Page 56 of First Bite
“Are you fucking crazy, Elle? What the hell is wrong with you? Stop this!” Cole yelled.
Out of nowhere, Boots sprinted into the room and landed on the bed, his hackles up and ears back. He hissed and cried loudly, and as if a spell had been broken, the dense energy that held me into place and urged me on was lifted.
Braden slipped out from under me as if I’d burned him, obviously relieved that I was done sexually assaulting him. I don’t know what Boots had done, but he snapped me back into my body, and as I realized the gravity of my actions and behavior, I was absolutely horrified. I had had absolutely no control of myself.
“Oh my God!” I burst into tears, feeling the dark energy flee from me. “Braden, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what got into me. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“It’s okay, Ellie,” Braden said, rubbing his head with a look of disorientation. “What the hell happened? That wasn’t you, baby. That didn’t feel like you at all.”
“You okay, Ellie doll?” Cole said, wrapping a sheet around me and cradling me in his arms.
I started sobbing in Cole’s arms. “I don’t know what happened to me.”
“It wasn’t you,” Cole said. “Something must have taken control of you. The look in your eyes wasn’t right.”
“Why?” I asked, trying to figure out what could’ve happened to me from the time I went to sleep until now.
“Good mother fucking question!” Logan answered as he and Zac eyed each other curiously with the same look that Braden wore.
“Somehow, Boots broke the trance Elle was under,” Braden said as he slipped into a pair of shorts.
“I don’t know about you guys,” Zac started, “but I feel really fucking weird right now.”
“It’s not just you,” Logan said. “I feel like I just woke up from a daze.”
“All three of you have been acting out of character since you’ve been back. Inviting those vamps into this house halfway across the world. What the fuck did you get yourselves into, and more importantly, what have you brought into our house?” Cole said as I sat up straight.
“I’m going to wake those fucking vampires up. Something isn’t right at all,” Braden said as he vamped to the door.
“Hold the hell up!” I said. “I’m going with you. If it weren’t for Boots, I’d be giving birth to a litter in nine months. I want to know what they have to say first hand.”
“Do you think?” Zac said with a cautious look at Logan.
“Oh my God, you’ve got to befuckingkidding me!” Logan said as he ran his hands over his head.
“What!?” Cole shouted, clearly pissed off.
“Do you remember the witch, Brade?” Zac asked.
“What witch, Zac?” Cole pressed his cousin.
“They were with a witch when we first came across them,” Braden said, his voice distant as he recalled his memories. “The fucking witch. She had to have spelled us to get us to bring those mother fuckers here. There’s no fucking way I’d ever allow anyone here but us.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, you guys!” Cole seethed. “If that’s the case, she’s gotta be here. She could’ve come with you under a cloaking spell—goddammit!” He stood up and stalked across the room.“Elle, stay in here while we go deal with these vamps. If there is a witch here, I’m not going to risk having you around them.”
I nodded, and the four of them vamped out of the room. Once they were gone, my ears started ringing, and a severe headache crept up my head from the base of my neck. It was the last thing I remembered before I slumped over onto my bed and the stars I had begun to see quickly faded to black.
