Page 7 of Midnight Bond (Wolves of Midnight #5)

brIELLE

I paced my bedroom, feeling the way my wolf probably felt ninety percent of the time.

Trapped.

I could easily leave the house if I wanted to, either through the front door or out my window.

A fall from the second floor wouldn’t even faze me, but I didn’t want to leave my family that way.

Nora had been forced to leave her family when she’d been unable to shift, and the strain it had put on them had nearly broken their relationship.

I’d never thought something like that would happen to my family, yet here I was, struggling to fix what had started to break.

They didn’t believe me. They couldn’t accept this new version of me.

So what now?

I couldn’t stay here much longer. I had one more day left before the full moon forced me to shift, and the stress of my current situation wasn’t helping matters.

As the evening bled into night and I sensed the moon climb high into the sky, more and more symptoms racked my body.

I was starved, and it felt like an oven in here.

I’d stripped down to my white tank top hours ago and was now contemplating removing my pants.

Even if my family had a sudden change of heart and sought to repair the growing rift between us, I doubted I’d be lucid enough to hold a conversation.

It was just so hot, and my hunger for red meat was starting to take over my every thought.

Thanksgiving dinner had come and gone hours ago, and I didn’t even think my family had eaten.

I could hear them down below, quietly arguing amongst themselves about me.

At one point, Dad had raised his voice, and I’d clearly heard two words.

Mental institution.

The rest of the family had sounded shocked by the words, including me. Did he really think I was mentally insane?

Coming here had been a terrible idea. I hated to admit it, but maybe Jagger had been right.

I wasn’t ready to be on my own.

At the thought of him, my wolf pushed even closer to the surface, making my skin feel too tight.

She was used to being around him this time of month.

Used to drawing strength from his quiet presence as we made the slow painful shift from human to animal.

Every time my inner wolf emerged, either he or Onyx was there to greet us. To greet me. The wolf version of me.

I’d never been away from him this close to the full moon before, and I keenly felt the weight of his absence.

Shaking my head, I tried to banish him from my thoughts. Thinking about him only reminded me of how lonely I’d felt lately. Then again, I was feeling pretty lonely right about now, with or without him. A whine pushed at my throat, but I forced it back down.

This wasn’t the time to feel sorry for myself. I needed to convince my human family that I was still me—still Brielle—before I turned into a wolf.

Yeah, right. Even I wasn’t convinced.

It was around midnight when I heard a vehicle stop in front of the house.

Before I could peek through my curtains to see who it was, the voices downstairs suddenly rose in volume.

Both of my brothers started shouting, but I could only make out a few words here and there.

I tilted my head to better hear them and caught the tail end of something Sawyer said.

“. . . not crazy, Dad!”

Okay, they were definitely talking about me.

A knock came at the front door, and the voices quieted. Seconds later, I heard a new voice, then another. Both male. Neither of them sounded familiar.

“Michael, this isn’t necessary,” my mom said, panic evident in her tone.

“She’s upstairs. First door on the left,” Dad said, clearly speaking to the newcomers.

When I heard heavy footsteps start up the stairs, all the hair on my body stood on end.

He didn’t.

He wouldn’t have.

In a state of disbelief, I waited for the two individuals to reach my room. The entire time, I prayed I was wrong. I had to be wrong. The man who’d raised me couldn’t possibly have done this. I was his only daughter. His little girl.

I had to be wrong. There was no way he would do this to me.

The footsteps reached the top of the stairs and turned left toward my bedroom. Seconds later, someone knocked on the door.

“Miss Lacroix?”

I didn’t answer, frozen in place like an ice sculpture.

“Miss Lacroix, we’re here to help you. Don’t be alarmed.”

Yeah, right. I was seriously freaking out right now.

Please, please, please, I chanted, squeezing my eyes shut and willing the two strangers to disappear. Maybe this was all just a hallucination. That had to be it. I was so hot and hungry that I’d conjured them into existence.

But the doorknob suddenly rattled, and I yanked my eyes back open just as the door swung inward. One look at the two burly men dressed in white uniforms and my heart completely shattered.

“Miss Lacroix,” one of them began, taking a slow step into my room, “we’re with the Albany Psychiatric Center, and—”

“Mom! Dad!” I cried, desperation making my voice crack. “Please!”

“Call them off, Dad,” I heard Sawyer say from downstairs. “Ellie’s not crazy!”

The man who’d entered my room took another step, and a low growl rumbled in my throat before I could stop it.

His posture abruptly changed, taking on a more defensive stance. “Easy now,” he said, taking another step. “If you come freely, there will be no need for restraints.”

Restraints? Like a straight jacket?

Heat flooded my body, my wolf going wild at the thought of being subdued in such a manner. As she swiftly rose up, my control over her slipped, and she bared her teeth at the men—my teeth—before loosing a vicious snarl.

The men froze for a split second. Then came at me like linebackers.

It happened so fast that I had no choice but to let my survival instincts take over.

The first male tried to grab me in a bear hug, but before he could wrap me in his beefy arms, I shoved him.

Hard. He flew back and crashed into my bed, breaking the frame as he went down in an inglorious heap.

The heavy fall loosened the shelves over my bed, and every single one of my ceramic cat figurines crashed to the floor.

As I stared in shock at the man and my broken figurines, his partner barreled into me.

I hit the ground with a resounding thud, stunned when all two-hundred-fifty pounds of him flattened me to the floor.

Before I could shove him off, he grabbed one of my arms and yanked it behind me so forcefully that I cried out in pain.

Even though he was human, he was made entirely of muscle and definitely knew more about wrestling than I did.

I tried to twist free, but he managed to yank my other arm behind me and slap something around my wrists.

As I felt the cold metal touch my overheated skin, I assumed he’d handcuffed me. No problem. I could easily break free of them with my supernatural strength and planned to do so the second he lifted off me.

But a moment later, a burning sensation stung the skin around my wrists. It was tolerable at first, but as the seconds passed, the heat intensified—until I was pretty sure my wrists were on fire.

Frantic to stop the pain, I pulled on my restraints, but they wouldn’t budge. With each pull, the heat grew and grew. When it felt like my very blood had started to boil, I threw my head back and screamed in agony.

“Let her go!” I heard a familiar voice bellow over my screams. The man on top of me suddenly disappeared, and through my tears, I saw Sawyer shove him back.

The man stumbled but quickly recovered, and then did the unthinkable.

I cried out again as he lurched forward and punched my brother, so hard that blood spurted through the air.

“You bastard!” another voice roared. Zeke was suddenly there, coming to Sawyer’s aid. Drowning in pain, I helplessly looked on as my eldest brother lit into the man fifty pounds heavier than him.

My brothers had gotten into their fair share of fights over the years, especially during their time as hockey players, but the orderlies wouldn’t go down easily. Sure enough, the one I’d shoved into my bed had recovered and was now striding toward Zeke with a wicked gleam in his beady eyes.

Who were these men? I was pretty sure psychiatric orderlies weren’t this violent. At least, I certainly hoped not.

“Zeke!” I cried out in warning, struggling to keep up with the fight as the fire consumed my entire body.

Just in the nick of time, Zeke ducked under a fist aimed at his temple. Before he could straighten, the other orderly lashed out and caught him square in the jaw. As his head violently snapped back, Sawyer jumped back into the fray.

The fight seemed to go on forever, but in reality, it only lasted seconds.

I tried to get up several times, but every time I did, a debilitating weakness stole over me and I’d crash back down to the floor.

My brothers fought valiantly, but the two orderlies overpowered them with brute strength.

As Sawyer went down for the second time, the male closest to me turned and picked me off the floor like I weighed nothing.

Tossing me over his shoulder, he strode for the door.

I twisted and flailed, trying to break free, but his arm around my thighs was like a steel cable. At the top of the stairs, he abruptly stopped.

“I changed my mind. You can’t have her,” my dad said, blocking the man from descending. “Release my daughter, or I’ll call the police.”

The man stood motionless for a moment, then lashed a foot out, kicking my father square in the chest.

“No!” I wailed as my dad fell back and tumbled down the stairs.

“Michael!” my mom screamed, bursting into sobs when her husband hit the ground hard. Terrified that he broke his neck in the fall, I thrashed in my captor’s grip for all I was worth, desperate to break loose.