Unraveled

Sha

“Earth to Sha

“Uh, sorry. What’d you say?”

Tyler’s amusement faded in a blink. “Lookit. Like I’ve told you a million times already, I said I’m tired of sneaking around. I’m not go

“I—” Aden quickly shut his mouth. He didn’t know how Sha

“Say something!”

“I—I—” And then it didn’t matter. The scene shifted again, and this time he was standing in the center of an outdoor basketball court. Sweaty boys were all around him, slapping him on the back, telling him what a good job he’d done.

On the ground in front of them was an unconscious boy. Tyler. He recognized Tyler’s face, even though it was swollen, bloody and battered. Sha

He had beaten Tyler? Why?

Guilt and shame bombarded him. Remorse. Sorrow. Self-loathing.

The scene shifted yet again, the emotions falling away like leaves on a tree. Now he was inside a home, sitting on a couch. Pictures abounded. Of him. Of an older black man and a white woman. His parents, he thought.

His cheeks itched, so he reached up with a shaky hand to wipe at them. They were warm and wet. With tears? Someone was in front of him, pacing, screaming. Because Sha

No, he realized, as Sha

On and on his father screamed. This was wrong. This was a sin. His mother even joined him, crying hysterically about how embarrassed she was. Why couldn’t he be normal?

He and Sha

“Sha

Tugged back to the present, Aden blinked open his eyes—too bright, burning, tears forming—and found himself inside his bedroom, still on the bed, once again writhing in pain, the souls loud in his head. Dan was staring down at him, frowning with concern.

“You’re burning up.” His sigh wafted over Aden’s face, and even that hurt. “That means whatever Aden has is contagious.” Dan looked around. “Where’s Aden? Do you need a doctor?”

Several seconds passed while Aden groggily waded through the facts. He was still inside Sha

“All right, I will, but get some rest. I’ll check on you in a bit and bring you some of Meg’s chicken noodle soup.” Meg. His sweet, beautiful wife. Footsteps sounded, a door creaked open, closed.

So many deaths, Elijah moaned.

Dear God, not that again. The psychic said something else, but another voice soon blended with his, claiming Aden’s attention. A female’s voice.

“Sha

Victoria, he thought. Once again he forced his eyes to open. The lights had been turned off and the curtains closed, so the room was cast into welcome darkness. He flopped to his back. Like Dan, Victoria stood at the side of the bed, staring down at him.

Thomas was beside her, watching, listening.

When she reached out, Aden scrambled backward. “No touching.”

Hurt clouded her expression as her arm fell to his side. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“I’m Aden. It’s Aden. Trapped.” If she touched him, would he possess her body, as well, taking Sha

First, she appeared confused, then frightened. “I knew it! I never should have left you. I knew you were sick, I just, I wanted you to rest and I was afraid you wouldn’t if I stayed, and oh, God, now I’m babbling. I’m so sorry. I’ll get Mary A

Mary A

God. He’d be stuck. Forever.

MARY ANN SNUGGLED against the warm, soft—strangely large—heating pad in her bed. She’d never slept this deeply or this peacefully before. Maybe because this was the first real sleep she’d had in what seemed forever, so her body had needed to do something drastic. Or maybe because this just might be her very last sleep.

No. Wait. That kind of thinking didn’t make any sense. She would have been scared, up all night tossing and turning, and wondering if she really was a Drainer, if Riley was done with her, if the witches were now coming after her.

Now the tossing and the turning began. What was she going to do? How was she going to— Wait again. No matter where she moved, the heating pad remained pressed into her side. How odd. Even odder, she didn’t own a heating blanket. Did she? Her eyelashes fluttered open.

There was a big, black wolf in her bed.

Mary A

Shh. It’s me. It’s okay.

The words reverberated inside her head, deep and husky and familiar. “Riley?” His name was more a shout than she’d intended. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and peered over at him. The lights were off, and the sun hadn’t yet risen all the way, so details were hazy.

The wolf was stretched out beside her, dark fur gleaming and green eyes bright.

“Riley,” she said, a statement of fact this time.

The one and only.

“What are you doing here?” More importantly, did she look like a mess? She sca

You might be a Drainer, and that witch, Marie, suspects it. No way you’re sleeping alone again.

He cared, then. He still cared. And he’d said “might be a Drainer,” which was an improvement from their last conversation when he’d baldly stated, “You’re going to kill me.” Her lips curled up at the corners. “So you’ve been here all night?” Protecting her.

Yep. Came back right after I escorted Aden and Victoria home.

“I’m glad. And thank you.”

My pleasure.

Their gazes met, and for a heated moment, he was watching her as he had in the very begi

Grin widening, she fell back onto the mattress and wished she’d woken up sooner. “Now that we’re both alert, we should probably talk about last night. We said some things that—”

Suddenly her bedroom door burst open, and her dad flew inside, scowling. “What is going on, Mary A

“Dad!” Panicked, caught red-handed, she jolted upright, jerking her comforter with her. “What are you doing?”