Page 2 of Big Knot Energy (Shadowverse)

Why was the room swaying so much? Or was that me? I couldn’t force my eyes to focus, could barely see through the swelling, and there was a constant ringing in my ears.

But I had to warn someone, damn it. I would never forgive myself if something happened to my little sister and her baby and I’d had the information that could keep them safe.

Pushing onto my knees and grabbing any piece of furniture I could to steady myself, I finally found my phone across the room. The screen was cracked and barely readable, but I had to try.

My vision swam in and out as I typed then hit send. No point in deleting it this time since my alpha had been able to find all the others.

Phone still in hand, I used the side of the couch to pull myself to my feet, blinking slowly to try to clear my head enough to drive. I had to do something but was starting to worry I might kill someone else when I passed out behind the wheel.

Pack Rivera’s estate wasn’t far. I would simply have to stick to the backroads and hope I didn’t veer off the road or into the other lane.

My legs felt like a newborn foal’s as I swayed side to side and hit every piece of furniture and even the walls on my way to,hopefully, grab my car keys.

They still hung in the exact same spot they had since the day I’d been moved into this house by my parents.

Antonio didn’t want me. Didn’t love me. He loved the connection to my family, the power and money he gained by working for my fathers, for being a member of the infamous Pack Alvarez.

But I was his property, at least in his mind. Forget the fact I was a beta, forget the fact there was absolutely no guarantee I would ever be able to carry his heir. Forget being faithful to me or showing me the smallest scrap of respect. I was a tool for him to use at his will.

The keys jingled against the fob on the keychain as I put my handto the wall and slid along to the garage, nearly tripping down the three steps and over to where my newer model Mercedes Benz sat.

My beta siblings and I might not have been favored by our parents, but at least they’d cared enough about appearance to ensure their kids all drove nicer cars.

Not that prestige or appearance ever meant a damn thing to me. I was just happy I had a car that would actually start and get me where I needed to go without it breaking down on me.

The garage door seemed like it took an eternity to rumble up enough for me to finally back out and head down the driveway and to the roads that would lead me to Cora.

I had no idea whether she was home yet, but from what I’d heard from Antonio, there was an attack on her pack planned for when she was visiting the obstetrician. Pack Rivera’s guards would be at their home, though. They could contact Bain or one of the others and warn them.

My vision was still doing that weird in and out thing where the edges were rimmed with sparkling black, narrowing my sight down to a pinpoint. I had no idea whether it was from a head injury or from the swelling in my eyes. I was terrified to so much as look in the mirror for fear of what Antonio had done to me sending me into a panic attack. No way could I drive then.

Not much further.

I just had to hang on long enough to get to Cora’s house, to warn one of her alphas or their guards, then…

I didn’t care what happened to me after. I didn’t even care if one of my sister’s alphas decided to execute me. After all, my own alpha was behind all this bullshit. In my head, I deserved death. I’d earned a death sentence merely by association.

The rapid, reverberating thud of the warning strip snapped me back to attention. I’d had no idea I was drifting off the side of the road until those vibrations sounded through my sedan and rattled my seat.

“Just a little further,” I said aloud, trying to keep myself awake and alert.

It couldn’t be more than another ten minutes.Please don’t let it be more than another ten minutes.

I wasn’t sure I had much more than that left in me. It was a struggle just to keep my eyes open and my thoughts clear. Or clearish.

There. Up ahead, the first of the tall gates surrounding the estate of Pack Rivera came into view. I’d made it. I was here.

Foot on the brake, I slowed my vehicle, or thought I was as I approached the manned front gates. I could barely make out bodies clad in all black, but they were blurry and out of focus.

The closer I got, the more those bodies moved in a frantic motion, waving their hands in the air like those blow-up dancing advertisement balloon men in front of car lots or businesses closing shop.

Oh shit. Oh no. My pinpoint vision was becoming more of a blurry dot.

I was almost there. Just a few feet more.

My head drooped forward a second before my entire body was thrown against the seatbelt and the airbag deployed, my face planting against it and the burn along my cheek blaring through the rest of the pain for the briefest second. The scent of whatever the hell they used in those safety implements filled the car and stole my breath.

Voices boomed around me. Something tapped beside me over and over. But I could barely open my eyes or lift my head.

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