Blood Instinct (24 page)

S
ophia opened her eyes
. She felt hot, yet a shiver washed over her. She was hungry but she didn’t know what for, the ache in her stomach having been intense enough to wake her.

She rolled on to her back and looked up at the ceiling. She held her hand out in front of her face, not knowing if it was a part of her own body or someone else’s. But the tremble was back, as was the perspiration. Only this time it wasn’t just at the nape of her neck and on her palms. This time, she could feel the perspiration over every inch of her body. Her breaths were short and ragged, as if not even her own lungs wanted to grant her oxygen.

She threw back the sheet and perched on the edge of the mattress, her knees to her chest, her feet flat on the floor, but even that felt unsteady beneath her.

She flashed back to one of the last things she remembered: being astride Kane. Then the crack to her head.
His
head cracking against hers. And then the feeling of being carried. Leila fussing over her. And being sick. Being so, so sick.

She clutched her abdomen, wondering if that was the cause of the ache, of the continuing nausea.

That, or the realisation of what she had done – how she’d betrayed Jask.

She rubbed her hand around the back of her neck before getting unsteadily to her feet. She walked over to the door and rested her cheek against the cold steel then licked her dry lips, the prospect of her freedom, of air, filling every space in her head.

She turned the handle, but the door was locked – she was locked in. Locked in for being a liability; locked in for being untrustworthy.

They had
no
right.

She nearly banged her fist against it, demanding attention, but she wasn’t ready to see him. She wasn’t ready to see anyone; everyone she’d let down.

She rolled back against the door, the back of her head resting against it as she stared up at the ceiling again.

She stumbled back over to the mattress and knelt on it like it was a prayer mat, her forehead pressing against the wire coils.

Segregated again. From her sisters, from the pack. And now maybe even from Jask too.

He had to hate her for what she’d done: exposing the secret he’d trusted her with, causing a rift between him and Kane at such a crucial time.

And now he’d locked her away; rejected her. Just like they all rejected her in the end. Because she’d fucked up like she always fucked up. Because she was poison – tainting his life, tainting his pack, tainting him.

She sat back on her haunches, her gaze locked on the mattress. The wire-sprung mattress.

She wouldn’t be there to taint them much longer. She had other things to do, bigger things to do. Other purposes.

She thumbed a hole in the fabric, a hole that led to one of the coil springs.

The seconds that passed blurred as she ripped the mattress open. Finding the coil, she tugged and yanked until her hands bled, finally freeing it along with several inches of its neighbouring mass of entangled wires.

She fell to her knees at the door, flashing back to when she’d removed the pins from the heel of her boot when Jask had trapped her in the room back at the compound.

She flattened her palm to the door, closing her eyes to try and block out the recollections of Jask, of what they had become since, and instead focused on picking the lock.

After a few attempts with trembling hands, she succeeded.

She opened the door carefully and quietly, and peered outside to find the empty corridor encased in shadows.

Her heart pounded as she willed herself to close the door again. All she had to do was step back inside to avoid temptation. All she had to do was close the door again and turn around.

And she did close the door. She stepped to the side of it. She rested her forehead against the wall. But she couldn’t will herself to take her hand off the handle.

She rolled back against the door so she was leaning against it again, staring around the room that bound her. She tried to take steadying breaths, but the ache was worsening.

The claustrophobia was worsening. She needed out. She needed more. Something else. Something she couldn’t define.

She turned back round to face the door. She held onto the handle for a few more moments before opening it to step back outside again, quietly closing it behind her.

To her right, she could hear the echo of distant voices. To her left, silence summoned.

With her back to the wall, remaining vigilant left and right, she headed along the same route she’d taken only hours before when she’d chased after Honey. The route that led to the door to the subway tunnel that, in turn,
could
get her outside.

She worked her palms along the wall as she kept up a decent pace, knowing she’d probably have little time before someone checked in on her.

But as she reached the corner, she flinched at the sound of footsteps approaching.

She hurried back to her room and tucked herself back inside, closing the door again.

She should have known Jask wasn’t going to leave the outer doors unguarded again and whoever it was had no doubt picked up a human scent.

She was never going to be able to escape unawares.

As she heard the footsteps drawing nearer, and without time to relock the door, she held on to the handle, the only thing she could do if they were to test the door.

But they didn’t. A few seconds later, she heard the footsteps disappear in the same direction they had come.

She rested her forehead against the door again, cursing in frustration under her breath. She could almost smell her freedom. She could almost feel the breeze in her hair; hear the sounds of Blackthorn around her – Blackthorn that swam with vampires.

She flattened her palm against the cold steel.

Vampires that would ease the ache; that would make it go away. That would make all the pain, all the angst, all the frustration disappear.

She counted to one hundred and eighty, hoping that three minutes was enough to lower anyone’s guard.

She clicked the door ajar and peered back outside. All was quiet again – until she heard children’s voices in the distance. She turned her head towards the familiar sound. Tuly. And Honey.

Leila had said she’d made it. She was okay. And Honey and Tuly could prove useful.
Very
useful.

Sophia poked her head back around the door. She wetted her dry lips before slipping out again. Remaining alert, she tracked the sound of the children’s voices heading down the corridor in the opposite direction to where she needed to go. But it would be worth it. She’d make sure it was worth it.

She caught a glimpse of them walking hand in hand and disappearing around the corner ahead. Sophia hurried along behind them, keeping a watchful eye over her shoulder. When she turned the next corner, she found them sitting cross-legged and facing each other, Honey’s giraffe – her gift to Tuly – sitting between them.

Tuly stood instantly, Honey doing the same a split second later, their eyes alert with trepidation.

‘Hey,’ Sophia said, holding up her palm to placate them. ‘It’s okay. It’s only me.’

Tuly’s eyes raked her warily. ‘You should be in bed. You’re sick.’

‘I’m feeling better,’ Sophia said, more than aware that her pounding heart was probably contradicting her, something Tuly could no doubt hear. ‘Where’s Jask?’

Tuly frowned. ‘Out. And you don’t
look
better.’

‘Do you know where he’s gone?’

The little lycan shook her head.

And it gave her the perfect excuse. ‘Girls, I think he might be in trouble.’

Tuly’s eyes flared.

‘I need to be able to get to him,’ Sophia said.

Tuly exchanged glances with Honey, the latter’s echoing the same level of concern, the same level of suspicion.

‘Girls, I need to help him. He’s thinking of doing something that’s going to put him in terrible danger, and I need you to help me stop him.’

Tuly’s frown deepened as she fixed her attention on Sophia. ‘Like what?’

‘I can’t explain.’ She glanced warily over her shoulder before looking back at Tuly. ‘But I need you to trust me.’

‘How do I know you’re not lying?’

‘Tuly, I love Jask. You know I love Jask. I’m not going to do anything to hurt him – I’m trying to protect him. He’s so busy trying to protect me and the rest of us that he’s not looking after himself.’

Tuly’s eyes narrowed with scepticism. She moved to step past her. ‘I’ll tell Solstice.’

Sophia instantly blocked her way. Tuly took a wary step back.

‘No,’ Sophia said, crouching down to try and lower any sense of threat she was giving off. ‘You don’t want them to go out there. There are people looking for your pack, remember? Has Solstice told you that? Corbin?’

Tuly nodded.

‘I don’t want them in danger,’ Sophia said. ‘I don’t want any of them hurt. And I’m sure you don’t either. I’m the only one who can help him. The people who are going to hurt Jask don’t know who I am. I can get to him quickly.’

Tuly pressed her lips together as she cast a deliberating glance in Honey’s direction.

‘Tuly,’ Sophia said, recapturing her attention. ‘I’m Jask’s mate. I have to protect him. To do that I need your help.
He
needs your help. He came looking for you, didn’t he? When those cons were holding you? He never gave up.’ Sophia looked to Honey. ‘And he let Eden join us as well as your parents. He’s helping keep them all safe. Do you remember me chasing after you, Honey, to rescue you from that monster? And you’re okay now, aren’t you?’ When Honey nodded, Sophia looked back at Tuly. ‘If I tell the others, they won’t let me go. They’ll try and do this instead and they’ll get hurt – and then Jask will die.’

Tuly’s eyes flared again, her little mouth dropping in horror.

‘But I can save him,’ Sophia said, her hands capturing the young lycan’s. ‘
If
you help me.’

‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Do you know where mine and Jask’s room is?’

Tuly nodded.

‘At the end of that corridor, along a few more, is a door. It heads out into the tunnels.’

‘I know,’ Tuly said. ‘I know all of this bunker. I explore it every day.’

‘Someone is guarding it, aren’t they?’

Tuly nodded again. ‘They’re guarding all the doors more than ever.’

‘Well, that’s the door I need to get through and, for me to be able to do that, I need that guard to be distracted. I need you and Honey to distract them long enough for me to get out.’

‘We could get in a
lot
of trouble,’ Tuly said, her grey eyes wide.

‘As will Jask be if you don’t help. We’re friends, aren’t we, Tuly? Honey? We look after each other. We help each other. Help me, and Jask will be okay. I promise.’

W
hen Jask opened the door
, when he stepped back in the room, he couldn’t be sure who was on their feet quicker. Solstice beat Corbin by a fraction, wrapping her arms around Jask’s neck and pulling him close.

The look on Corbin’s face was simply one of relief that their alpha had finally returned – and in one piece.

They embraced as soon as Solstice tore herself away, Corbin slamming his fist against Jask’s back, Jask doing likewise.

‘Tell me Caleb’s still breathing,’ Corbin said into his ear.

‘He is,’ Jask confirmed.

But as Leila had noticed that he’d come back empty-handed, her eyes were not quite so celebratory.

‘Phia?’ he asked her.

‘Still asleep when I checked on her a couple of hours ago.’ Leila anxiously interlaced her hands. ‘Did you get what we needed?’

Jask shook his head, instantly deflating her. ‘But he is willing to play ball.’

Leila’s eyes flared slightly, her hands dropping lax to her sides.

‘You’re kidding,’ Solstice muttered.

‘At what cost?’ Corbin asked.

Jask looked back to Leila. ‘He wants the spell performed back at his place. He wants you to do it there – with Phia. He wants you to perform the spell in front of him.’

Leila glanced at Alisha, who stood beside her, her gaze wide and wary as she stared back at her sister.

‘He was very clear about it,’ Jask added. ‘And he’s willing to have me accompany you. But, Leila, we have to think of the implications of this should it go back to you.’

‘We have no choice, Jask. We’ve already resolved that.’

Jask looked back to Corbin, to Solstice, to Eden and Jessie, who still sat at the table listening.

‘Then I’ll need to tell her what’s happening. I’ll need to tell her everything,’ he said, not even sure how he would begin. ‘Get yourself sorted. We need to be out of here as soon as possible’

‘Jask.’

Jask glanced over his shoulder to respond to his beta’s call. But as he held Corbin’s gaze – his silent and knowing gaze of moral support – they both knew there was nothing either of them could say to make the pending task any easier.

Jask felt as though he was on a conveyer belt heading nowhere as he ploughed along the corridor, every step he made feeling like another step backwards.

He knew what telling her would do to her. He knew he might as well thrust his fist into her chest and tear her heart out. He may have had hope, but it was still at Leila’s expense.

As their door came into sight, nothing he was planning to say felt right. Whether he blurted it out or gave context first, both would carry their own pain that would overshadow the other half of the message.

He took the key from the ledge above the door and held onto the handle, the back of his hand to his mouth for a few moments as he forced himself to hold back his tears. Because ultimately he had failed her.

His hand flexed on the handle, startling him when it moved.

A split second later, he pushed open the door.

His heart pounded to a human rate as he stared down at the vacant mattress – at the bloodstains on the vacant mattress. He spun on his heels and marched down the corridor to shove his way into the shower room, his heart in his throat.

‘Phia?’ he called, pushing one door after another on the three toilet cubicles, and finding each one empty.

He stepped back out into the corridor; stormed back down to the communal area.

‘Where’s Phia?’ he asked.

To his frustration he was met with a sea of blank faces.

‘Where the fuck
is
she?’ he demanded again.

S
ophia wandered
through the mist as if in an ethereal dream, as if there was no ground beneath her and no sky above. But in the distance, she could hear the hub – the hub that meant she was close to the west.

Closer to Caleb.

Stomach aching with cramps, her legs unsteady beneath her, Sophia had managed to struggle up the metal rungs of the ladder at the midpoint of the tunnel to push her way through the drain cover and out into Blackthorn’s night air. And she’d been in the dream ever since.

Every atom of the air around her buzzed and drew her ever closer to the hive of activity. The last time she’d felt the pull that strongly, she’d had Jask by her side, holding her hand as he’d led her through the crowds. Except now she was alone – and the dark empty streets were as overpowering now as the overflowing ones had been back then.

Taking a breather, she leaned back against a brick wall. She didn’t know how long she’d been out there, how long she’d been walking in the rain, but her sodden clothes clung to her skin, the chill creeping deep into her bones. She clutched her head, trying to force herself to remember. It still ached from the almighty blow Kane had inflicted on it.

‘Are you okay?’

Sophia shot a glance over her shoulder to look at the man in the shadows behind her.

He pointed to the wound on her forehead. ‘You look injured. Has someone hurt you?’

She automatically reached up to touch it. ‘I’m fine.’

As soon as he took a couple of steps closer, she could sense it.
Vampire
.

She became painfully aware of the dark, isolated streets around her again. She took a step back, a step away from him. Because she had other things to do. More important things to do. Someone she had to find. But in the vampire’s presence her mind became hazy again as to whom she was seeking out.

‘Lady, you don’t want to be walking the streets alone tonight,’ he said, pulling himself a little more into view before he glanced around warily.

Young with bright blue eyes beneath a mop of blonde hair, his body fit and slender, the serryn in her assessed him with increasing interest.

‘The place is crawling with military,’ he continued, ‘including all the other shit lurking around the streets. Have you not heard the news?’

As he took another step forward, she forced herself to take another step back.

‘I can look after myself,’ she said, turning away and wrapping her arms around herself, marching across the street to get away.

Away from there. Away from the sight and scent of him. Away from the temptation.

‘Hey!’ he called after her. ‘Have you at least got somewhere to go? Somewhere you’re heading? You must be freezing. I know you’re human – you’ll catch your death walking around like that. What kind of gentleman would I be if I left you out here?’

‘The smart kind,’ she called without looking back at him.

‘You don’t have to be nervous. I live a couple of streets away. I can give you shelter at least until the rain passes. It might not be warm and cosy, but it’s dry and safe.’

‘For me maybe,’ she muttered under her breath.

Thankfully, he seemed to take the hint, his footsteps eventually stopping some distance behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see him talking on the phone.

She turned the corner and crossed the street.

The tingle in her lower spine had her looking over her shoulder again to see him standing on the corner, watching her from the shadows, from under the broken streetlight, his hands in his coat pockets.

He didn’t move.

She looked ahead again and picked up her pace. She turned the next corner – only to slam into two males coming in the opposite direction.

She stumbled back a little with the impact.

But these weren’t vampires. She glanced at the identifiable numbers spanning their bare inner arms. Cons.

The blow to the back of her head knocked her out cold.