Page 24 of Tethered Fates

Sen halts. “No…” he chokes out, looking back to Summer.

“W-what’s happening to-to me…” I beg, shaking as I barely manage to push myself up.

“No!” Sen goes for Summer again, but the second his hand wraps around her throat, I’m choking.

He stops immediately, stumbling back in complete shock. Summer’s gaze whips to mine. In the next second, her black rings seem to suck in the light, and she drops into her shadow—vanishing.

I can’t make sense of what’s happening. My chest heaves, my body throbs. I try to stand, but crumble into the mixed pool of our blood.

“Teagan!” Sen is by my side in a second.

I try to speak through my raw throat, yet nothing comes out. Sen is saying something, but my mind is garbled, my vision blinking out—once, twice—until it doesn’t blink back on.

Chapter Ten - Teagan

Disjointed noises penetrate my choppy thoughts.

I blink.

Then wince as light slices through my retina, and have to squeeze my eyes shut.

After long, painful moments where my ears ring, I creak open my eyelids to find I’m in a kitchen, lying on a soft bench and staring at Sen’s back. His fists grip the edge of a marble island with such force I’m surprised he hasn’t ripped it off.

Next to him is a dark-haired white guy, his back muscles bunched as Sen speaks to him in a hushed, urgent tone.

I have no fucking clue what’s happening, and I have no intention of staying.

Clenching my jaw shut so not even the smallest noise can escape, I drag my protesting body up and manage to slip out of the kitchen without either of them noticing. They’re too wrapped up in their heated discussion.

Quietly as I can, I limp down the swaying hallway, arm clutched around my middle as I weakly push open every door I pass, desperately searching for Kai so we can escape this insanity together. I can’t just save myself, I gotta save him, too.

Every room comes up empty, and inwardly, I curse how big this stupid fucking mansion is as I hobble through the corridors, the wooden walls melting into the green carpet.

Exhausted, face dripping with sweat, and my lip chewed to pieces, I slump against a new door. Tears swim in my vision from the sheer effort it takes just to push down the handle, and when I stumble inside, I find Vidar. He’s on a bed with Kai pressed under him, his face buried in my brother’s neck.

Kai’s bleeding neck.

Pain, exhaustion—it all bleeds away; all that matters is Kai. I run forward. “GET OFF MY BROTHER!”

Vidar shoots up, his mouth coated in blood. “What the fuck?”

I all but flop on Vidar’s massive back, but that doesn’t stop me from grabbing hold of his shirt in my fists to weakly force the giant bastard off Kai.

“Jesus Christ! What the fuck happened to you?!” Kai bolts upright, his eyes wide, his mouth…

My grip falters, and I stumble back, the air in my lungs coming out in short, sharp bursts. My gaze flicks between Vidar and Kai, and lands on Kai’s painted red mouth. He has fangs.

My chest stops working, and each wheezing drag of air fails to fill my tight lungs.

Vidar gets up.

I stumble across the room, only to collide with something and crumble onto the carpet, the chair I must’ve bumped into falling on top of me.

“Oh my god, you’re covered in blood!” Kai jumps up, and I flinch further away.

“Stay away from me!” I scream, terrified and scrambling back until I hit something hard and cold.

Hurt flashes in Kai’s eyes, yet he holds out his hands as if to prove he’s harmless. “Little bro, come to me, please, you’re hurt!” His voice breaks, his green eyes big as saucers. But I frantically shake my head from side to side, flattening myself against whatever is behind me.