for oxygen, I run for my life, afraid of the men I’m attracted to, afraid of what will happen when they catch me.
“LEAVE HER THE FUCK ALONE!” Berrin roars from somewhere in the distance, his voice hoarse, loud, booming. Birds that must’ve been foraging for food on the forest floor lift up into the air around me, wings, beaks, and claws scratching at me until my skin is torn further. I wave my arms in the air frantically, a scream ripping from my lips as my tears sting the wounds on my cheeks.
Blindly I run on. Tears streaming, snot running, fear rampaging.
I don’t see the hive until it’s too late.
I run straight into it sending the bees up into the air in a frenzied swarm as I tumble to the ground. The first sting registers over the pain I feel everywhere else, the second and third stabbing at my arm and cheek.
By the time Franklin, Mathieson and Berrin reach me the swarm has risen from the hive and has formed into an angry, buzzing cloud that descends onto the men too. I can see Franklin and Mathieson waving their arms around in the air, cursing the bees that sting them to protect their hive and their queen. By the time Berrin looms over me, concern written across his face as bees attack him, I know that I have at least a couple of dozen stings embedded all over my body.
“Darling, look at you,” Berrin grunts, as he dips down and picks me up in his arms. He shakes his head as a bee stings his cheek. I watch through a haze of pain as the bee yanks its little body away, leaving the pulsating sting and half of its innards behind whilst the rest of it falls to the floor in death.
“I don’t feel so good,” I mumble, my head spinning, my sight blurring.
“How badly are you hurt?”
I can’t even answer him as the venom from the bees registers in my system. Black spots burst behind my eyes and I feel this warm rash of heat flare beneath my skin that has me breaking out in a cold sweat. Shivers begin to wrack my body as the events of the last hour begin to take their toll. Berrin jogs with me in his arms and heads back the way we came. I want to protest but I seem to have lost the ability to speak. I’m vaguely aware of cursing behind me that only seems to deepen Berrin’s frown.
“Fuckers deserve a thousand stings for scaring you like that. I swear to you, darling, I won’t let them touch you unless that’s what you want. Okay?” Berrin says fiercely.
I nod my agreement before my eyes roll in the back of my head and the floodgates holding back my memories deep inside my mind finally open.
Chapter Fifteen
My memories batter against me, coming thick and fast as Berrin lies me down on their bed once again. He removes my clothes, undressing me completely so that he can deal with my grazes, shredded feet and remove all the stingers still embedded in my skin.
“Hold on, darling. I’m going to clean you up as best I can, okay?” he says, leaning over me as he quickly strips off his t-shirt and pulls out several stingers from his skin. “Are you allergic to bees?”
I shake my head, barely able to grasp hold of the question let alone the answer. “I don’t think so…”
“Fuck!” he curses, anger rolling off him. “I’m going to kill Franklin and Matt if anything happens to you!”
“No!” I mutter, a feeling of deep love coming to the surface, replacing all the fear. It’s so powerful, so strong that a choked sob releases from my lips. Berrin misinterprets the sound and leans over me, clutching my face.
“I swear to you. They will not harm you. Not on my fucking watch.”
I want to reassure him, to say that he doesn’t need to protect me, that they’ll remember their love for me just like I’m remembering now, but the words won’t form. Instead, I fall in and out of consciousness as my memories bombard me, tumbling over one another. All I see is a jumble of faces, a blur of colours, feelings, emotions, sounds, smells. They overwhelm my senses, sending me into a spin. I can’t grasp any of them. I can’t breathe. It’s like a tornado has ripped through my mind and is scattering my past around me in a mixed up jumble as