Page 20 of Wolf Obsessed

I swallowed as I rounded the corner, and my chest tightened as I stared at the shop. The glass had fallen in a cascading waterfall when a wayward bullet had struck it. Many lights had shattered from a couple of bullets that had struck the panels in the ceiling.

I trembled when I saw my mother cradling me and my sister. Hannah lay splayed out on the ground, limp and motionless. I clung to my mom like a scared child when I should have been defending her.

I gritted my teeth and mashed my lips together as I watched my nightmare unfold. Tears streamed down my mother’s face. She rocked Hannah and me like she had when we were babies and murmured softly to us.

She smoothed her hands over Hannah’s face repeatedly. If my mother could have willed her back to life, she would have.

My jaw worked as I stared like an outsider looking in. Blood coated my mom’s shirt. My hand and arm were covered in it too. My mom’s blood. She was so pale, so white. Her eyes kept drooping shut, but she snapped them back open again.

I was curled against her, crying like a coward. I should’ve done something. Anything.

Footsteps squeaked behind me, and I turned to look over my shoulder. I shuffled backward, my hands fisting against my thighs. What was he doing here?

Mikey rubbed his hands together as a wide grin split across his face. “Back to where it all started, I see. You really did screw this one up, didn’t you, big brother? You could’ve saved them both. Instead, look at you wallowing in Mother’s arms like a tiny, helpless baby.”

I clenched my jaw and exhaled through my nose. “This isn’t real. It’s a memory.”

More like a nightmare.

I squeezed my eyes shut, but all I could feel was an ebbing darkness around me. Nightmares had plagued me for days. I was stuck in my head, forced to live out the worst moments of my life. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t wake.

I pictured Sawyer and Sloane. At times, I thought I could hear them, but they sounded so far away, a million miles, while I was here alone.

Mikey shoved me, making me stumble backwards.

My eyes narrowed.

Mikey put his hands on his hips. “Nobody is going to save you. Not Sawyer. Not Sloane. And definitely not Father.”

He shrugged as he looked behind me. “Mom can’t either. You let her die. Every awful thing that has happened is because of what you did in this moment.”

I lifted my fists in front of my face and moved into a fighting stance. “Get out of here, Mikey. Leave me alone.”

It was bad enough that I had to relive the worst moments of my life. I didn’t need my jerk brother rubbing my nose in it, too.

Mikey mirrored my movements and cocked his head back and forth as he waggled his brows. “Do you think you can take me? The last time we fought it out, it didn’t go so well for you.”

I bared my teeth. “Because you cheated.”

“There is no such thing as cheating in a fistfight, Lincoln. You’re just sad that you weren’t smart enough to think to use wolfsbane.”

I planted my feet and snarled. The wolfsbane had been my undoing. “And you know that you can’t win in a fair fight. But don’t worry. I won’t make the mistake of thinking you’ll fight fair again.”

Mikey cackled. “You’re right. You won’t make that mistake again because you won’t have another chance to. Today is the day you die, big brother.”

Mikey lunged and tackled me to the ground like we were playing a game of football. He landed so that he straddled me and immediately started delivering blows to my face.

I drew my arms up just in time to protect myself. His punches were relentless, hitting me hard enough that my arms ached.

He growled. “Fight back, Lincoln. Or are you too big of a coward?”

Mikey threw another punch and then a few more. I caught his next jab and jerked it to the side. I bucked my hips up, throwing him off me and rolling with my momentum so that I hovered over him.

I balled my fist and hit him square in the nose. Blood gushed out, and he scrunched up his face as he cried out in pain.

Then he snarled. Red coated his teeth as he bared them at me.

I growled and balled my fist, but before I could punch him again, the blackness returned and swallowed me whole.

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