Page 42 of Brutal Alpha Beast
There’s fire, wild orange flames that are burning everywhere. We’re outside, but I can’t see where. The flames curl around everything in sight.
People are running, falling, and bumping into each other as they try to escape the engulfing flames. I’m deafened by their screams.
No one can breathe. How can they with all this thick smoke?
I want to scream, to do something. It all feels so real.
But I’m stuck, I’m not there—I’m just observing.
Show me what I’m supposed to do. Show me how to help.
I’m pleading to whichever force is in charge.
But nothing changes. The screams only get louder, the flames wilder.
Please.
My vision is black again, and I choke, catching my breath as though my lungs are filled with smoke.
My body feels weak, a wave of nausea and exhaustion sweeps over me, and I feel myself falling.
I reach out my hands into what appears to be darkness. There’s nothing to hold onto.
I’m losing my balance.
“Hey, hey,” a low voice soothes. A voice I’d recognize anywhere.
Then his hands wrap around me, holding me to his large chest.
“I’ve got you, Danielle, you’re okay.” He repeats the first part again. “I’ve got you.”
“I’ve got it from here,” I tell him, although my legs still feel wobbly. “I’m fine.”
Ellis shakes his head resolutely. “Nope. I’m not leaving you until I see you walk safely into your coven.”
I know he’s concerned because even though we’re allies, I doubt Ellis wants to be close to the coven any more than I want to live in the pack.
“I’m fine,” I tell him unconvincingly as I focus on walking straight.
In truth, the past twenty-four hours have taken a lot out of me. First, the shadow monsters, then whatever happened between me and Ellis, which, quite frankly, we both don’t have time to think about yet.
And now this.
My head is a mess, my body’s weak, but I know something, and I have to tell Penelope right away.
While all I feel like doing is sleeping, I’m fully aware that we’ve got zero time to waste.
She’s the only one who can make sense of this. The only one who can understand the extent of the danger we’re in.
Judging from that creepy vision—I’d wager it’s a lot.
“You’re allowed to say you’re not okay, Danielle, you know?”
I’m out of practice with that, given all the years I’ve spent pushing everything I’ve been feeling away.
“We’re here,” I sigh as our coven’s village comes into view.
“Thank you,” I tell Ellis. He looks at me with those burgundy eyes in a way that makes me want to cry. They make me feel vulnerable, and that’s the opposite of what I need.
