Tethered to the World
A Phantom Touched Novel
Stacey Brutger
ONE TOUCH CAN SAVE YOU FROM CERTAIN DEATH…OR SENTENCE YOU TO AN ETERNITY IN HELL.
Born with the ability to defy death, Annora has been warned to keep her gift secret, but her greedy uncle can’t resist exploiting her by any means necessary. Starvation, beatings, broken bones—she’s survived them all and emerged stronger. But it’s not enough for him. It will never be enough. When she discovers her uncle plans to sell her to the highest bidder, she risks everything to escape the prison that has become her life.
The last thing she expected was to land at a university for supernaturals…or be paired with a pack of men as broken as her. As students go missing, Annora can’t get over the suspicion that she’s being hunted. To protect her, the guys must set aside their personal troubles and begin working as a team. But as her past collides with her present, she must make the ultimate sacrifice and expose her secrets to save the guys who’ve become more than family to her…and hope she’s strong enough to live with the consequences.
A Phantom Touched Novel : Book 1
This is a work of fiction. Names, character, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations for articles or reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials.
Copyright © 2019 Stacey Brutger
Cover artist: Giusy Ame / Magicalcover.de
Editor: Faith Freewoman (www.demonfordetails.com)
Proofreader: Christina Diaz
All rights reserved.
Chapter One
Annora slammed her fists into the bag over and over, gratified by the heavy thwack, uncaring when her bruised knuckles cracked and bled, the pain a welcome distraction.
The thumping beat of the music pounded through her earbuds, the dark rhythm keeping her moving through her kickboxing routine. Her muscles burned, sweat stung her eyes, but she powered through her rigorous workout, unwilling to slow down for even a second.
The rest of the gym was locked down for the night, the dimmed lights shrouding the place in darkness. Once she finished cleaning the building, the owner allowed her to do whatever she wanted.
It had been three months since she escaped the prison that had become her life, and she was determined to never go back. People were coming for her, and she needed to be ready.
If they thought she’d go back without a fight, they were in for a surprise.
She was no longer the docile creature who could be cowed by a beating.
She renewed her assault on the punching bag, keeping her feet light, bobbing and weaving to form muscle memory the way the gym owner taught her. Thanks to regular beatings over the past ten years, she could take a punch without flinching. Bruises, cuts and broken bones were nothing more than a nuisance she had to work around.
Thanks to her otherworldly abilities, she healed amazingly fast, which usually served to piss off her uncle enough to administer another round of beatings.
A sound broke through the music, and she immediately froze, then edged farther back into the shadows, quickly tucking her earbuds away. The brutal memories faded as her adrenaline spiked.
They found her.
The familiar, meaty thumps of flesh hitting flesh that accompanied a vicious fight came from the back of the gym.
Which meant that whoever broke into the building wasn’t there for her. Annora took a step to investigate, then halted—if she interfered, her safe haven would be forever destroyed.
She would have to move again.
Glass shattered and the familiar smell of blood slammed into her like a freightliner.
Muffled grunts made her flinch, dragging up old memories from the pit where she’d hoped they would remain buried.
Only one person remained in the building that late—the owner. He literally plucked her off the streets, the only person willing to give a homeless girl a job and a place to stay without expecting anything in return. He’d even taught her how to fight.
She couldn’t abandon him.
Heaving a resigned sigh, she stole through the gym until she reached the private training room reserved for those who were willing to pay the extra money. She crept through the doorway, keeping her back toward the wall, watching seven men who towered over her five-foot, few inches frame. All seven of them were trying to beat the owner into a meaty lump of flesh. Their snarls were so menacing that she knew they weren’t human, not completely.
Rufus stood in the middle of them, surprisingly holding his own, but he was bleeding heavily. No one had knives, but they didn’t need them when it looked like their fingers were tipped with actual claws.
Since she’d escaped captivity, she had begun to notice that not everyone in the outside world was human. Which would explain why she wouldn’t have seen them, since her uncle only brought her people who were sick or on the brink of death. Getting sick was a human frailty.
She would’ve questioned her sanity, but she wasn’t exactly human either…or she was only half human. Her mother said it made her special.
To her uncle, it made her valuable.
She forced her mind away from her brutal past before she could be sucked back into the horror. She inhaled deeply, then stepped out of the shadows.
“Gentlemen, why don’t we make it a fair fight and leave the old man alone?”
Eight male heads turned in her direction.
“Annora, run!” Rufus threw himself at the nearest guys, taking them down in a tangled mess, leaving her facing three of them on her own.
She would never be able to take them in a fight, even if she fought dirty. “What are you?”
She allowed the darkness that gathered inside her to cover her eyes, so she could peer beyond the veil—and saw massive, shadowy wolves in the place where the men should be standing. She’d learned others couldn’t see into the afterworld, couldn’t alter the course of a person’s life—or death—the way she could.
Before her mother died, she made Annora promise not to tell anyone about her gift. But her mother broke her own vow and told her brother in hopes that he would be able to protect her daughter. Instead, her uncle exploited her at every opportunity and made her life a living hell.
She hadn’t made the same mistake.
“You should listen to him, little girl, and run.” The man who said it smiled, showing teeth a little too long, his eyes glowing the same color as his beast.
“Wolves.”
The big one stopped smiling and tilted his head to study her. His nostrils flared, and he licked his lips. “You smell…different.”
She shivered at the way different sounded like delicious.
Rufus was down on the ground, the beasts tearing him apart, his blood splattering everywhere and beginning to pool beneath him.
They were going to kill him.
Then she had no more time to think when one of the wolves turned toward her with a snarl on his face.
Pure reaction took over.
The gathering darkness whirling inside her exploded outward like a small tornado, her form dissolving into smoke. The world around her went dark, the air almost murky, like they were submerged deep underwater. Small particles floated in the air as if on a current only it could feel. She went
weightless, her worries and aches vanishing. Her wounds stitched together painfully, but the pain was only an afterthought. Everything was calmer in this place, soothing to her ragged nerves. She felt better, stronger in this world…powerful.
The wolves retreated when they saw her, scattering into dust, leaving behind only the human shells. The men remained mostly human, which meant the wolves weren’t totally evil. Their skin was pale, their eyes black and soulless, and tears of tar streaked their cheeks, which meant they were by no means innocent, either.
They glanced around but couldn’t see her.
They backed away, suddenly cautious, and she quickly moved between them and Rufus.
All but one man. He was too lost to bloodlust to pay any heed to his surroundings, or too cocky to notice the others had backed off.
Rufus was the only one of them who looked normal, proving she made the right decision when she chose to trust him.
Annora—
At the sound of her name echoing in the darkness, her heart clenched in terror, and the particles scattered, dumping her harshly back into the real world. She staggered at the abrupt change, her body feeling almost too heavy.
“What the fuck!” The male who had threatened her startled so badly he leapt back, knocking into the guy behind him so hard it sent the man sprawling across the floor.
“I’m not the one who should’ve run.” Without hesitation, she leaned down and placed her hand on the back of the one who was still crouched over Rufus. The instant she touched him, the darkness inside him churned under her touch. She curled her palm into a fist and pulled back, drawing a swirling mass of black particles out of him like a thick cloud of foul-smelling fog.
The man screamed in agony, and she watched the dust slowly pull together, turning him into a ghost of his human self. A glittering gold pulsed inside the form, the sparks dimming in spots where he was injured. He glanced around in confusion, his black, soulless eyes a little too wide.
Until he noticed her, and they narrowed viciously.
When he leapt toward her to rip out her throat, his hand passed clear through her, and Annora couldn’t help but smile at him, then she turned to watch his physical body flop uselessly to the ground.
“What did you do to him?” The wolves backed up against the wall, the stench of their fear souring the air as they stared at her in horror.
Instead of answering, she knelt at Rufus’ side, the pooling blood soaking into her pants, cooling and sticking to her skin. Very gently, she rested her hand against his chest, noting that the spark inside him had dimmed, the gold no longer sparkling, more and more of the sparks blinking out of existence every second.
She could chase away the encroaching darkness, which under normal circumstances would allow most people time to heal, but Rufus had lost too much blood. Her touch only kept him from slipping away. If they were alone, she might be able to keep him alive, but she very much doubted the wolves would allow her enough time.
She bit back a curse, then met Rufus’s gaze, her heart heavy as she noticed his eyes were already fading. “Do you want to live?”
He blinked at her, his mouth opening, only to have him cough blood, and she patted his chest. “Blink twice if you want to live.”
She waited a heartbeat, then two, her chest hurting as she held her breath, when he finally blinked.
Twice.
Then her spirits plummeted at the massive undertaking. She’d promised herself she would leave that world behind. She’d been good. She hadn’t crossed over more than twice in the months since she escaped, but she had no choice now. She couldn’t let Rufus die.
He helped her when she’d needed it most.
She could do no less.
Annora was conscious of the men gathering around their fallen comrade, pulling him to safety, each of them eyeing her like she was the devil…and they weren’t far from wrong.
The shadowy figure was screaming at the top of his lungs, throwing his fists at the men around him, but no matter what he tried, he continued to remain insubstantial. She watched him try to cram himself back into his body, then give up, his eyes locking on hers.
“What the fuck did you do?” he snarled, but real fear tinged his voice.
“A life for a life.”
“What?” His eyes dropped to the body in front of her, then bounced back up to hers as he began to back away. “Fuck you.”
He turned to escape, but there was no running from death.
She could heal injuries, even delay aging, but she couldn’t beat death, not without someone paying for it. No matter what she did, it would return and eventually win. Annora set her hand on the ground, then watched as a dark shadow curled out from her touch, stretching toward the ghostly man.
He backed up, terror widening his eyes. Before he could escape, the darkness curled around his legs and slipped inside his body. The golden specks swirled, gathering into a globe the size of a baseball, then slammed out of his chest, leaving behind only enough glitter to keep him alive.
Barely.
The only things keeping a person’s spirit in this realm were the golden flecks, something she discovered by trial and error over the years. As more and more winked out of existence, the ghostly shape flickered in and out of sight, his face a silent scream of terror. He was slowly being pulled into the afterworld, where his screams could be heard by the creatures who dwelled there, where his soul would be consumed and damned to hell.
The glittering, swirling mass in the globe came to rest in her palm, and she gently pressed the ball into Rufus’s chest, watching it catch fire, then explode outward. Rufus gasped, his back arching, and she lifted her hand away from him, watching while his injuries knitted shut, his body arching in spasms of pain.
She staggered to her feet, swaying for a second as the room spun around her. The process always took something out of her, leaving her hollow and exhausted.
Rufus was in his late sixties, but kept himself in such good physical shape she never thought of him as old. He was too active, too full of life. When he staggered to his feet, his clothes soaked with blood, he looked like something that crawled out of a horror film.
He touched his neck, where his throat had been almost completely ripped out, and ended up smearing the blood around the completely healed skin. The wound no longer flapped open, blood no longer gushed down his chest. He inhaled deeply, no longer drowning in his own blood. He looked younger, his shoulders straighter, his hair not so gray, his wrinkles gone, his skin almost youthful.
He glanced at her, but she couldn’t make herself meet his gaze, see the revulsion in his eyes at what she’d done…or the greed at the thought of what her abilities could mean for him. She cursed herself for not making her escape sooner and dashed for the door.
The wolves snarled, quickly moving to block the exit, and she skidded to a halt, nearly ending up on her ass. She glared at them, gritting her teeth. “Get out of my way.”
She could easily slide into the afterworld and slip past them, but there was something waiting for her, something dark that was hunting her. Every time she entered the afterworld it found her faster each time, and she had no interest in meeting whatever was waiting for her in the darkness.
She would rather face down a pack of slobbering wolves.
The wolves hesitated at her command, until the one who’d confronted her when she first entered the room gave a jerk of his chin, and she found herself surrounded in seconds.
“You might be able to beat one or two of us, but you won’t be able to take us all.”
Annora huffed…it was just her luck to encounter intelligent wolves.
“No, she might not be able to take on all of you, but I’m sure she and I together can make a pretty good dent.” Rufus casually grabbed one of the wolves by his shoulder and practically threw him across the room. Then he was standing at her side.
Experience told Annora that he wasn’t protecting her…he was protecting an asset, someone he planned to use.
She edged away from him.
She would not become a prisoner again.
The wolf flashed his teeth, some of the others nervously whining and licking their lips. Then he gave a nod and pointed to the man on the floor. “Fix him.”
She glanced at the prone man, then at the pale, ghostly form hovering near its former body and shook her head. “You won’t want him to return. Trust me, he won’t be the same.”
The wolves snarled, two of them lunging toward her, but Rufus stepped between them. He then looked down at her, ducking to meet her eyes, concern lining his face. “They’re not going to let you go unless you do as they say. He dies, they will hunt you down no matter where you go.”
Annora knew he spoke the truth, but everything inside her protested the idea of bringing back a killer. If he was crazy before, he was going to be exponentially worse when he came back. Since she’d used most of his life force to save Rufus, he might heal over time, but he would never be the same.
To fix him she would have to go back to the afterworld, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to return. Something was waiting for her in the darkness, and one of these days it was going to find her.
But when she glanced at the other wolves, she saw Rufus was correct…if she did nothing, they would make it their life’s mission to hunt her down and make her pay.
She didn’t need more people after her.
She already had too many.
“Very well.” Before she could second-guess her decision, Annora allowed herself to fall into the darkness gathering in her chest. She lifted her hand, watching it as she slowly dissolved into nothing but smoke. The world around her went dark, the air thicker, and she turned to see the rest of the wolves had retreated, leaving her alone with the would-be murderer.
“You! What did you do to me?” The big man lunged for her, and she whirled out of existence in a cloud of smoke, only to reappear behind him.
Tethered to the World: A Phantom Touched Novel Page 1