Caden muttered, retrieving his cell. “Just head toward Deadwood, for now.”
Lincoln reached out, running his hand through the hair Lexia had left, gently touching the skin, already healing. “You hear that, Lex. We’re going home.”
Chapter 38
She awoke to darkness. It suffocated her, stole her breath, and pressed down on her chest, until her heart stuttered uneasily. She remembered the walls closing in, the burning ash filling her lungs, touching her skin until there as nothing left but charred, agonizing flesh.
A scream ripped from her torn, swollen throat. She remembered Lincoln. She thought he’d saved her, saved her and Lola from the tomb they were enclosed in, but it had been a dream, a dream she could never have.
This is my hell. This is my payment for all I have done.
Too lost in her broken mind, she couldn’t hear the voices calling to her, telling her she was safe. All there was left for Lexia was pain. The pain of a broken heart, a broken soul, and a broken body. She was trapped, entombed, in the hell her mother had created.
Chapter 39
For two weeks, Lincoln had waited, waited by her bedside, while pack land, his land, filled with life once more.
Though Sarah wasn’t happy, she apologized for her attitude. Not that Marcus had agreed to return her son yet. A prison was a new addition to his homeland, one he’d not given too much thought; too preoccupied with his mate.
Lexia had awoken a number of times, but each time she seemed lost to the demons in her mind, the scream that tore from her, like a blade to his soul. Lincoln had gone through his life using the strength of his panther to solve his problems. Clinging to hatred, revenge, he’d killed. He barged his way through life, but now he was lost. No amount of physical strength could help him here. It was mental strength he needed, and that was growing thin.
Ears tuning into an argument, Lincoln walked to the window, staring out of what once used to be his parents’ room. Grey and the male hunter, Marcus, were arguing again, about what he didn’t care.
At the time, he’d been grateful for their help, their loyalty to Lexia. Now though, he wanted to be left alone. He wanted peace. He wanted to be surrounded by nothing more than the wild forest that was his home.
“You should be out there acting as alpha.” Caden walked in carrying Lola. “Here, it’s your turn. I’ve got squabbles to defuse.”
Smiling at Lola, Lincoln took her from Caden, making funny faces until she grinned. “I swear she’s grown over night.”
“I have a hunch she’ll develop at a faster rate than normal.”
Looking back out the window, Lincoln saw Caleb hobbling over to break them up before someone drew blood. Even recovering from an injury, Caleb was not a man to disobey. “Caleb’s breaking them up,” he said.
“Caleb will have them all running drills and sparring if I leave him out there,” Caden muttered as he left.
“It’s what they need, Cade.”
“What they need is a leader,” Caden yelled up the stairs, slamming the door behind them.
“Yeah, they do,” he said quietly. He glanced at Lexia who lay as if peacefully sleeping. “They need you, Lex. I need you.”
Chapter 40
Lost in the darkness, chased by the demons who followed her day and night, she was unable to reach the light, teasing her on the edges of her mind.
Lex, Lexia…
Derrick? Derrick don’t leave.
Running, she covered endless tunnels, all identical, all with no way out. Yet still there was the light, the knowledge if she could just break through the darkness, she could reach the gift she’d been given – the people waiting for her.
Stumbling, she hit the floor hard, the unforgiving concrete battering her already tired body. Feeling blindly for the object that had tripped her, she closed her hand around the very familiar filigree hilt of a ruby blade. A blade used by a monster who’d thought to abuse her when she was vulnerable. He’d paid the price and so had so many others who’d thought they could strike her down. The blade had been coated in countless blood. Picking it up, she stood to her feet, feeling stronger for the familiar blade in her hand.
The darkness around her closed in, whispering the names of those she’d killed, those Maura had killed. It grew thicker and closer, stealing the air while it taunted her with the nightmares of her life.
A face appeared in the gloom. Lucy.
You’re dead! Lexia