Chapter Fifteen

Wren

Pain. White fire. I screamed myself awake, batting away invisible flames that burned at my neck and shoulder. I didn’t register the warm bodies around me or realize where I was. I just burned.

“Turn her over, the chain is wrapped around her wings. There, got it!”

What cruel trick was this? To hear my mate’s voice only when surrounded by such devastating pain that I couldn’t focus on it? I was sick of the hallucinations, tired of the tricks.

“Make it stop! Make it—”

There was a throat in front of me and I lunged for it, sinking my teeth deep into the artery. I moaned in ecstasy as my mate’s blood filled my mouth, and I pulled greedily from him. Voices were all around me, familiar and enticing. My brain knew they were Ronan and Kieran, but it didn’t fully register. All I cared about was the blood. Making the pain stop.

“Shit, she—”

More. More. The fire was held at bay, but only when I was drinking. Only when I had a mate’s blood flowing into my mouth.

“Switch me. I’m gonna pass out.”

Claws and hands yanked me away from the blood, and I swiped at them, enraged. Another throat was in front of me, and I happily bit down, sucking as fast as I could without choking.

“Something’s wrong. She shouldn’t need this much.”

“I’ll go last. We can’t pull from the other drakens this soon.”

The throat I was buried in turned pale, and the skin grew cold.

“Now. I can’t—”

The weakening pulse was replaced with a much stronger one, and I didn’t question, just bit and drank. And drank.

“Don’t let her drain—”

“I know Kieran, shut it.”

“Does it have something to do with the siphon?”

Their words were meaningless. The only thing that mattered was the blood. This blood was more powerful and had a tinge of the darkness that I craved. My panic lessened as the fire under my skin dulled to a throbbing nuisance, and I finally slowed my pace. My grip on the neck in front of me loosened, and the arms nearby used the opportunity to pull me away. I blinked, still unsatisfied but no longer panicky with need.

“Wren.”

I blinked, and the faces of my three mates swam into view. I couldn’t believe it. I let out a hoarse sob, wrapping my arms around Ronan’s neck and crying into his chest. I immediately noticed the ease with which I moved and patted my body. The chains were gone! Ronan hugged me back, and Kieran kept a steady hand on my shoulder. Benedict glared from the edge of the bed, his throat still bleeding. It was so frustratingly normal that I laughed.

“Are you ok?” Kieran asked. I blinked, noting rings of exhaustion under his eyes.

I opened my mouth, not even knowing where to start. They gazed at me with such love, and such care, that guilt surged through my body. I was the one who’d left them.