Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

Sixty Seven

     Rhett's eyes widened slowly, and a car horn blared incessantly behind him, snapping him out of his shock. He stuck his foot to the gas pedal and they peeled down the road; after the light had gone through another round of red, yellow and then green.

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     When they finally arrived at Rhett's, Link tore off out of his car and made a beeline for the door. Rhett threw his seatbelt off of him and tore after him, calling his name. Link threw the door open and immediately took to the stairs, running straight for the guest bedroom where they had Link and Christy sleeping. He slammed the door shut behind him, Rhett stopping at the foot of the stairs and throwing his hands on his head in defeat. Christy and Jessie ran out of the kitchen, worry on their faces.

     "What's going on?" Jessie asked, stopping in front of him. Christy looked at the stairs like she was getting ready to run up them. 

     Rhett held his arm out to stop her. "Now's not a good time, Christy. Link's had a pretty rough day."

     "What do you mean? What happened? I thought you two were working!" Her eyebrows were furrowed in frustration.

     "We were, but something happened that I really can't tell you about right now." His tone was sharp but held a gentle wave.

     "Why not?" She cut him off, folding her arms across her chest and narrowing her eyes. Jessie looked indifferent, but Rhett could see the question burning in her eyes. He could hear the kids laughing and having a good time from the living room, and he was more than thankful that that's where they were at this time. 

     He held his stance, shaking his head. "You have to listen to me, Christy. Me and Link only wish we could tell you what's going on, but we can't for your own safety okay?" 

     Christy wasn't taking that as an answer and she stepped forward to go up the stairs. Rhett side stepped to block her, but she pressed the palm of her hand into his chest and he stumbled to the side, his eyes widened with alarm as he threw his hands up. 

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     Link paced back and forth in the bedroom, just slightly dragging his leg behind him. He felt like the pain was working its way down his leg and he grimaced, seating himself on the bed and unbuttoning his pants. He began to shimmy out of them, throwing his head back and crying out in pain as his jeans stuck to the area around the wound like glue. 

     He gasped as he moved to his feet and basically peeled them away from his skin, his eyes watering as the sting penetrated the wound and rippled through his leg. Once the material was past the wound, he easily slipped out of them and gaped down at his leg, his eyes wide.

     This sudden, horrible feeling nestled in his chest. He swiveled his head about the room, looking to see if he left his laptop somewhere in sight. Even his phone would have been of use, and he picked his pants up off of the floor and searched frantically through his pockets for it. Suddenly the door flew open, revealing Christy. Link leaped backward with a scream, dropping his pants to the ground and bringing his hands up to his ears. His heart thundered painfully in his chest and with his ears plugged up with his hands, he could hear the thumping as his heart pumped.

Christy screamed also, bringing her hands up to her mouth as her eyes immediately fell on the blood rolling down his leg. He had accidentally reopened the wound while taking his pants off, and he eyed her with terror as he slowly lowered his hands from his ears. 

     She removed her hands from her mouth, holding them over her chest, air forcibly entering and exiting her lungs. "What happened to you," Christy cried, her eyes watering. 

     Link's eyes watered also, and he took a step toward her. "Christy," he choked. 

     She darted toward him and lowered herself to get a closer look at his wound. "God... oh God. We need to get this cleaned up quickly. I think you need to go to the emergency room. You're gonna have to get some stitches, maybe some antibiotics... what happened," she was talking so fast, and with her voice mingling with the others in his head, it pounded with a vengeance.

     He shook his head. "I'm not going to the hospital." 

     Christy looked up at him, an incredulous look about her face. "You're not being serious, are you? You look like you were mauled by something," she shrieked. 

     Link clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, his gaze falling on the light fixture on the ceiling. "That's because I was," he said quietly. 

     Christy flew up to her feet so fast that he stumbled away from her. "By what?" 

     Link pressed his lips together, staring into her eyes. He could see the fury begin to build up in them. 

     "Let me guess, you can't tell me right? For my safety? You know I call bullcrap on that. You and Rhett have been keeping something from me and Jessie and regardless of what it is, we deserve to know." 

     Link shook his head, his head pounding as hard as his heart. "You wouldn't understand," he said, a little harsher than he had intended. He saw the look of hurt on her face as her lip trembled and he took her by the face. He was beyond tired from keeping all of these secrets from her and she was right, she deserved to know what was going on. Even if she wouldn't understand at the moment. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, prepping himself for what he was about to tell her.

     "I just want to know what's going on," she said weakly, lowering her eyes. 

     Link opened his eyes and cleared his throat. "Rhett and I found Terra's sister, and unfortunately she's been murdered," he started, to which Christy gasped with tears in her eyes.    "We went to her house to tell her before the police did, because we knew she would take it better from us than she would from them. At least that's what we had hoped," he said as he lowered his eyes to his leg again. "After we told her about her sister being dead, she went into hysterics and she clawed me." 

     "What do you mean by clawed you?" 

     Link swallowed noisily. He wasn't sure if he was ready to reveal this to her but he just knew that he had to. "Terra's a... Terra's a werewolf." 

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