Page 10 of An Unending Claim

“I swear, Nathan. I’m telling you the truth. I didn’t know why she did it. Especially when—”Shit. Way to run your mouth, Peyton.

My anxiety level was about to top out and my panther rubbed against me restlessly, unhappy with the tension and wanting to comfort me. I tried to calm down, but I’d totally fucked up and now I’d have to follow through with our deal.Fuck.

“Go on,” Nathan demanded. His hands had stilled and his intense gaze pierced right through me.

I chewed on my lip and twisted the ring a little harder.

Nathan scooted closer and took my hands in his. I winced when his eyebrows shot up at the feel of my trembling hands.

“Peyton.” His voice was low and calm as he rubbed his thumbs over the pulse point on my wrists. “What happened when she froze?”

He’d told me many times that he was perceptive, and I couldn’t argue with him when he proved it so often.

“Flashbacks,” I muttered.

“Flashbacks?” he repeated. I couldn’t read his tone or eyes, and his emotions were steady.

This is ridiculous.Stalling and trying to obfuscate only made things more difficult.Like pulling off a Band-Aid. Let her rip.

“When she smelled the blood, her mind flooded with vivid memories of that night.” The weight from her memories mixed with mine had nearly crushed me. They started to creep back into my mind now, trying to drag me under again, except this time, I felt the ache of my broken jaw and the burning sting from the slash down my face.Get a hold of yourself, Peyton.

“Peyton, did you lose control of your panther because you were having them, too?”

I nodded. “I found myself right back in that alley. I felt the pain in my back, the scrapes and cuts all over, the terror for my own life and”—my stomach rolled—“the life of our baby.” Shaking my head, I tried to wrestle the memories back into Pandora’s box. I had no doubt that wherever Pandora might be, she was laughing her ass off at my attempts.

I hadn’t realized my gaze had drifted away until I felt Nathan’s finger brush down my cheek. His eyes were filled with concern and through our link, I could feel his struggle to stay calm. He wanted to hunt down anyone who’d hurt me and make them pay for all that they’d put me through.

“I was overwhelmed,” I grudgingly admitted, trying to focus on the story and not the abnormal reaction of my body. “She took full control, but she wasn’t thinking rationally, either. Even after the flashbacks began to recede, I didn’t know why she took off when she smelled that blood.”

Nathan tilted his head to the side, his gaze roaming my features. “Didn’t?”

I didn’t answer right away, and he took my silence as an indication that I didn’t intend to answer. I shook my head. “Give me a second.”

The edges of my vision started to blur as the disturbing memories fought to climb their way back into my brain. My chest tightened and my body flushed with heat as my skin started to crawl. I squirmed a little and wished I could shed it like a snake.

I dropped my chin and closed my eyes for a few seconds before returning to our conversation. “I figured it out when we reached the wolf and her mind stopped racing because she focused on what to do for him.”

“She wanted to help,” Nathan guessed.

“Because we didn’t”—I blinked a few times to clear away my blurry vision—“didn’t save her.”

“The woman in the alley?”

“Yes. He hadn’t killed her yet when we showed up, but she died from the injuries he’d inflicted before he turned on us.”

Damn, it’s hot in here.I pulled one of my hands from Nathan’s grasp to fan my face and wondered why it suddenly felt like a sauna in our living room.

“Your panther feels guilty because she didn’t save that woman?”

I frowned. “No, not exactly. She knows as well as I do that there wasn’t anything we could’ve done differently that would have kept her alive.” I shifted uncomfortably as the desire to jump out of my skin strengthened. “She just wanted to see if she could save someone who’d been injured enough to have bled so profusely. With so much blood, the assumption that they wouldn’t be able to heal themselves was logical.” I ran a trembling hand through my hair, then Nathan grasped it again.

“Tell me the rest.”

The pounding of my heart echoed in my ears as it accelerated and my chest twisted even more, making it harder to take deep breaths. I’d never felt like this before.What the fuck is happening right now?

I blinked rapidly again as I looked around the room, trying to find something to take my mind off the blood, the burn, the sharp, stabbing pain I felt with every intake of air.

“Breathe, baby.” Nathan gently squeezed my hands, then took one and began massaging it. “Slow, measured breaths.”

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