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My breath came in pants as the panic that I’d been holding back ripped free. I hadn’t reached for Dastien yet because I wasn’t sure the fragile connection would hold, but I reached now. I grasped the tiny little thread of our bond and screamed, Dastien! Get me out of here! I shoved the words through the bond, hoping that by some miracle he’d hear me and be able to do something about it.
Then there was light. Too much light. I skidded to a stop, closing my eyes, but it burned through my eyelids.
I covered my eyes. “Stop! Stop this!” My legs gave out, and I fell to my hands and knees. Dastien! I called out and a faint scent of pine and dirt and home hit me. I hadn’t gotten any power, but his scent was there. I breathed it deep into my lungs and remembered who I was. Where I was.
I’d forgotten that. In my panicked run, I’d forgotten who I was.
Witch. Werewolf. Alpha. Mate.
Strong.
I was stronger than this. I didn’t need to let myself be trapped. I could find a way out. If I could smell Dastien, then he was near, even if our bond made it feel like we were far away. Which meant I was in my own mind, under mental and spiritual attack. But it wasn’t physical.
If I was in my own mind, then I just had to kick whoever this was out of my head.
That switch in perspective was enough to shake me free from the panic.
First things first. I kept my eyes squeezed shut against the burning light and started building up my mental barriers one by one. I pictured a brick wall, but that wasn’t enough. I could still feel this thing’s magic slithering up my arms like a thousand oil-slicked snakes.
I built a second barrier outside the wall, forming an igloo made of concrete bricks laid three thick. I made sure to keep my tie to Dastien present in my mind so that I wouldn’t accidentally cut off my lifeline to him.
Slowly, the light started to fade to a normal level. I blinked my eyes open, revealing Dastien standing in front of me.
“You okay?” Dastien was wearing a pair of green scrubs that I’d never seen before. A little worry line appeared between his brows, but I couldn’t feel his worry. “Need help with that?”
I looked down to find myself on one knee tying the laces of my white canvas shoes. The laminate floor glistened like it’d just been cleaned, but I couldn’t smell any disinfectant.
Couldn’t sense Dastien’s feelings? No smells? White canvas shoes?
This was all kinds of wrong.
Dastien squatted in front of me. “Everything okay?” One of his dark curls fell across his forehead, and he brushed it back. A move so familiar that I questioned my gut for a second.
This was my Dastien, but the rest of it… “I don’t know.” I looked around as I stood, but I didn’t recognize the place.
We were i
n the entryway of a large building. Behind me was a desk with a security guard. Three hallways branched off from where we stood, but everything was white. There were no signs to give me a clue. “Where are we?” The best I could come up with was some kind of office building, but that didn’t explain why Dastien was wearing scrubs.
“You don’t know?”
I licked my lips. “No.” If I was still in my head, then maybe I’d switched into a vision. Was I seeing a future possibility? No. That didn’t quite fit. I didn’t think Dastien had any desire to be a doctor. Did he?
What the hell was this?
“Are you having one of your episodes?” His condescending tone made my hackles rise.
“Episodes?” What the hell was he talking about?
“Maybe it’s time to get you back to your room.”
My room? Was I supposed to be a patient in a hospital? I didn’t feel sick.
And then I almost laughed. I stood and pushed past Dastien into the courtyard outside. The sun hit my face, but it didn’t have any heat.
Dastien and I once had a conversation about this exact fear. I’d woken up one morning in Dastien’s house in France and despite everything that had happened, I was so thankful with how my life had turned out. Even if I’d almost been killed multiple times, I’d survived and was on the most perfect honeymoon. I’d wondered offhandedly if my life was really just a dream. If maybe I was Freaky Tessa and was having a mental break in a psychiatric facility.
If the thing that was attacking me had bothered to look a little deeper in my mind, they’d know this wasn’t a valid fear of mine. If anything, it was more like a joke Dastien and I had shared than a fear that I spent any real time worrying about.
