Page 12 of The Storm Within

“Your mate!” the father shouted, his eyes wide. “How is he still trapped inside?”

Mate? Ryker was his mate? Nate blasted the glass with the icicles quickly forming from his palms, just as desperate as Ryker to get the door open.

Using his shoulder and sheer size, Ryker rammed his entire body into the door. The wood splintered, and the wired glass shattered but remained intact. Nate stared in shock. He’d tried to break the glass a million times in the past, but nothing he’d ever done had worked. Despite the motel’s battered state, its doors had always been unyielding, impervious to any real damage. But for some reason, it had worked for Ryker.

“Do it again!” Nate shouted, glancing around for something heavy he could use to help.

All three men used their momentum to heave their colossal bodies toward the door, Ryker in front, his family shoving him forward. Their impact made the entire wall surrounding the door shake, rattling loose flakes of paint and dust from the frame, before a rush of cold air blasted into the room.

Shards of glass scattered across the floor, while the wire mesh buckled inward, the bottom edge curling upward in a jagged, almost spring-like arc.

“Grab my hand!” Ryker reached for him through the gap in the broken wire.

Nate lunged forward but knew he wasn’t going to get out in time. The motel was fading even faster now, leaving them only less than a minute before it would completely vanish.

Nate shrieked when he was grabbed from behind, a strong arm around his waist. Diobno hauled him away from the door, walking him down the hallway. “Now where do you think you’re going, Nathan? I’m nowhere near done punishing you.”

As hard as Nate fought, he couldn’t get Diobno’s arm from around his waist. “I hate you!”

“Feeling’s mutual.” Nate landed on the musty, threadbare carpet when his uncle threw him to the floor. “Just for that stunt, it’ll be a good eighty to ninety years before I allow the motel to reappear, or maybe it’ll never reappear again.”

When his uncle vanished, Nate didn’t attempt to get up. There was no use. The sensation of his stomach dropping told him the motel was back in limbo.

Nate lay there, too numb to feel anything. If he hadn’t masked his demon scent, Ryker would have told him right away they were mates. He knew the only reason the guy hadn’t was because Ryker thought Nate was human and was probably trying to figure out a way to tell him.

No wonder he’d become attached to Ryker so quickly. It should have dawned on Nate that the guy might’ve possibly been his mate, but he’d chalked up his feelings to loneliness.

But none of that mattered now. Diobno would never let the motel reappear again.

Nate had lost Ryker forever.

Chapter Five

What in the hell just happened? One moment, Ryker was tearing through the door, desperate to reach Nate. He’d managed to get his head and shoulders through, jagged shards of glass in the window frame biting into his skin like razor-sharp teeth.

The next, his dad and Killian were yanking him backward, shouting for him to get out. But their grasp had slipped when something beyond Ryker’s control dragged him forward—sucked him through the window and back into the motel like his body had turned to liquid.

The sensation was unlike anything he’d ever experienced, leaving his skin tingling as if charged with static. Now, he lay sprawled on the floor, staring up at the spot-stained ceiling of the lobby. His breaths were short and shallow, his mind struggling to make sense of the chaos.

As soon as the nausea subsided, Ryker rolled to his feet and glanced at the door. The glass and wood were completely intact, as if the door had never been disturbed. Past the window was a sea of nothingness, everything as black as a starless sky.

From the minute he’d stepped into the motel, Ryker had felt something was off. Now he knew why. Sort of. Nate had mentioned being stuck in limbo, but Ryker wasn’t sure what that meant, not entirely.

He headed toward the hallway, determined to find his mate and kill the son of a bitch who’d dragged Nate away.

As he walked, Ryker slowly glanced around, the motel seeming even more ominous than before. Creepier, more desolate, darker even. The hairs along his skin prickled like tiny beacons of warning.

Ryker stilled then sprinted forward when he spotted Nate curled up on the carpet. In that position, he appeared smaller, delicate, and vulnerable.

“Nate?” Ryker rolled him over, terrified Diobno had hurt him. “Talk to me, sweetheart.”

His mate’s eyes were puffy and bloodshot, his cheeks stained with heavy tears. His breath shuddered as he stared blankly at Ryker.

“Nate?” He had never seen anyone so detached. It was like the guy had mentally checked out, escaping to some happy place in his mind.

Bending at the knees, Ryker carefully lifted him up and cradled Nate’s small frame in his arms before heading to his room. Once inside, he used his shoulder to close the door then lay Nate down. The bed springs creaked when Ryker curled in behind him, pulling his mate close.

“You can’t hide inside your head, baby. I need you to tell me what’s going on and how we can get out of here.” Ryker tightened his arms around him, replaying everything in his mind as he lay there.

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