by Flynn Eire
Relief?
Freedom?
Myself?
They set me down on the ground, and I turned to throw up what felt like acid, this need to get it out of me.
“What the fuck is going on?” Sam hissed as he raced over to me. “Did he ingest Zakasac blood or something?”
“I don’t know. He said he was mated to one of them,” Matteo muttered. “He was acting all kinds of crazy.”
“He’s got Stockholm or something,” Xana added.
“You don’t get Stockholm Syndrome after four days,” Sam snapped. He shined a light in my eyes when I took a break from vomiting and gasped. “His eyes are all bloodshot.”
“That’s nothing. They were red like a Zakasac’s moments ago in the room,” Xana said.
“What?” I choked out, glancing at him like he was crazy.
“Gilroy, they were,” Matteo confirmed. “We were trying to tell you something was wrong, but you wouldn’t listen. What happened?”
“This can wait,” Sam argued, trying to help me up.
“I got him,” Xana muttered as he bent to lift me up.
“You tried to kill me,” I snapped, moving away from him.
“I thought you were one of them,” he whispered.
I turned my cheek as if he’d slapped me. “I’d never kill a human. You should know me better than that. Matteo did.”
“I’m sorry,” he muttered, but I held up my hand as my stomach flopped again and I puked some more. What the hell was going on with me?
“It’s like some freaky chain reaction now that his Zakasac mate died,” Matteo muttered.
Oh good, they had an idea. I could just worry about not dying then.
“I got him,” Jeston offered when I was done.
“No, I said I did,” Xana growled.
“No, not you,” I murmured, too tired and freaked out to even fight.
“I’m sorry, Gilroy,” he whispered as he lifted me in his arms. “The idea they got you to turn Zakasac killed me. I figured they must have made you. I was devastated they did so I struck quickly to end your pain of being one.”
“But I wasn’t.”
“I know that now. I’m sorry. I’ll make this up to you somehow.”
“Right, yeah, I don’t think there’s a I’m sorry I tried to kill you fruit basket that makes it all go away,” Jeston drawled as he led the way out of the building.
I tried to glance around and see it, curious now. “I never saw any of this.”
“What?” Xana asked gently, leaning down towards me.
“Nothing.” I turned my head away from him, annoyed of all the people more than able to carry my six-two frame it had to be the seven foot giant who’d tried to take my head. I might have been on the shorter side for a warrior, but we all were strong so someone was enough to drag me to safety.
“I have to hurry back,” Sam called out from behind us. “Bowie just messaged me that Roarke’s stats are getting better. He might be waking from his coma.”
“Is that tied to this guy dying too?” Matteo asked as they started jogging. “What the fuck happened on that outing to get supplies?”
“Winston,” I whispered, folding into myself. “His name was Winston and he was my mate.”
“It wasn’t real,” Xana assured me. “He or they did something to you.”
“It felt real.”
“I get that, but you’d be sobbing, inconsolable if you’d just lost your mate. I mean, how do you feel?”
I thought about that a bit as he carried me out of that place and to the chopper. It wasn’t until I threw up once more, practically feeling on my death bed and the helicopter was firing up that I had an answer for him. I glanced up into Xana’s deep blue eyes and felt my own fill with tears. “Empty.”
I found the energy to push off his lap, Jeston seeing my struggle and trying to help me. I shook my head and glanced between him and Alexander.
“Which of you killed my mate?”
Jeston’s eyes went wide but Alexander was calm, always calm. “He wasn’t really your mate, Gilroy.”
“I might not have chosen him, but we were mated. So which of you did it? Which of you ended his life before really knowing what was going on or the effect it might have on me?” I demanded, holding my stomach.
“I did,” Jeston admitted with a wince.
Great. I was still half on Xana’s lap next to him. Just fucking great.
Sam caught on to what was upsetting me and hurried to move me to sit in between him and Alexander while Matteo took my seat before whoever was flying the chopper—Tadzio and Philo from my guess since they were our pilots—lifted off. I made the mistake of meeting Xana’s sad eyes before trying to look away and catching the same look from Jeston.
Odd.
“You should know that they both flipped out when they heard it was you that was taken,” Sam muttered in my ear, the noise of the helicopter covering his words. “I don’t think either has slept since it happened, trying to figure out the best way to get you back once your locator came online.”
I turned my head enough so I could meet his gaze, knowing my face showed my disbelief. Why would Xana and Jeston care so much because it was me? He simply nodded.
“Whatever. I’ve got enough on my plate with just having lost a mate and all,” I bit out as I curled into as much of a ball as I could on the seat. For one, I was freezing since it wasn’t like we’d stopped to get me a jacket or even a shirt, and while it might be end of April, end of April in Wyoming—as I guessed we still were—was cold at this altitude.
My eyes started to drift shut, but then I heard rustling and they popped back open. I saw Xana and Jeston both taking their jackets off from across the way, Matteo smirking from his seat in between the two giants. Then Xana noticed what Jeston was doing and hurried to unbuckle his seat belt, moving to the floor in front of me and wrapping his jacket around me. Before I could say anything, Jeston was next to him and moving his coat around my legs.
Alexander cleared his throat and I watched as they both looked at him before taking their seats again, studying me carefully. Then our boss glanced at me with mirth in his eyes. “You didn’t really think they both had issues with their computers that often and no one else could help them, did you?”
I felt my face flush and nodded. Apparently I was brain dead on top of all my other issues when it came to men. For whatever reason that made me miss Winston more than anything. I was happy with him even if it had been a lie. I curled up even tighter into myself, and the next thing I knew, I was crying myself to sleep on the flight home.
Everything hurt, including my heart. I’d lost the only man I’d ever loved, ever wanted and it had been fake, but it didn’t feel that way.
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1
“I smell someone I know in our apartment,” I warned, my shoulders tightening as I hurried and opened the door. “Shit!” I wished I hadn’t when I saw who waited in our apartment amongst the floral shop.
“Hello, honey, how was your day?” Andre purred with a smirk and twinkle in his eyes. “I heard you and Brian broke up and Julie adopted you. That makes us of the same rank, so there will be no issues when we start dating.” He got up and instantly was across the room hugging me, which made Nicole gasp. “I’ve missed you so, you little minx.”
“What are you doing here, Andre?” I growled, pushing him away.