Strays

Chapter 43

Chapter Forty-Three

When the darkness finally took me, I dreamed I was lying in the park with Michael again.

The grass tickled my skin and the cool night air rustled my hair. I could hear the faint murmur of traffic in the distance but it was like we existed in our own little bubble, sequestered away from the rest of the world. And for a moment, I almost felt safe.

But as my eyes drifted shut, all I could see was blood. Rich, red rivulets staining the grass, crawling out from under my body and spilling across the ground. I could hear them chanting in the background, shouts of, "KILLER! KILLER! KILLER! KILLER!" ringing in my ears. Heart pounding, I tried to shake Michael awake, to warn them they were coming –

But his eyes were wide and glassy. Lifeless. Fear shot through my like a bullet as my hand came away bloody, and I realised the blood was coming from him. He was bleeding.

He was –

My eyes jerked open, my mouth opening on a pained scream as agony tore through my body. It took a moment for me to realise I was being jostled, the clank of chains ringing like bells in my ears, a heartbeat before a familiar smell reached me through the stench of blood and rotting flesh.

My vision blurred, shapes moving in and out of focus, but I knew it was him even before he moved close enough to touch.

"I'll fucking kill you for this," I heard him swear. "Look at what that fucker did to her back."

The chain around my left wrist loosened and then I was tumbling forward, swaying head first against the dark shape in front of me. I sank against clean, warm heat and the smell of earth and lycan male, my manacled hand closing around the collar of his jacket as I fought to keep myself upright.

Each minute jerk of muscle and bone sent a bolt of pure agony through my back but I persevered, clinging desperately to the shape in front of me as I fought to stay awake. To stay alive.

And then he clasped my head, pulling me against his shoulder and holding me as tightly as he dared as someone else unlocked the chains, slipping the manacles from my wrists. I heard him swear into my hair, his lips brushing my forehead, and my eyes fluttered shut once more.

"I have you," he whispered.

He caught me against him, lifting me gently and pulling my legs around his hips until he was carrying me with one hand anchored against my head and the other curled under my bottom. I pressed my face to his neck, breathing through the pain in slow, agonized gasps. A part of me wished I'd just fucking died, that I'd forced myself to push forward even as his voice rang in my ears, that I'd impaled myself on the knife before it was too late.

Almost as if he sensed the direction of my thoughts, I felt Michael's grip on my head tighten, his fingers curling into a fist around a clump of my hair. "Hold on," he murmured, a harsh note lacing his voice. "I'll get you out of here."

I wanted to growl at him. It didn't matter where he took me – my body would still feel like it was on fire. My back would still feel like it had been melted and scraped off with sandpaper. But I couldn't muster up the energy to so much as open my mouth before my eyelids began to droop closed and my body sagged weakly against him.

"Let me die," I tried to whisper.

"No," he said tightly, a heartbeat before I passed out.

____________________

I know it's super short! The rest of this chapter actually wound up turning into my epilogue, so I'm posting this part separately. Epilogue >>SHOULD<< be posted later tonight if I can get it finished on time. NO PROMISES BECAUSE THERE'S A LOT OF EPILOGUE HAPPENING but I will try.