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“It’s amazing how many friends Misty has already. I’m so glad that so many people wish her well.”
“We all do.” It sounded like Lily, as the alpha’s mate, spoke for them all, and Taylee believed her.
They were close in Pinefall, but in that room, Taylee felt a different kind of closeness. Something that could never be put into words. Many people here didn’t have living parents or didn’t even know their family—whereas in Pinefall, they lived together in family units. So the community of Greenacre was family. The community clearly had a hand in raising everyone.
That made her happy. It made her so hopeful that not just Misty, but Onyx, would grow up here as well, or at least partly. From what she’d learned of the Pinefall shifters she never would have seen herself finding someone outside of her own clan, but she was so thankful that her old self had been brave enough and wise enough to take that chance.
“I can take her back,” she offered as Thaddius saddled up to Glendy. He put a hand on her back. Something subtle and blazing passed between them when they looked at each other. It hit Taylee right in the gut.
“He’s hungry?” Glendy asked.
“Just about. I give him two minutes before the screams are heard all the way to Seattle.”
Taylee took Onyx back, who was looking sleepy. She was one of those babies that loved when things were going on. She was only ever not so content when she was bored. It didn’t seem possible to overstimulate Onyx. There were never too many people around, or too much going on for her.
“I should probably get to helping Sam in the kitchen,” Lily said, excusing herself.
“And I should probably go find my boys. It’s frightening that I can’t see them at the moment. Who knows what they’re getting into.” Josephine wandered across the room, tapped Trace on the shoulder, and they went off on the hunt together.
Tay was alone, but she still felt the warmth that circulated through the place. Both the physical and the not so physical.
She felt flushed with happiness, but then suddenly, her body went cold.
A spike of ice pierced through her stomach and a shiver crawled up her spine. The room was blindingly bright and then…it wasn’t. Dark shards etched themselves into the corners of her vision, getting closer and closer together until it felt like she was staring through a tunnel. The packed room went from being loud and bright, and filled with voices, to being empty and dark and dull.
Her head started to buzz. The buzz turned into a roar. It was like a distant train, so far away at first and then so close that the ground started to shake. She was still in that room full of people, but she seemed so alone. So far away.
Her stomach twisted. She was ice cold in a room full of bodies where she’d felt close and almost clammy a few seconds ago. Control was slipping away from her second by second.
What was happening? Was it stress? The deadline had come and gone. Those threats had been made and it was over. Clarence and Sam both were adamant about not giving in. They wouldn’t be blackmailed. Sam’s man was still working at finding the guy, but so far, he’d had no luck. All she’d thought about since those hours had passed was that doom was going to happen.
That she’d survived her accident only to have her choices and her past bring them all down. If that was true, fate had played a cruel, twisted joke on her. But wasn’t fate also wrapped up in choice? It was her. Her decisions. Her choices.
She was going to fall over. Her stomach twisted and whirled. The fog in her head felt like a thick, grainy static.
“Taylee?”
Warm hands, strong and a little rough, cupped her face. Her legs buckled as the pressure stabbed at her from all angles. She’d just been plunged into deep, dark water. She was sinking. Getting sucked under. She tried to fight whatever was happening, but it was fighting back hard.
“Kier?” she cried out, screaming in her head, but in reality it was probably nothing more than a hoarse choking noise that came out.
“Taylee. It’s okay. It’s okay, just hold on.” She could feel those strong hands gently taking Onyx from her.
Noise. Voices. A thousand splintering voices piercing at her skull. Before the blackness drowned out the color, she was swept up. She felt her body rising. Clouds. Air. No, it wasn’t clouds. She wasn’t falling up. She wasn’t ascending. She was only being lifted. Carried.
She reached out, trying to steady herself, grasping for whatever solid hold she could get. Skin. Warm skin. Kier. Shoulders. Neck.
Her fingers processed that information, sending it directly to her brain. No, it would be the other way around. It should be the other way around. Nothing made sense. What was happening?
The bear. It hurt. She hurt. All over. Her whole body felt like it was going to fracture apart. Her skin was going to burst open. She was going to crack down the middle.
“Kier!” She cried out for him. Calling for him in the dark.
“I’m here.” His arms tightened around her.
She gasped like she’d just kicked her way from the deep, up to the surface when the cooler air hit her face. They were outside.
“What happened?” She wanted to open her eyes. God, the sun was so bright. Even just little slits hurt like fire on her retinas. She squeezed them closed again. They were moving at a fast clip. She sensed the forest, the sound of branches rustling, the wind like a cool caress on her skin, the fine mist dampening the tip of her nose and wetting her lashes. She stuck out her tongue and ran it over her dry lips to get some of the moisture into her mouth.
