Chapter 2 A Sticky Situation

Bailey

Rian’s eyes are glossy as he stares up at me, blinking against the sunlight filtering through the canopy of trees above me. I’m not sure how I know that’s who he is. I mean… if it were possible for a person to go to sleep in their bed and wake up anywhere else in the world, one would think it would at least be a real place. But this… this is the book I was reading–isn’t it?

“How the fuck… you know… name?” His speech is slurred as he collapses back onto the ground, his head hitting with a thunk that makes me wince. He closes his eyes for just a moment, but then they’re open. Two sapphire orbs peering into my soul.

“Uhm… I, uh… know your name because… I’m from Silverhide,” I stammer. “And… you’re famous there. For obvious reasons.”

One dark eyebrow arches as he sizes me up. I scoot away from him, wondering if he’s injured enough to deem that dagger on his hip useless or if he’s still strong enough to take me out. It wouldn’t take much, after all. It’s not like I have ever been in a knife fight.

“Why… you ‘er?” He tries to lean up on an elbow, but that only lasts a second before he’s down again.

“Honestly?” I have no idea. “Look–” I make the mistake of leaning toward him, and he goes for the dagger, yanking it out of its sheath in a fluid motion I wouldn’t expect from someone so grievously wounded. Yet, he’s not strong enough to do much with it. As he pokes it toward me, it slips from his grasp. He fumbles for it a moment, but he can’t get a handle on it. The dagger falls into the pile of leaves next to his leg.

“Well, you’re lucky that didn’t stab you,” I tell him, noting how close it came to his thigh.

He grunts, attempting to get the weapon back in his grasp, but he can’t do it. Now is my chance to get away from him, to take off into the forest and–

And what?

I have no fucking idea how I got here or where I could even go. It’s not like I could just go to the castle and tell Alpha Lukas I’m here from outside of the book. I’m not sure, but I’m fairly certain these people have no idea they’re characters in a book.

Does that make me a character in a book?

“Hey!” Rian’s voice is louder than it has been since he first opened his mouth. “Get–get outta here, you!”

If I hadn’t just read the scene where Alpha Lukas’s hand-picked guards ambush Rian on his way home from Omega training and beat the living shit out of him, then sliced him open and left him for dead, well, I might think he’s just drunk. But I know exactly what happened because I just read it.

Unfortunately, this is not one of those books where I skipped to the end and read that first, so I have no idea what’s going to happen. I think he must live because the antagonist can’t die in chapter eight, right? But by the way the author described his injuries, I have to say, I’m shocked he hasn’t bled out yet.

I scoot back a bit further, toward the path, and my hand slides into something sticky. Immediately, I lift my palm to my face and cringe. It’s blood. Turning around, I look at the spot next to me and see it’s not just a few drops–it’s a lot. Like a scene out of a horror movie. I scramble to my feet, forgetting I’m wearing this impractical gown and cloak, and nearly fall over. Wouldn’t it be great if I stuck my face right in it?

Wiping my hand on my cloak, I scurry away. I’ve seriously never seen so much blood in my life, and I’ve watched a lot of true crime documentaries. It’s incredible to think that much blood came out of one person.

Rian groans again, but it’s much softer this time, weaker, as if he’s running out of air.

As if he’s dying.

“Of course he is.” I mutter under my breath, standing about twenty feet away from his crumpled form under the tree. “Where do you think all that blood came from?”

The book did say he managed to get a few blows in, but I know the vast majority of the crimson liquid is his. I see absolutely no way that he is actually going to recover from this, despite the fact that wolf shifters allegedly heal much more quickly than humans. There are just too many places for new blood his body generates to eke out at the moment.

“M–Mother,” Rian whispers under his breath. “Goddess, I’m sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t…” His head lulls to the side, and he stops talking.

For a moment, I stand in the clearing by the road and look around. I know that if I go south, I’ll run into the castle. It’s not far from here. If I go north, I’ll come to a small village where most of the Omega’s live. Where Rian lives. His house is on the outskirts of town. It’s really not all that far. He was almost home.

“Fuck,” I mutter. I suppose it doesn’t matter how far a person is from home when they just can’t get there.

I’m kind of in the same boat.

My gaze returns to Rian’s pale face, and I take a deep breath. To help him–or let him die? That is the question.

I have no fucking idea what the answer is.