Page 79 of Bonded Through Bite

“Dove, your eyes look incredibly blue,” Zack says, his voice caressing my skin. “Oh, hell. I felt that,” he adds to Santiago.

“Felt what?” Rafael wants to know.

“I… fluttered?” I manage to force the words out.

“It feels like there’s a secondary rhythm when she reacts to him. I wonder if he could command her as an alpha.” Santiago sounds both disgusted and intrigued by the idea.

“I won’t be doing any of that.” Zack seems to be purely in the disgust camp. “She’s not a shifter and even if she were, I would never…”

“Hey, whoa. No one said anything about being a shifter. I didn’t even sign up for being a vamp,” I wheeze and press closer to Rafael. He looks a bit sheepish.

I glance over at Zack and then stop to hold back a sickening lurch in my stomach. A tug and pull that tear at me. It comes and goes so fast, I could almost imagine it, but it leaves a strange taste in my mouth.

“I can still feel the thing,” I whisper as the world once again turns black.

I’m flying high. The sun shines and warms my wings—purple, blue, and black glimmer when the light hits them. The wind feels playful and is gently pushing me as I flutter along. There’s somewhere I need to be, but I’m in no hurry. Everything looks weird from this perspective, a bit twisted and too sharp.

The storm rises with no warning, wind wailing and tearing me down. Rain pours over me, forcing me to the ground, and I shimmer and change forms. The cold seeps into my bones, my muscles convulse and the twisting of the world makes me nauseated.

“There you are. I’ve been looking for you.” A voice hisses from the shadows.

Shivering, I try to get up on my hands and knees and crawl, but my body only lies on the ground, limp and useless.

“I’ll find you again.” The voice has moved closer and I curl into a ball. Then the image twists and changes as a ferocious growl carries over the little clearing.

“I’m coming, mate.”

“Come back. Samantha.”

A hand shakes my shoulder. Someone is shaking me hard.

“Samantha.”

“Dove.”

All the smells and sensations roil in my head. The storm and shadows. The sickening lurch and the pull in my gut when I fell. The cold and the voice that made me shudder. The growl that shook my bones. Warm hands, hugging me against a warm body. Hands on my face. Someone holding my hands. A low rumble.

“Samantha.” The command forces my eyes open, but I still see the dark forest around me.

“No, no, no,” I whisper, horrified.

“Dove,” the rumble intensifies at my back, sending tremors through my body.

“No,” I sob, blinking hard. That thing is not my mate.

“Darling, breathe. In and out, slowly.”

“No!” Screaming, I tear myself away from them. Away from the pull and demand their voices cause. I crash into something and smell blood. It doesn’t smell right. There are too many scents and they overwhelm me.

“Samantha, stop.” The voice doesn’t give me an option. I freeze. My hands are bloody. I feel cuts down my arms and legs. The sunshine blinds me and tears fall freely, the salt stinging in the wounds on my face. Sun.

“Don’t move,” the voice orders.

“Rafael,” I whisper and the world tilts back to its axis.

“That’s right. Just stay still now.”

Wavering in place, I listen for him as he moves closer like I’m a feral animal.