tightening her airway.
What if he’d been there all along, lurking in the dark and biding his time?
“How quickly you’ve forgotten the rules.”His gaze narrowed, as if disappointed, and despite her better judgment, she sensed her fright escalate at his obvious disapproval.“That’s not how you address me, Hannah, and you know it.”
“I...”She blinked at him, trying frantically to make sense of what was happening.
Lawes, the man who’d ensnared her and kept her and others locked in cages in the basement of his pseudo-dental practice, was there with her.Seemingly, he’d sedated her and had her trapped.
