Page 3 of Claiming Xan (Shifters of Greymercy #7)
RIVER
It was my first night spent outside of the facility in almost seven years, and even though I was far away from the beeping machines and the too-bright lights and the lab-coats with their syringes full of sedatives, I couldn’t settle.
My heart wouldn’t stop racing, and I paced the floors of the large guest room until it felt like I’d wear a path into the floorboards.
On the bed, Sky slept soundlessly. Every so often, I’d stop and stare at him, to make sure he was still breathing.
The Alpha—Gracie—said he’d gone into shock, from the blood loss and the adrenaline rush and the exhaustion of giving birth, then running for our lives.
His body just couldn’t handle it, and he’d collapsed.
I gave him my blood, of course. He was my twin. My flesh and bone. The only thing I had left in this world. I couldn’t lose him too. If I did, I might just lose my mind for real, this time.
Now, as he slumbered on, I growled deep in my throat and paced. Back and forth. Back and forth. My fingers curled into fists, my claws digging into the flesh of my palms until it stung, along with the cuts from all the glass shards Gracie had plucked from my hands and feet before bandaging them.
We’d escaped, but at what cost?
Dawn pinked the sky by the time I finally sank down on the bed and curled up next to Sky. I pressed my face into his fur and breathed in his familiar honeyed scent, faintly sweet.
I awoke to soft cries, sometime later. Sky was curled on his side, plastered against my back with his face buried in my shirt, sobbing quietly.
“Sky?” I rasped out, still half-asleep. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
“I’m scared,” he whispered in reply, and clung to me tighter. I shifted so that I could roll over and pull him into my arms, and he held on for dear life as I hugged him to my chest. “D-Did we really escape? Will they come for us? I don’t want to go back there, River. I-I…”
He burst into tears once more. I ran my hand through his mop of messy blond hair to try and soothe him.
“Shh,” I crooned. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to us yet, but we’re gonna be okay. I don’t wanna go back, either.”
He sniffled and buried his face into my shirt. For several minutes, the two of us just held on to one another and breathed the same air, until finally, Sky pulled away. His eyes, identical to mine, down to the rings of gold around his pupils, were wide and brimming with worry.
“Where are we?” he whispered, giving the room a quick glance. I let my gaze follow his, because in my anger last night, I really didn’t stop to take in my surroundings.
We’d been placed in what I could only assume was a guest bedroom. It had robin’s egg blue walls and blond wooden floorboards with matching trim. The window overlooked a forest, the sky still dark, barely pink with dawn.
The queen-sized bed we were laying on sat in the center of the room, the headboard against the east wall, with a small nightstand beside it. It housed a lamp, which was still on. I’d never bothered to turn it off last night, afraid of the nightmares that might plague me.
Across the room was a wooden dresser that matched the headboard, with swirled designs carved into the solid oak. A tall mirror stood at the back, reflecting me and my brother back at us.
“How did we get here?”
I frowned. “You collapsed… Somehow, we made it onto pack territory. You were bleeding, Sky, and I couldn’t rouse you, and I… I panicked. I howled and howled, until help came.” I swallowed when my brother let out a soft whimper. “The Alpha saved your life, no thanks to me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I attacked one of them. I was out of my mind. My wolf was screaming at me to protect you,” I told him quietly. “The Alpha is not pleased with me. At all. We had words. I barely held my tongue.”
“Oh, River…” His hand cupped my cheek, fingers grazing lightly over the rasp of stubble already growing along my jaw. “It’s not your fault.”
“Isn’t it, though?” I barked out a sardonic laugh. “Isn’t this why Mom sent us away? Because we’re a couple of fuck-ups? I can’t control it, Sky. I’m just so fucking angry all the time.”
Sky pouted at me, then nuzzled in close again. “You’re not a fuck-up, River,” he murmured. “We just have issues.” He was quiet for many minutes before speaking again. “So… What now?”
“I don’t know,” I told him. “The Alpha said we’d need to talk in the morning. It didn’t sound like good news. As much as I don’t love the idea of running wild in the city, with no protection whatsoever, I think that’s going to be our only option.”
“But Dr. Thompson…” Sky’s voice was thin and breathy with fear.
“I know,” I growled, gritting my teeth together before they could gnash into fangs in my human mouth. “I’m sure he’s still out there, looking for us. We’re his prized specimens, after all.”
The thought made me sick to my stomach. Having spent the last several years as a living test subject, I knew one thing for certain: If I ever saw Dr. Thompson again, I would make sure his next breath would be his last.
Sky’s hands fisted in my shirt. He curled closer, so I wrapped an arm around his waist to hold him to me.
“It’ll be okay,” I told him, even though I knew it was probably a big fat lie. Nothing felt okay right now, but if I wasn’t the strong one, then Sky would crumble to pieces. He needed me to be his rock, so his rock I would be. “Just go back to sleep.”
He relaxed, but neither of us slept another wink.