Screw My Childhood Sweetheart His Alpha Brother Marked Me First novel Chapter 81

I was swimming in a sea of black. The occasional spark of light passed by me, but I couldn’t seem to grasp it. Voices sounded from far away, through that thick, black liquid, but I couldn’t seem to hold onto them either.

The only thing I could hold onto was the pain. Everything hurt. As if I’d been lost at sea and battered against a rocky shore by

the waves.

“Luc, she needs you.”

The voice was achingly familiar, yet I couldn’t place it

“I’m here.” That voice was weary, a bone–deep fatigue lacing the tone.

A hand pressed into my side.

Warmth. So much warmth. More sparks lit in my sea of black. They danced and twisted in the inky water until they formed five balls of light. I tried moving towards them. I wasn’t sure how I knew, but somehow, I was sure they were my rescue.

“She’s moving. That has to be a good sign, right?” A different voice spoke those words.

I let out a low moan.

“Shit. Luc, can you pull more?”

Anson. Some part of me recognized that those words had come from Anson’s lips,/I fought harder against the darkness.

“I’m trying,” River said. He was the one with the exhaustion in his voice.

There was a tugging in my chest at the knowledge that he was struggling. I wanted to take away that fatigue and pain.

“What the hell?” he whispered.

“What?” Knox barked.

“She’s taking my pain. And my fatigue.”

“She’s not even conscious,” Caspian muttered.

River pulled his hands away from my side. “I’ve never heard of anything like it.”

Someone nuzzled my neck. “Wake up, Ro. It’s time. We need you.”

There was such sorrow in those words. They spurred me to fight harder. My eyes fluttered.

20.21

Screw My Childhood Sweetheart–His Alpha Brother Marked Me First!

71.4%

Chapter 81

The bright light hurt, burned. I squinted.

“It’s the light,” Caspian called to Knox. “Turn it off.”

The overhead lights flicked off, leaving only the sun coming in through partially drawn curtains.

Anson cupped my cheek, leaning over me. “Ro, you with us?”

“Hi,” I croaked.

River pushed in on my other side, holding up a cup with a straw. “Take a little drink. It should help your throat.”

I took a sip. The cool water was the best thing I’d ever tasted. Just as I was about to gulp more down, River pulled the cup away.

“Give your stomach a chance to adjust. You’ve been out a long time.”

I blinked again. Out a long time? Memories slammed into me. Images I’d never forget, burned into my brain. I struggled to sit up. “Vaughn.” Tears pooled in my eyes.

“It’s okay,” River said, trying to make me lie back down.

“Where’s Vaughn?” My breaths came faster and faster. Each one seemed to trip over the last as I struggled to breathe. Tears leaked from my eyes.

There was a commotion. Someone shoved Anson aside and then Vaughn filled my vision. His inky black hair, ice–blue eyes, and angular face. His hand slid into mine. “I’m here,” he gritted out. There was so much anger filling his expression. Rage. But I didn’t give a damn. He was here.

“Are you real?” It was the only thing I could think to ask. How did I know this wasn’t another trick of the black sea that had held me captive? How did I know Vaughn was really alive?

He sank down onto the bed, lifting my hand to his chest. “Feel my heart.”

The steady beat against my palm was the best thing I’d ever felt. Tears slid down my cheeks. Vaughn wiped them away with his fingers. “What were you thinking?” There was a slight growl to his words.

“Vaughn,” Caspian warned.

Vaughn shook his head. “You almost died.”

My heart stuttered in my chest. “I had to try.” What I didn’t say ‘was that if Vaughn had died, a piece of me would’ve gone with him. A piece of all of us.

This time, there was no slightness to his growl. “Foolish.”

“Back off,” Anson barked. “She’s been through too much already.”

“He can tell me how he feels. I’m not going to break.” Yet I wouldn’t deny that his words hurt. For me and for him. That Vaughn didn’t believe he was worth fighting for. Worth saving. That he didn’t believe I was strong enough to bring him back.

20:22

Screw My Childhood Sweetheart–His Alpha Brother Marked Me First!

71.79%

Chapter 81

“Promise me you’ll never do something like that again.” There was no question in Vaughn’s words, they were an order.

I looked into those eyes that had always made me feel less alone. They held a grief so similar to my own and that pain was blazing now. “Promise me you won’t almost die on me again, and I’ll promise not to heal you.”

Those eyes hardened. “It wasn’t my choice to get attacked by three wolves.”

“It was your choice to tell me to run.”

“And if you had, none of this would’ve been an issue.”

And Vaughn would be dead. The thought had a vicious pain burning through my chest. “You can’t stop me from fighting for you.” I shifted, trying to sit up, to be level with Vaughn. As I moved, a sharp pain lanced my hip.

At my wince, Vaughn froze. “What is it?”

“My hip.” I pulled the covers down. Someone had put me in my pajama pants and a T–shirt. I pulled the bottoms down slightly, and I sucked in a breath as I took in the flesh there. It looked almost like a tattoo, yet not. It was carved into the skin, just to the side of my hip bone, almost like a brand.

A star with five different points. One of the points was filled in. The rest were all empty spaces. “W–what is this?”

“It’s our bond mark,” Caspian said softly.

“Our bond mark?”

“It appears as the bond is starting to form,” River explained.

I looked at River. “Why is only one part of the star filled in?”

He glanced across the bed to Vaughn, then back to me. “When you saved Vaughn, it bonded you two together. That connection is fully formed.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify