Page 48 of Knotty New Year

Then I closed my eyes.

* * *

I dreamed of being on a rocket ship, going toward the sun. It kept getting hotter and hotter, and the astronaut next to me kept snarling that I was useless in space… and then we weren’t in space.We were on a beach, and I was burning on the hot sand, while Pax swam and played in the surf with tall, blonde, wealthy omegas who had perfect teeth and perky tits.

None of them had swimsuits on, and they all had perfect Brazilian wax jobs and PhDs in aerospace engineering.

“I’ll cut a bitch,” I heard a woman say in my dream. Or was it a dream? “And by bitch, I mean my stupid fucking brother.” It wasn’t Rain, though it sounded like her. “Where did they find her?”

“In a snowbank. She was trying to cool off.” A masculine voice, but not the one I wanted. I snarled, warning him away.

“F-frostbite?” This woman sounded like she was crying. “Her f-fingers.”

“No, they’ll be fine. Her heat kept all her extremities safe, even after an hour… The ring’s gone, though.”

“Mom’s ring?”

“We’ll send crews to search for it… metal detectors…” The voice faded.

I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I heard yelling. Then someone was there, a woman, placing pills on my tongue and holding a glass of water up to my lips. I was parched, and I drank greedily, whimpering when the water was withdrawn.

“It’s okay, little sister.”

Sister? I didn’t have any sisters. Only he did, and they wouldn’t be mine now. I fought a sob. I’d wanted sisters. I’d wanted him. But he hadn’t wanted me. He’d left me after he promised to take care of me. Hadn’t come back when he’d said.

Hadn’t loved me.

“Not sister,” I gasped, clawing at my neck, which had flared up like someone had pressed a brand to it. “Ahh!”

“Candy, you’re going to be fine. Just wait a few minutes. I gave you some temporary heat suppressants since Nicky isn’t here.”

Someone else cursed. “Those work for a day or two, tops. Where the fuckishe?”

I whined and raised a hand to my neck after she placed something there, over my mating bite. A cloth? I tried to tear it away, but hands held mine down.

“No, sweetness, you’re bleeding already. Don’t scratch. These pills will help, and Nicky—”

“Pax,” I managed to say. “Pax is here?” Why did that worry me? Was he coming to tell me I wasn’t good enough, old enough, smart enough… I fought to open my eyes.

“S-soon. Just sleep.” I felt a small body, a woman, slip in beside mine, then felt a vibration against my back. Someone was purring, of all things.

She smelled vaguely of cinnamon and vanilla, and I fell back to sleep in her arms.

Chapter21

Candy

“Are you awake?”

“Stop yelling,” I moaned, then wondered why I was yelling. I blinked. It was dark. The world felt hazy and odd. And someone who smelled like cinnamon and vanilla was touching me.

My stomach lurched, like I might be sick. The sensation of whoever’s skin it was made me want to peel off my own.

“Please,” I begged. “Please don’t touch.”

“Of c-course.”

I opened my eyes and saw the outline of a young woman. She was sitting on the edge of a bed. Not the guest bed, not the room they’d given me with my bathtub nest close by. This bed was bigger, and smelled like… “Pax?” I was in his room, but he wasn’t here, of course. It was just me and one of his sisters. I smelled cinnamon and pine. “Valentine? Why am I… How did I get here?”

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