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“I’ve got you, baby,” I whisper. “I won’t let them steal your sunshine.”
I let myself drift away from reality. I don’t even think about what I’m going to do. I just keep my hand on my stomach and sway softly, Javi’s clothes scattered around me, his t-shirt back on my torso. I give into his scent, the waiting the worst part, holding out hope while knowing hope may be a distant memory.
Day breaks.
Footsteps sound outside.
I jump up and stare at the door, my heart pounding so hard I’m afraid it might leap out of my chest. I recognize his scent a second later, though there’s something different about it, drenched with despair. The door swings open and I get just a glimpse of Gideon’s grin before I focus on Javi draped between he and Abel.
They toss him unceremoniously to the floor, where he drags his limbs inward slowly, curling into a pain-riddled ball.
Drugged, I think.
Damn them.
“Javi!” I cry, unable to stop myself. I throw myself to the ground beside him and put my hands out to touch him, and the bond sparks at the site of my bite mark, then all along my arm. It’s faint, but it’s still there, reminding me that my mate will never give me up.
He would do anything to protect me—to protect us.
“Have fun,” Gideon sneers.
And they shut the door.
I don’t even care about the way they’re acting, as worried as I am. I run my hands over Javi’s back and roll him over with some effort, but he barely reacts to me. He stares numbly at the ceiling, his mouth gaping, his green eyes vacant. Not only has he been drugged, but beaten, his eye swollen shut and his nose broken.
His body is here, but his mind is somewhere else.
“What did they do to you?” I whisper, tears streaming down my cheeks. “Javi, please talk to me,please.”
His lips twitch, and then his mouth cracks into a broad smile. He laughs loudly and I fall back to scramble away from him. His head rolls toward me and I watch as his eyes spin in their sockets, a weird effect that gives me chills.
“Peach,” he says, his words slurred. “You’re here.”
I take a sharp breath, my vision clouded with tears. “Javi, you’re scaring me.”
His brow furrows, the smile dropping off his face. He looks confused, then just a hint of lucidity seems to come back, his eyes focusing on me for the first time since they tossed him in here.
“Peaches,” he says, struggling with the words. “Over…overdose.”
“Overdose,” I repeat. “Oh my…oh my God, what do I do? Do you need to throw up? I don’t know how to—”
He shakes his head. “In my blood,” he says. “Stay away. Not…not safe.”
I lose him again.
His eyes spin in a big circle and he laughs, throwing himself back against the floor. I realize with a pang of sheer terror that I’ve seen this before—when I was in New Orleans after I escaped. There were signs all over the place warning about the horrors of kraken overdose, and people out of their minds in the streets…
Symptoms include euphoria, slurred speech, difficulty breathing, violent outbursts, severe vertigo…
I move back even more, torn between helping Javi and protecting myself.
They did this to punish us both.
It’s the worst thing they could have done—to put the man I love through hell and to make me watch, to lock me in this room with him while he suffers. He could die and Gideon wouldn’t care. My father will just sell me to the next available alpha, eager to get as many heirs as he can.
“Javi,” I breathe, covering my mouth with my hands.
All I can do is watch as he twists and writhes on the floor, alternating between lucidity, vacancy, and uncontrollable laughter. I start to get scared when his claws come out, the beginning of a transformation that could end with me shredded into ribbons on the floor. I shuffle toward the bed and curl up into a ball, watching as he loses himself to the kraken.
