“Turn down the lights, Walker,” Ryder ordered.
Someone touched her hand, and her eyes shot open again. Three bearded men stood over her, gruff looking and scary as hell. She did what any sane woman would do. She shot out her fist, knocked one of them on the chin, then rolled off the bed. They would not have her. They would not dissect her or study her. Use her. The humans chasing her might have called for her death, but if she was now with them, alive and captive, she didn’t want to know what “studies” they were planning. She’d heard the rumors, heard of the nightmares. She would not give in.
Her chest ached and her side burned something fierce, but she ignored it. Instead, she grabbed the scissors that lay on the counter beside the medical bed she’d woken up on.
One of the men blocked the door while the other rubbed his chin. The third moved toward her, hands out. She put her back to the wall, aware there wasn’t another way out of the room except her death.
But she wouldn’t kill herself.
Not if there was any fight left in her. As a water witch, she may not be inherently violent, but the will to live was stronger than she’d thought. After all that had happened…she still fought.
“It’s okay,” the one with his hands out said. “It’s going to be okay.”
She remembered that voice. This one was Ryder. Her inner witch pulsated at his voice, but she pushed that away, not understanding.
She licked her lips but didn’t lower the scissors. “You can’t have me. I won’t let you kill me.”
Ryder tilted his head, reminding her of a dog or cat. “Why would you think we would hurt you, little one?”
She narrowed her eyes at the term. “You took me to this…place, and now I’m in a medical room with three men I don’t know. I remember you following me, trying to kill me. I remember…” she trailed off. Her throat ached from speaking, but that was not why she’d stopped talking.
Flashes of memory came at her and she tried to make sense of it all. She’d been running from humans out to get her. She remembered that. But what else? What else had happened? Something sparked just out of reach within her mind, and she lost the fragment as quickly as it had appeared.
“We weren’t the ones chasing you,” the one rubbing his jaw said gruffly. “I’m Gideon, Alpha of the Talon Pack. We’re wolves. Not the humans who were out for you.”
Wait. Wolves? Would they try to rip her to shreds like the people who watched too many movies thought? Or were they like her, forced to live in secret for so long that no one truly understood? Unlike other witches, she hadn’t known wolves in person so she didn’t know how they worked. She only knew to keep hidden was to keep safe.
She frowned, her hand lowering somewhat. She’d just hit the Alpha of the Talon Pack. That probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but she hadn’t known at the time.
“If you’re wolves, then why do you have me here?” She let her eyes rest on the one they called Ryder, and her magic settled over her, wanting to know more.
“You don’t remember?” Ryder asked. “You were shot. What’s your name? We found you and another witch in the woods. What was he to you?” He blinked, as if he hadn’t meant to say that part, but Leah didn’t care.
Instead, she dropped the weapon from her hand and let out a keening wail.
“No, no, no, no, no.” She shook her head and let her hands come up to her mouth. “No, no, no.”
Ryder knelt in front of her and pushed the scissors across the floor to where Gideon stopped them with his boot. But she couldn’t care about that. She couldn’t care about anything.
“Roland…” she choked out a breath. “Roland.”
“Who is Roland?” Ryder asked, his hand outstretched. When he brushed her shoulder, she didn’t pull back. Instead, she leaned in to his touch. The move seemed to surprise both of them.
“My br-brother.” She hiccupped a sob. “I’m…I’m Leah. Roland is…was my brother.” Tears fell and she tried to suck in breath, but her lungs weren’t working. “They killed him. They shot him right in front of me.” Her hand went to her side and she winced.
Ryder scooted closer and let his hand cover hers along her side. “They shot you too, Leah.”
“He’s gone?” she asked, the blessed numbness not coming back. Instead, all she felt was the agony she couldn’t ignore.
At Ryder’s nod, she let herself fall apart. There wasn’t a reason to be strong anymore.
Roland was gone.
He was the best of them, the one that should have made it. She was just Leah, witch with no home, no family.
She was alone.
Forever.
And with that thought, her soul shattered into a million pieces. She cried and let the tears wash over her, the magic within the water falling from her body, her entire being aching in sorrow. She barely noticed the strong arms wrapping around her, barely noticed the scent of wolf and man settling over her as she wept.
Wept for the injustice, wept for her brother.
Wept for herself.
Because now, she had no reason to keep running, no place to run to.