Page 28 of Knot My Sin

I can’t tell if the sun is setting or not, though it doesn’t matter right now. The heat begins to melt me from the inside out, forcing me to pull off each of my shirts. Tossing and crawling is how I continue on, until I’m also pulling off my boots, shoes, and my sodden jeans.

Standing, I feel a little better, a bit more weightless, allowing me to continue pressing on. I don’t know what my destination is, all I know is I need to keep walking. My heat is a fickle bitch, making me think I can handle the pain and that things are actually getting better.

Unfortunately, as I start to climb over a log, having left my clothes behind me, a pain rips through me that makes me scream.

“Help me,” I beg, my voice cracking as I scream. Tears begin to fall again, because I know that no one will.

You’re an abandoned omega, Wren. Find a place to lay down and die.

I can hear rain and something else in the distance, but it could be an animal for all I know about the woods. I’ve lived inside four walls my entire life, with little real world experience.

My head feels light as I push my body off the log, and I keep falling. Screaming mindlessly, I hit the ground, and continue to roll as my body thumps along for the ride. There’s water once I hit the bottom, as well as mud. Whimpering, I try to lift myself up, until I realize I’ve fallen into a ravine.

The water is rising from all the rain, and the silt at the bottom where I’m laying is thick, feeling like sludge. I’m exhausted, there’s no way out, but the water feels nice.

Forcing myself to keep my nose above the water as it slowly closes over me, I let my mind do what it does best. I think of Flynn’s lopsided smile when he made me breakfast, the care he took to find clothes, and get lost in my mind. Alternate versions of a reality develop to distract me, pretty dreams that can never be. All too quickly, the pain overtakes me and I wordlessly scream under the water.

Lightning hot, indescribable agony makes me thrash, my fingers curling into claws. My thighs rub together to find friction that never comes, until darkness finally overtakes me. Drifting, listless, blissful gloom is my life now until the water drowns me.

I have no one to miss me, so I just let go, somehow buoyed by the mud and water so that I can still breathe. It can’t last forever, all small favors from the universe have to end.

SHAW

Two days later

Every day I’ve been out here with the guys, searching for Wren. We spread the net further and further out as we look, and Flynn is obsessed with walking by the river to search for her.

His eyes are crazed with grief as he walks at the edge of the raging river, and one of us insists on staying with him at all times.

I’m several miles from the house on the Razor, my eyes scouring the ground for anything that may tell me where she went. I can see a dingy white sweatshirt ahead of me, and I drive faster to get to it.

This has to be hers.

Bringing the vehicle to a stop, I turn the engine off and get out. Picking up the sweatshirt, I bring it to my nose, but all I can smell is the mustiness of the leaves and the clean scent of rain. Frowning, I continue to move on foot, finding more articles of clothing. It’s as if Wren started to strip as she walked, which is what Flynn does in his heat. Nothing can touch his skin… except us.

Wincing, I continue to find a boot, a sock, but no omega.

Pulling out the radio, I call my pack brothers.

“I found her clothes about five miles from the house,” I tell them. “Grab the other Razor we brought with us and come find me. I’m northeast of the river.”

At first, we tried to stay close to the river, sure she’d do the same. Who knows what her thoughts are as she’s slowly being driven mad with pain.

Taking a shuddering breath, I try to find what I’m missing. It isn’t raining anymore, but the leaves are wet, creating a camouflage over hidey holes. The forest can change in a blink of an eye, and there are new bodies of water where it wasn’t there before.

The ground is soft and muddy, so I’m careful as I walk. Ambrose was right, it would be really easy to fall with how saturated the soil is.

“Wren!” I call out again, my voice hoarse from yelling. Sighing, I wonder if Flynn is right.

Could she be Jasper’s sister?

I drop my head back as I stare up at the canopy of trees. The sky is gloomy and gray, matching my mood exactly.

“Harley!” I yell, not expecting an answer.

“Help,” I hear a weak voice say, making my heart start to pound.

Fuck.

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