Pretend With Me (Midnight Society #1) (30 page)

“Fucking bitch,” he shouted slamming his fist into my
stomach again. “You shifted, didn't you?” he screamed in
my face, again shoving my hand into my stomach. This
time he released my hair, shoving me into the ground hard
as he walked away from me cursing in frustration. After a
few steps, he stomped back to me, anger leaking from his
every move and launched his boot into me. My body rose
from the ground slightly at his solid blow. Before I could
regain myself, I felt his boot crash into me again, and
again, and again. Pain echoed through my body and I was
instantly coughing up blood at his foot.

“Killing you has just gotten complicated,” he grunted
looking down at me and all I could think was, this was it;
Zane was finally going to kill me now, and in response
panic and adrenaline mixed in with the fear rushing
through my blood. I could feel it inside me, twisting my
stomach into knots, quickening my already flying heart.
But along with the panic and adrenaline came something
else – something that was familiar and yet strange at the
same time. It was a voice in my head, screaming and
scraping at my body to be heard, shouting that I needed to
stall him.

I gritted my teeth from the pain and forced myself to
stand up, facing Zane determined to show no weakness.
“Why?” I wheezed out, listening to the inner voice. I didn’t
know why, but I knew that I had to, even if stalling Zane
meant letting him beat me to a pulp.

“What does it matter to you, you’re dead either way,”
he spat at me.
“I deserve to know what is it about me that you
want...?” I screamed at him, “I want to know why you
killed Daren and Brandon, what was it all for? What is this
for?” I was still screaming at him.
Zane tilted his head to the side, his eyes studying me
intently. A small wicked smile then pierced his lips as he
took a step closer to me, raising his hand to cup my cheek.
“Because little pureblood girl, for centuries the purebloods
have been trying to create more of their kind… and you're
not just one of their creations, but the one that lived…
They can never know their experiment on you is a
success…”
“But they already know. Katalin knows…” I groaned,
ignoring my protesting body. My voice came out dry and
cracked.
“Katalin can’t do anything until you awaken fully –
meaning all stages of awakening, complete with inheritance
and all…” I could hear the smile in his voice. “And if
you’re dead, you can’t awaken… she’ll never really know if
you’re a success or not. She knows this well, after all that’s
why she had guardians and protectors stalking you day and
night.”
“What?” I frowned and even that hurt.
“Did you think Daren was your only protector?” he
laughed. “How naïve,” he chuckled and then dropped his
hand to my shoulders, his fingers digging into my skin.
“Make sure she's dead,” he then said to someone behind
me, his voice blank and casual as he shoved me back. I
landed on the street, my knees and hands scraping against
the pitch, and suddenly found myself staring up to at least
fifty different guys.
At once I stood up backing away from them slowly.
They all matched my steps and with each step that took
me back, they all took one, coming closer towards me. My
heart began hammering away in my chest and with each
beat my body groaned with pain. Every move I made hurt,
but from the sinister looks plastered on their faces, I knew
that they were going to make my death a long and painful
one. I didn't dare stop moving.
As this realization sunk in, adrenaline poured through
my body again, heating my veins. I was instantly numb as
strength came alive in my body, and as it poured through
me I turned around, shooting off into an unknown
direction.
As soon as I sped off, my body slammed into a hard
thick wall and I stumbled back struggling to remain on my
feet. It was then that I realized I hadn't run into a wall.
Standing directly in front of me was a gigantic man,
literally towering over me. A devilish grin stretched across
his lips. Instantly I spun around and found myself trapped.
They were all around now, closing me into a small circle.
“Hello there,” the one I'd slammed into grinned at me.
I swallowed shutting my eyes tightly; my last thought being
that Eric was going to be so pissed at me when he finds
out I'm dead.
Almost as if my thoughts had conjured him I heard his
voice in my head. “Hi” he sneered at me, his voice enraged
and exactly how it’d be when he woke up tomorrow
morning and learned that I’d stupidly gone off on my own
in the middle of the night and gotten myself killed.
There was so much I wanted to tell him, but it was too
late now. There was no way that he was ever going to
know, yet nevertheless I whispered so low that only my
lips moved, “I’m sorry.” And then I waited for God knows
what Zane and his pack had planned for me. I was sorry
for all the pain and trouble I’d put him through. He
deserved none of it. I was sorry for not telling him that I
loved him, and that I didn’t open up to him when I had
the chance.
The pain never came. Instead the strong stench of
blood filled my nose. The scent was thick in the air, filling
my lungs with the sickly iron and salt smell. I could taste it
on my tongue and it made me want to throw up.
My eyes shot open and I found myself – against
everything that I thought possible - inches away from
Eric’s back. Almost a quarter of the guys that had been
surrounding me were now on the ground, lying lifelessly as
blood dripped from Eric’s fingers, hanging loosely at his
side. His entire arm, from elbows to fingertips glistened
red in a glove of blood. In one fluid movement, Eric
tossed something aside and then flipped our positions.
I was suddenly standing with my back to him, exactly
where he had seconds ago once again facing the guy. Only
this time, he wasn't grinning down at me. His face was in a
mask of shock and confusion. Blood ran down the sides of
his mouth as he gawked down at his body.
I followed his eyes and grasped when I saw a jagged,
gaping hole torn into his stomach. Blood was gushing to
the street from it and then he toppled over towards me.
Frantically I began backing away from his dropping body,
terrified of him falling on me.
He landed inches from my feet, right next to the thing
Eric had tossed away. It was a heart; I realized horrified - a
human heart but bigger than it should be. Dark red blood,
poured out from the guy's corpse, crawling towards my
feet and hysterically I backed away.
No matter how many steps I took though, the blood
kept chasing my feet. After what seemed to be forever, it
stopped coming and I turned desperately wanting to find
Eric. Instead the image that met my eyes had me shaking
in fear. I rooted in place at once, my body frozen. Directly
in front of my eyes a war was raging on.
It was a scene that I was sure I would always
remember. This was something I would see every time I
closed my eyes. It was a new image to haunt my dreams.
Nothing would ever be more terrifying than the violent,
deathly image unfolding before me, and in the midst of it
all, was Eric.
As I took in the scene before me, loud vicious snarls
and deadly growls tore through the air sending strong
ripples of fear pulsing within my body. There were wolves
much bigger and harsher than the one I had seen and
attacking them were fierce wild animals that belonged
anywhere but here.
Desperately, I searched for Eric through the mass of
confusion, and after a while of raking through the fighting
creatures I saw him. Immediately I found myself wishing
that hadn't. For the second time in my life I was afraid of
Eric Wilson. He was literally tearing the monsters apart,
limb by limb.
Everything that I knew and understood about him was
gone. He wasn't the Eric I was used to. I had never been
face to face with this side of him, and now that I was, I
was terrified. Everything about him that was calm and
controlled was completely gone, now replaced by
something dark, primal, and savage.
Adrenaline pulsed through my body and I spun around
ready to shoot out again, but before I could fully spin, I
found myself staring at Zane. His hand shot out towards
me and tightened around my neck, cutting my air off. The
next thing I knew, my feet were off the ground, dangling
inches in the air and I was abruptly staring at Zane's face.
“You escaped me two times already; there will not be a
third,” he sneered into my face, tightening his hands
around my neck just about crushing me. At the back of
him, I saw Eric's head snap up staring directly at us.
Without taking his eyes off me, he bit into a wolf's neck in
front of him ripping its throat open. When the wolf
dropped to his feet, he kicked it aside stalking towards me.
Zane's fingers were suddenly ripped away from me and
immediately I fell to the ground, grasping for air and
clutching my throat. In front of me, I saw Zane was also
on the ground flat on his back. Two black, sleek paws were
on his chest. My eyes travelled up those paws and I saw a
huge snarling jaguar, lunging for his neck. Zane's hand
shot up and grabbed the jaguar instantly throwing it off
him. In the same moment he was on his feet.
Zane locked eyes with Eric for a second that seemed to
go on forever then without warning he exploded into a
giant wolf that was bigger and meaner than all the others.
He slid down on all fours and throwing his head back, he
let a loud, smooth and ear shattering how l out that ripped
through the air.
In an instant air whipped around me and then Zane
and half of the fighting werewolves were gone, as if they
had never been here. I forced myself to get up off the
ground. My body was groaning in pain and I could barely
stand. The jaguar was directly in front of me now. My eyes
locked onto its eyes, fear rooting my feet in place.
My vision blurred for a second, but before it could fade
completely, I forced myself to focus as the jaguar in front
of me began fading into a human form. My feet swayed,
sending me tumbling to the ground, and this time I didn’t
fight the darkness.
* * *

My head was on fire and every part of my body hurt.
Even in unconsciousness, I could feel every sore cell in my
body pulsing with intense pain, and as I breathed in and
out it only got worse. I struggled to open my eyes, but my
eyelids felt as though heavy weights had been placed on
them. A soft, dry moan escaped my throat as a new
stronger wave of pain tore through me.

“Hey, I think she’s waking up” a confused unfamiliar
male voice said, but I couldn’t make sense of what it was
saying. All the words were jumbled together making them
difficult to understand. “Dude she’s waking up, go get
Dina and that pureblood kid,” the voice said again.

Finally, I managed to open my eyes and slowly the
world around me came into focus. I found myself staring
into bright, brown eyes that were directly above me.
Another wave of intense pain pulsed through me and
along with it came some of the memories of what I had
just lived through.

Instantly I shot up off whatever I was laying on and
bolted away from the stranger. As I moved, my body
throbbed with pain and immediately my legs shattered
under me as if they were made of fragile ice. I fell to the
ground with blood abruptly pouring out of my mouth
now.

Light flooded into the room or whatever I was in for
just a second and then Eric was kneeling down at my side.
After torturously slow minutes of coughing up blood, I
finally stopped and looked up to him, meeting his face for
the first time in what felt like a long time.

“Hey…” he whispered cupping my face. “Can you get
up?” I didn’t answer him; instead I found that I was
completely frozen with shock and fear. The memories of
him ripping those things apart flashed in my mind making
me flinch away from his touch.

I was absolutely still, searching him – his face - for any
sign that the cold Eric was staring back at me. That person
wasn’t my Eric. My Eric was in control of himself. He was
kind and caring and human. The Eric I had seen earlier
was anything but human. He had been wild and
emotionless, as if nothing mattered to him. It was like he
had lost control, and even though I knew he was
protecting me, I was still terrified of him.

When I found only my Eric staring back, I wrapped my
arms around his neck tightly ignoring the searing ache in
my body. “Can you get up?” he whispered again when I
released him. My only response was a slight nod. Eric then
wrapped his arms around my waist, helping me up and
back onto the small rectangle cot I’d been on.

“I can handle it from here,” Eric said firmly staring at
the boy with the brown eyes. Without saying anything he
nodded once and then turned, pushing at the glowing
ember wall and I realized I was in a small tent. There was
nothing in it but the cot, a few cardboard boxes and some
duffle bags stacked against one end.

I turned back to Eric only to find him kneeling in front
of me. Slowly and hesitantly, he raised his hand resting it at
the sides of my face. His eyes raked over my body and I
watched as millions of emotions flashed through his face
with each passing second. All he saw in that moment was
the damage; the cuts and bruises on my skin that was soon
to be blue-black patches.

His eyes travelled down to my neck as he held my chin
gently and tilted my head back and to the side. As soon as
the dim glow from outside the tent touched my neck, his
breath caught. Eric slightly brushed his hand along my
neck and even though his touch was feather light, my skin
burned. I didn’t have to ask to know what he was seeing. I
could feel Zane’s hands around my neck still. I could feel
his fingers tightening and choking me even now.

Next Eric took my hands in his and turned them over
so my palms were now facing up. Both my hands were
damaged. My palms were red and blistered, and the skin
on the heels of my palms had been scraped away. My right
hand was worse. It was swollen and the skin of my
knuckles were bruised and torn from punching Zane. I
could barely move it and I knew beyond doubt that some,
if not most, of the bones were broken.