Page 32 of Stolen By the Alpha Hunter (Moonbound Mates #3)
PEACHES
S omething is happening to Javi.
I can feel it all over my body, my sixth sense for him going nuts. His heartbeat picks up. He panics. My skin crawls with that unmistakable feeling of being trapped, unable to move, with people around you that mean you harm.
Panic surges. I try to calm myself by enveloping myself in his scent in our bed, but the panic just keeps going on and on and on…
And then the line goes dead.
Like a dropped radio connection, only static remains.
“Javi?” I whisper into the dark.
If he’s dead…I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll be alone on the Rig with Ephraim and Abel and Gideon, two people that want to hurt me and one who doesn’t give damn if I live or die.
The Austin Pack said they were going to come and get me, but what use are they against a horde of feral alphas allied with the Heavenly Host?
I’m doomed.
In that moment, I realize I have to be strong—for Javi, for me, for our baby. Something shifts in my chest, a sea change, and I put my hand over my lower belly.
“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.
Our bond flickers, turns to static again, comes back…
“Don’t go,” I whisper. “Please don’t go.”
Javi’s body twists and morphs, his jaw extending.
I’ve seen his wolf before—I’m certain of it, since he won the hunt—but never close up in the light.
He’s the biggest lycan I’ve ever seen, with blue-black fur and glassy green eyes, absolutely covered in scars.
The wolf sways on his feet, lies down, rolls onto its side.
It takes desperate, panting breaths.
And he cries…whimpers.
I crawl toward him again, my eyes wide as I stare down at the creature I know so well.
It’s Javi, but it’s not.
He’s here, but he’s not.
We’re in this in between place, and I hate it.
The wolf’s chest rises and falls too fast, his tongue lolling out. His eyes are huge and shining, his pupils the size of dinner plates, spinning and spinning. I’m surprised he’s not violently ill, with how dizzy he must be—especially when I’m getting queasy myself.
Of course, that’s probably the pregnancy, and that somehow just twists the knife deeper.
I reach out with a hesitant touch, but Javi doesn’t so much as twitch when I weave my fingers in his fur. I move into the wolf’s reach completely, extending my arms to wrap him in an embrace. I rest my head on his side. His heart beats erratically, desperately, like he’s trying to live.
There’s nothing I can do to stop his pain, and that kills me.
“I’m here,” I whisper. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Javi doesn’t respond.
He just takes more panting breaths as he dives into the fight of his life.