Page 8 of Shackled to the World
And she couldn’t stop her thoughts from jumping to Logan again.
Ten days.
He’s been gone ten fucking days.
Only the gods knew what tortures Logan was enduring at her uncle’s hands. Every time she closed her eyes, she’d swear she could hear his screams. When she lay in bed at night, hovering between awareness and sleep, she could feel every lash of the whip against Logan’s flesh, every cut of the knife.
As soon as Logan noticed her, he’d shove her out and sever the connection.
She wasn’t sure how much longer she could remain sane before she broke and slipped into the afterworld to track down her uncle. She knew she’d be able to find him if she pushed the tenuous link joining them, if she gave herself over to the darkness.
The only thing stopping her was the fear that she might end up taking the rest of the guys down with her.
Chapter Three
When Annora headed down the stairs after her shower, her backpack over her shoulder, she heard the guys arguing in the living room. Their voices were harsh whispers as they tried to keep quiet, but they couldn’t quite manage to mask the worry and anger.
Her first impulse was to slip away, not sure she was emotionally equipped to deal with another drama.
Her hand was on the knob when she heard her name, and curiosity got the best of her.
“I don’t like her heading off to class for hours without one of us there to guard her.” She winced at Camden’s overprotectiveness. She’d swear that if she let him, he would whisk her away where no one would ever be able to find them.
The only thing stopping him was knowing it wouldn’t solve any of their problems.
As she crept closer, she heard Xander grunt in disagreement, the sound so close she knew he must be leaning against the wall just inches from her, but she couldn’t make herself move away. “Class is the only thing preventing her from training twenty-four hours a day. While I want to protect her, coddling her will just push her further away.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Mason’s voice was gruff when he spoke, the floor creaking as he shifted his feet. “She’s not sleeping, and when she does, she’s having nightmares. She’s hardly eating. She won’t be able to keep going much longer without cracking.”
She swallowed hard, surprised the guys had noticed so much. She couldn’t help but feel like she was letting them down. She stepped under the archway between the rooms, her eyes immediately dropping to Eddie’s unconscious form passed out on the couch. “What the hell happened?”
She strode forward and leaned over the back of the couch to examine him, expecting to find they’d beaten the shit out of him, but he didn’t have a mark on him. She brushed his hair away from his forehead, and he leaned into her touch, but quickly fell back into unconsciousness of sleep.
“Whatever you hit him with outside knocked him out cold.” Xander pushed away from the wall, gazing down at Eddie impassively. “I hauled his ass inside and dumped him in here, figuring you didn’t want to leave him outside.”
So touching.
She sighed when his last comment sounded more like a question than a statement. “Thank you.”
Worried she might have harmed Eddie flashed through her, but she quickly dismissed it. He lived in the afterworld for years, so an influx of the energy wouldn’t harm him now. She refused to admit she could’ve given him an overdose while he was stuck in his human form…or that he was weaker than he said.
After watching the steady rise and fall of his chest, Annora straightened and gripped the strap of her backpack. She smiled at Mason, completely ignoring the others and the conversation. “You ready?”
Mason grinned, his upper and lower fangs sticking out slightly, marking him as not completely human. His forehead was a little too broad, his features a bit exaggerated, not to mention the bright pink hair and the ring of horns adorning his head.
That he couldn’t completely pass for human was what she liked most about him. While he might resemble a monster, he was an angel to her. She’d met a number of humans who were more of a monster than actual shifters.
He quickly crossed the room and held out his hand in a silent demand for her bag. His pink hair was slicked back, but strands sprang forward as if reaching for her, the strands of hair giving away his emotions more readily than his face. His lavender eyes were bright as he gazed down at her, waiting patiently for her to comply, and she knew the big lug wouldn’t budge an inch until she obeyed.
She huffed in exasperation as she handed it over, her lips quirking. “You know I can carry my own things.”
She followed him to the door, and he smiled at her over his shoulder as he turned and held it open for her. “But why, when I can do it for you?”
“Charmer.” She reached up and patted his chest as she passed him on her way out the door, doing her best to pretend everything was normal…even if only for a few minutes.
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