Page 80 of Bonded Through Bite

“We need to make sure there’s no glass in those wounds before she heals over them.” Santiago. His voice comes a few paces in front of me. It’s too bright for me to see him, but he’s there.

“I’ve never driven a woman to jump through a window to get away from me.” Zack. He’s somewhere farther back.

“Zack,” I try to say, but it comes out as a pained whine. A shard of glass is jammed into my throat and moves when I try to speak.

“Shit, dove,” he rumbles, but I sense him a bit closer. Not physically but in the bond. “Just be still and let the vamps get the glass out before you hurt yourself more.”

Now that my senses are slowly returning, I feel an insistent tug in my core. One that doesn’t come from any of them. It’s pulling me into the forest. The tug is fighting with Rafael’s command to stay still.

“Mate,” I whisper, ignoring the pain. “Calling.”

“What?”

“Still, Samantha,” Rafael says, right behind me. I don’t realize I’ve been inching forward until he wraps his arm around my waist and stops me.

Shaking, I try to sort my tumbling thoughts. Reality and the nightmare are still mixing in my head. Did I dream or was the nightmare something else entirely?

A shriek tears from me when Santiago pulls the shard from my neck. Blood flows and a strange scent invades my senses. Not Santiago’s lemon, or Rafael’s chocolate, or even Zack’s freshly cut grass and lime. No, this one is something I can’t quite put my finger on. Like I should know it, but I don’t.

No one says anything about it. Am I just imagining this scent? Rafael croons reassurances while Santiago methodically goes down my body, pulling glass out and probing my wounds to feel if anything is left.

:Come to me, mate.

The voice echoes in my head, tone haughty and demanding, and I flinch away from Rafael. My body moves even when my mind rebels against the thing.

The pull intensifies and I again jerk against Rafael. It wasn’t a dream; something is wrong, really wrong. A sense of danger skitters down my spine. I’m losing control.

“Knock me out,” I grind out past the clamoring in my head.

“What?” Santiago and Rafael speak at once, their hands clasping me tighter.

“Knock. Me”—I have to stop and pant—“out.” I force the last word behind gritted teeth.

:Come, mate. Need you.

The echo, the thing, doesn’t relent. The words are clear but don’t flow easily. Kinda like a bad connection cutting off with delay. I almost plead with Rafael to let me go. The sensible part, the very small part still left in my control, is fighting hard. And losing. I’m too weak and the thing calling me is viciously strong, relentless in its demand.

“Samantha, what’s wrong?”

“Stop struggling,” Rafael roars over Santiago and his compulsion gives me a reprieve, overriding the thing.

“He’s talking to me.” I gasp and slump against Rafael’s chest. As soon as I cease fighting, the thing seizes control and I’m lost. The world twists and turns until I can make no sense of it. Up is down and I have no idea what’s real.

In the midst of the chaos, I still hear voices, smell things, and get a feeling I should know something very important, but the second I try to focus on it, a splintering pain shatters my mind.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Rafael

Samantha turns into a feral beast in my arms. Her nails rake deep furrows everywhere until I manage to secure her hands into mine. She still keeps struggling, twisting and turning, lunging at Santiago and trying to bite him.

“Let me go,” she snarls in a voice I’ve never heard before.

“No,” I growl back. “Now, stop struggling.” I push the compulsion at her, but at best it makes her movements a bit sluggish.

“What the fuck is going on?” the alpha shouts.

“Zack, he’s hurting me,” Samantha suddenly wails. Large tears trail down her cheeks.