Page 17 of Rescued

“No!” he growled, trying to fight it. They were drugging him—he could feel himself losing control! But though he turned his head and tried to get away from the smell, the world went hazy around him.

“Gently,” he heard the strangely familiar voice murmur again.

And then he was out.

When he woke again, he was no longer restrained. There was a feeling of something warm and wet all around him and a sound like waves lapping in his ears.

Opening his eyes, he looked down the length of his body and realized he was lying on his back. No, not lying—floating. He was floating in a pool of cloudy blue water with purple swirls in it. It must be nighttime or twilight, because the lighting was dim. He was wearing a pair of long white trousers but they were wet through and sticking to his long legs. His chest was bare and his hair was loose—unbound from the club at the back of his neck where he normally kept it and floating freely around his face.

Nate was a very strong swimmer. Instinctively, he tried to right himself. If he was in water, he needed to get oriented—there might be predators here—he needed to be alert!

But again, he couldn’t move. His arms and legs refused to obey him—they just lay there, floating in the water like dead branches someone had lopped off a tree.

“What the fuck!” he growled, straining again to make something move—anything at all! But not even his toes—which he could see floating above the surface of the milky blue water—would wiggle.

“Be calm, Nate,” a soft, feminine voice said.

It was coming from behind him somewhere. Nate rolled his eyeballs as far back in his head as he could—at least that part of his body wasn’t paralyzed—trying to see who was speaking to him.

“It’s just me,” the voice told him. “It’s Lan’ara. I’m sorry about using a paralytic agent on you, but we had to be sure you wouldn’t hurt yourself…or anyone else.”

“Who the fuck is ‘Lan’ara’?” Nate demanded.

“I am Lan’ara.”

There was a faint swishing sound and the speaker came around to his right side so that Nate could look up at her.

She was undeniably beautiful—fucking gorgeous to be honest—with long, straight black hair and delicate features. But there was no doubt in his mind she wasn’t human—not even close. She had pale lavender skin tones and exotically tilted deep purple eyes several shades darker, which were fringed thickly with dark lashes.

“I am Lan’ara,” she said again, looking down at him. “Do you know me now?”

Nate glared up at her.

“How the fuck am I supposed to know you?” he growled. “I’ve never seen you before in my life!”

A look of shock and hurt came over her lovely features.

“But…we’ve been Dream-sharing for months!”

Nate felt the fury surge in him—the absolute rage which was all that had enabled him to survive for the past five years—ever since the Scourge had first invaded.

“I don’t know what the fuck that means or who the fuck you are but let me go right now or you’re going to be fucking sorry!” he snarled.

She looked down at him sadly.

“I’m afraid I cannot let you go—I am supporting your head.”

As she spoke, Nate became aware that this was true. A small, soft hand was under the back of his head, lifting it ever so slightly so that he could see and hear—otherwise the water would have gotten into his ears. A second hand was between his shoulder blades. He couldn’t think why he hadn’t felt her hands on him before she mentioned it—maybe because her touch was so light it was barely there.

“You know what I mean,” he snapped. “Un-paralyze me—undo whatever it is you did to me, so I can move again!”

“Not until you release some of your anger and calm down,” the purple girl said sternly. Her voice softened. “I know you’re upset—you’ve had to live your life in a state of constant rage for so long now. It was the only way you could survive.”

Nate stared up at her suspiciously.

“How do you fucking know that?”

“I wish you wouldn’t swear so much,” she said mildly. “I know all about you because of the Dream-sharing.”

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