Her mouth fell open to take a deep breath, and the man slipped the pills between her lips and tipped her head back. He reached in farther and pushed them all the way to the recesses of her mouth and held the water up to pour it down her throat. “That’s it. Be my good girl. You’ll feel so much better soon, sweetheart.”
The pills went down without her blessing. She couldn’t stop them. It was either that or drown. Water fell in streams down her face and throat. She choked, and he righted her, petting her hair roughly. “See? Not so hard. You’re such a good girl.” The man sat and hauled her into his lap so her cheek rested against his chest.
She tried harder to focus, but the world was fading around her… Something was terribly wrong…
»»•««
“Where are we heading?” Cooper projected toward the two people with him.
Melinda was exhausted. He could tell by looking at her. Even in wolf form, she was running out of steam. She needed water. Hell they all did.
“I’m not sure, but it’s far,” Wyatt stated into Cooper’s mind. “We can only follow the spirits. They will guide us.”
Two of them led the way, one of the wolf variety and the other of the bear variety. Trace ran alongside Cooper. Even the idea that the spirits were leading this ruse was unsettling. What if they were wrong?
“Why are we in animal form? Sandhouse couldn’t have carried her this far. He had to have a car.”
“He did,” Melinda responded. “And the last set of tremors took out the road. We were stuck.”
As if on cue, the ground shook again. Several tremors had rocked their foundation in the last hour. Cooper was worried. And rightfully so. They were heading in the direction of the epicenter. Why would Sandhouse risk heading directly toward a possible volcano? Unless he simply didn’t intend to survive and was willing to sacrifice his own life as long as he took out Sharon’s as well. Fissures in the ground not far from them were spewing gasses into the air. He could see them in the distance. If lava began to flow…
He shook the thought from his head. He had no other choice.
“Cooper. Dammit.” The voice was Jackson’s. It would suck to have been left behind. If Cooper had been told to wait around pacing while Jackson ran after Sharon, he would have had a coronary.
As it was, he’d gone quite far. No way could Jackson have kept up. They weren’t even on a path. Cooper, Trace, and Melinda could run very fast in wolf form. And Wyatt had proven himself as a strong member of the grizzly family also.
“I’m so sorry. Jackson. This is out of my control. My gut tells me to keep moving. Following these spirits.”
“Where? How far?”
“I wish I knew.”
»»•««
A loud rumbling sound jerked Sharon from a deep sleep. She bolted to sitting as the noise filled her ears, and she cupped her hands over them to drown out the sound. Where was she? In bed? No. The ground was hard. Cold. Outside.
She couldn’t see anything.
Someone scared the shit out of her when they yelled out, “Fuck.”
She twisted toward the direction of the shout just as a flashlight lit the area.
A man stood several yards from her, his back to her, his flashlight dancing around a pile of rocks. “Fucking goddammit.” He ran his free hand through his hair.
Sharon winced. Everything about this situation screamed at her to be cautious. The vibe she got radiating from the tall man with the dark hair was pure evil.
Think. She glanced around again, trying to be quiet so he wouldn’t realize she was awake.
Did she know him?
He was a shifter. She could scent that. He was not her mate. He was not a relative. She would be able to detect those things too, wouldn’t she? What was the matter with her? Did she have amnesia? She couldn’t come up with anything about herself. Who were her parents? Siblings? Did she have a mate?
She flinched when the man bent down, set his flashlight on the ground, and grabbed a large rock to toss it aside. Hastily, he grabbed another. And then another. When he stood taller and reached for a rock above his head, he started an avalanche of falling stones. They cascaded all around him, knocking him to his ass.
She screamed out, unable to stop herself.
The man twisted around to face her, climbing to his feet. “This is all your fault, you know.”
She winced. What was her fault? She had no idea what he was talking about.
He stepped closer, pointing at her. “If your people hadn’t made a mockery out of our species, we wouldn’t be here. You forced my hand.”
She pursed her lips, struggling to find anything in her brain that would fill in the holes. Her brain wouldn’t cooperate. It was one giant gaping hole.