Page 37 of Forsaken Desire (Ruthless Wolves #1)

C ierra had been staring at me for a while, lost in her thoughts. It was terrifying, honestly. Meanwhile, I tried to move one finger at a time, but nothing was working. My limbs felt separate from my brain.

“It won’t work.” Her voice scared the fuck out of me. I pushed to shift, and that didn’t work either. “Your body will continue to betray you.”

“What did you do to me?” I slurred.

“The juice. I wasn’t expecting you to chug all of it.”

“Why?”

“You’re like a roach. You just can’t die.” She spoke about my death so easily. “He promised you were dead, yet you’re still here.”

I couldn’t even stiffen. Who was ‘he’? She grabbed my arm and pulled me up, pressing her side into me to hold me upright. My legs managed to keep me standing, but I had no strength, and all I could do was stagger after her.

“You knew me?”

“Kind of.” She smiled. “When he confirmed your death, I can’t tell you how good it felt to get that weight off my shoulders.

” She sighed, shaking her head. Who was ‘he’ ?

“I never would have thought he lied, and now you just show up out of nowhere.” She let out a sharp, humorless laugh.

“If I had recognized you the first time I saw you, I would have dealt with this mess immediately. It never occurred to me that he was ignoring my contact attempts because of you .” Cierra’s voice dripped with venom.

“Not until I saw the two of you together at the pack meeting. One more year and he would have chosen me.” She sneered. “But you had to fuck it all up.”

The pressure in my chest became excruciating. She guided me through the front door, taking no care as to what my shoulder smacked into, shooting pulsing pain down my arms.

“You’re heavier than you look,” she mumbled, dragging me past her car as gravel crunched under our footsteps. What was she going to do? Where was she taking me?

The sound of the rushing river echoed closer. Realization hit me across the face.

She was going to drown me.

“Stop,” I begged, trying to use my weight to stop her. She didn’t stop, she just kept dragging me forward. The ground turned into grass and dirt. She broke through the thin trees lining the embankment.

No, she wouldn’t kill me. I wouldn’t go down. Or at the very least, she was going down with me. I’d survived countless attacks. Each time, I’d come out on top.

Using every ounce of strength I could, I threw myself at her, pushing my weight into her.

The force caused her to stagger, and we dropped to the ground.

I used the momentum to claw at her arms, opening cuts along her skin.

I jerked my leg up, and my knee thudded into her side.

She yelped, and just as I was going to repeat the motion, she grabbed my hair in a fist and yanked me, pushing me onto my back.

I grunted from the force, and as soon as my limbs splayed, they refused to move.

Cierra’s hands squeezed my throat. My fingers twitched, wanting to lift and push her off, but nothing moved. She didn’t give up despite the blood slicking my neck.

Spots danced in front of my vision. I should have let Toby snap her neck.

“Fucking bitch,” I spat. Her hands fell away. She hit my temple. Again, and again. Sharp pain sliced across my brain. Agony spiked through my head. A cloudiness rose. I blinked, absorbing the hits one by one.

“Even if I’m dead, he won’t want you,” I choked out.

This time, when she hit me, it rattled my teeth. A ringing assaulted my ears, and she shoved me off while memories flashed across my eyelids.

My temples pulsed with sharp pain, forcing me to curl onto my side.

Everything I’d lost flooded my head and I reeled from the onslaught.

None of it. I deserved none of it. She grabbed my ankle and dragged me over the dirt until I lay at the edge of the river.

Her shoe connected with my rib, the momentum rolling me into the water. Branches scratched my skin and I landed in icy water.

Then I was submerged. Water flooded my mouth, and I choked, swallowing.

So many memories shuffled through my brain. The ache was too much. My chest hurt.

My fingers grazed against something long—a branch. I grabbed onto it, but the current pulled me back to the surface. I broke through, gasping and spitting water. The river beat against my body, but I fought to keep hold of the branch.

The familiar image of my dad’s neck at an angle wouldn’t leave my head. She’d had him killed. She’d had us run off the road. I’d never been the cause.

He should be alive. All he’d wanted was for us to move packs so I had an opportunity to go to school.

Because I wanted to move packs, he’d ended up dead.

My lip trembled. If I hadn’t begged for us to leave our last pack, we never would have ended up like this. The rushing river continued to beat against my body, and the burn in my arms was only getting worse.

Guilt, fear, and agony writhed through my gut.

And my mate . . . I had met him before. He’d rejected me. Lucian hadn’t wanted me, and he’d kissed her—let her touch him—in front of me to make it clear.

He’d rejected me . . .

Why was I fighting so hard? Everything was gone. Lucian was a lie.

I let go of the branch, and the rapids took me.