“So this is what love does to people. Talk about a bunch of martyrs. Let’s do it this way. What would bug you guys the most? I refuse to physically hurt her.”
“Yeah right!” Kayla shouts. “You beat the crap out of me today.”
“What?” both Jackson and Damien yell at once. They struggle against their restraints.
“Now, I’m really going to kill you,” Damien snaps.
William rolls his eyes. “She deserved it. Whatever I do to you two will be punishment enough for her right now, so I won’t hurt her physically.”
“Don’t hurt them,” Kayla pleads. “I’ll do anything you want. Just don’t hurt them.”
William snaps his fingers. “I know! I won’t physically hurt you guys, but I can emotionally tear you apart. You’re both in love with the same girl. What would it take to make your blood boil? I think I know. Kayla, my dear, I’m going to let you out of those restraints.”
“Shift into something and kill him,” Jackson growls.
“She actually could.” William laughs. “She hasn’t had her dose of Kiej concentrate yet. Though if you try anything I will have Patrick shoot you, with a real bullet. So are you going to behave if I let you out of your restraints?”
Kayla nods. “Are we leaving then?”
“Oh, no, no, no, I have something much better in mind. You want them both to live, right?” William inquires with a smirk.
“Yes,” Kayla says slowly.
“And you will do anything I ask, correct?”
She nods apprehensively. “Yeah, why?”
With a strut to his step, William comes over and undoes her restraints. “Stand up, my dear.” Kayla obeys, and he grabs her hand. William pulls her in front of Damien and Jackson and steps behind Kayla. Looking at the guys, William asks, “Do you like her outfit? It’s my shirt. I think the color looks good on her, but you know what? I like it more when she doesn’t have it on. Kayla, take it off.”
“What? Why?” she snaps.
“Do it or one of them dies,” William declares. Kayla quickly pulls the shirt off. “She has a gorgeous body, doesn’t she guys?”
“Keep your hands off of her,” Jackson seethes.
William strokes his hand down Kayla’s face. “You will do anything, right?” he whispers.
“Yes,” Kayla whimpers. She knows this is going to be bad.
“And what would be a harsh punishment for you two? I think watching her lose her virginity would do it.”
Both guys start struggling against their restraints. “I will kill you!” Damien yells.
“Please, don’t do this,” Kayla whines. “I’ll do it, but not in front of them.”
“Oh, no, I am past the point of being a gentleman. You’re going to conceive my baby…right now. Turn around, my dear.” William chirps in her ear.
Kayla looks at Jackson and then Damien. Damien stares straight at her. “Don’t do it. We don’t care what happens to us. You can’t do this to yourself.”
She turns toward William. “You won’t hurt them then? You give me your word?”
“I swear on my own life. You and I will get on that plane and leave,” William states. He reaches over and starts to pull her bra strap down. “Just give me what I want.”
“Okay,” Kayla whispers with tears running down her face.
“KAYLA! NO!” Jackson shouts. “Shift, you can shift into anything!”
William narrows his eyes at him. “Don’t tell her that. There is nothing on this planet that she could shift into that these darts wouldn’t work on.”
“Get out of here, Kayla. Do what you need to! Leave us here. We will die for you,” Damien cries out. “Just don’t do this!”
A thought runs through Kayla’s mind. “I can turn into anything I want, right?” she yells at Damien.
“Yes, do what you need to get out of here!”
Kayla takes a step back. “I’m not leaving without you.”
“Don’t be stupid, Kayla,” William growls. “I will put a bullet in your head.”
“I would like to see you try,” Kayla whispers. With that, she closes her eyes. It takes a massive amount of energy, but she shifts. When Kayla opens her eyes again, her head is hitting the ceiling of the hanger.
Everyone stops and stares at her. William shakes his head in disbelief. “This is impossible.”
Kayla emits a thunderous roar. “Eat him!” Damien screams.
“Shoot her!” William shouts at Patrick.
“She’s a dragon!” Patrick yells. “Are you crazy?”
“Shoot her now!” William snaps.
Patrick shakes his head as he points and shoots at Kayla. The dart bounces off her hard scales. Kayla laughs and it comes out as another roar. Patrick drops his gun and sprints for the doorway. Kayla swings her tail at him, and he flies into the wall.
Shots erupt from behind her. She turns to see William shooting real bullets at her, but these can’t penetrate her scales either. “I will kill you!” William says. “Shift back right now.” He points the gun at Jackson. “If you don’t, I’ll shoot him, I promise you that.”
Anger courses through her, and she roars at the top of her lungs. All the windows in the building shatter. William pales and backs up. Kayla leans over, bringing her dragon face close to his.
“Kill him!” Damien and Jackson yell at the same time.
“Don’t listen to them, Kayla,” William interjects. “You don’t have it in you to kill anyone. You’re just a little girl in the end. Could you live with yourself, knowing you killed another person?” Kayla stares at him without blinking. William smiles. “I know you better than you think. You’re weak and need a strong man to take care of you. You’re just a weak little girl who couldn’t save the guy she loves.” William lifts the gun and shoots. Kayla opens her mouth and bites down. She can feel him break in between her jaws. Once she knows he’s dead, she spits him out and starts gagging.
Shifting back to herself, Kayla vomits on the floor. Taking in deep breaths, she tries to collect herself. She hears, “KAYLA! You need to untie me. Jackson’s hurt!”
Her attention snaps to Jackson. He is slumped over in his chair with blood seeping out of his stomach. Kayla runs over to Damien and frantically unties his binds. He pushes her out of the way, and together they get Jackson out of his chair and onto the floor. Damien rips the IV out of Jackson’s arm. “Jackson!” he shouts. “Stay with us!”
Jackson moans and gasps. “It hurts. It hurts so much.”
“Shift,” Kayla squeals. “I did it and I healed myself.”
“Not with a gun wound,” Damien whispers, looking at Kayla. “I’m going to go get help from the ship. You need to stay here with him and apply pressure to the wound.” Kayla nods as Damien jumps up and runs out of the building.
Kayla puts her hand on the wound and presses down. Jackson’s scream ricochets off the walls. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Kayla cries, pulling her hand away.
“NO!” Jackson gasps. “You need to keep your hand there. I’m losing blood.”
“You’re going to be okay,” Kayla whimpers. “We’re getting help.”
He looks at her and gives a weak smile. “I’m just happy that we found you. That’s all that matters.”
“None of it is going to matter if you die,” Kayla exclaims. “So…I don’t know. STAY AWAKE!”
“I will for you,” he whispers, stroking his fingers down her face. “I have to ask, did you mean it?”
She is about to answer him, but Damien returns. “Help should be here any minute,” Damien says. He looks at Kayla. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” she replies softly. “Although, I feel a little woozy.” A wave of dizziness hits her. “Okay, really woozy.” With that, Kayla crumbles to the ground next to Jackson.
The next thing she knows, Kayla is lying in a bed, her eyelids flickering open. Her head is cloudy and she feels groggy. The room isn’t familiar to her. It is completely metallic. Kayla bolts upright. “Oh no! Help,” she yells. ??
?Please, not again!”
“Calm down, Kayla,” a soothing voice says. Kayla spins around. Her mom is standing in the room, a soft smile lighting her face. “Hey, baby girl, how are you feeling?”
“I don’t know,” Kayla replies, grabbing her head. “Dizzy and tired.”
Her mom sits on the edge of the bed. She wraps her arms around Kayla and pulls her in for a hug. “You shifted into a dragon, honey. You expelled enough energy to knock you out for three days.”
“Three days?” Kayla whispers, shaking her head in grogginess.
“Yeah, we’re on one of our ships. Our doctors have been monitoring you. With everything that William was pumping into you, we wanted to make sure there weren’t going to be side effects.”
Kayla nods. “I’m okay then?”
“Yeah, perfectly healthy,” her mom replies. “You aren’t hurt at all.”
When the word hurt pings in Kayla’s head, she frantically turns to her mom. “Jackson! Jackson was hurt! I have to see him!”
“He’s fine, honey,” her mom reassures her. “Jackson is healing fast. You can see him in a little while.”
“Where’s Damien? Is he all right?”
An odd look passes over her mom’s face. “He wasn’t hurt at all.”
“Where is he? I need to see him,” Kayla urges. “I need to see both of them.”
Her mom diverts her eyes from Kayla. “You can see Jackson, but Damien…well, he’s gone, sweetie.”
“What? What do you mean gone?”
“Damien left. He made sure you were going to be okay, and then he disappeared.”
Kayla’s chest tightens, making it impossible to breathe. “He’s gone…”
“Yeah.”
“Give me a phone. I need to call him.”
Her mom pats her on the knee. “I don’t know if that is what Damien wants. He didn’t say much after you were rescued. Your father and I have been sitting with you for the last few days.”
“No, I have to call him. Get me a phone, please!”
With a nod, her mom grabs her purse. Reaching into it, she pulls out Kayla’s cell phone. “Here. Do you want me to give you a minute?”
“Yes, please,” Kayla whispers. Her mom kisses Kayla on the forehead and then leaves. When the door shuts, Kayla dials Damien’s number.
It rings and rings and rings. Finally, his voice mail picks up. “You have reached Damien Blakely. I’m probably missing your call for some awesome reason. So leave a message, and I’ll give you a call back as soon as I can.”
After the beep, Kayla quickly spits out, “Damien, its Kayla, please call me! I don’t know why you aren’t here. Please, I miss you and need to know you’re okay. Call me when you get this. I need to talk to you. Better yet, please, just come back. I have to see you. Please, just—” She starts to cry. “I need you. Please, call me or come back. Please.” She drops the phone, drops her face in her hands, and weeps.
A little while later, her mom returns with a tray of food. “You need to eat, sweetie.”
“I don’t want to. I want to get ahold of Damien. Can we ask his dad?”
“No, we aren’t in a position to do that.”
Kayla throws her hands up. “I’m still technically Damien’s girlfriend, unless he left a break-up note.”
“There’s no note, nothing. He just left, and no one has heard from him. Please, let’s deal with that later. You need to eat.”
Kayla crosses her arms in protest. “I’m not going to eat.”
“Kayla, you haven’t eaten in days. You’re going to get sick.” Her mom sighs.
“Mom, I’m so worried about Damien. I really hurt him. I will never forgive myself if I don’t get to talk to him again. I have to explain some things. He has to understand. He just has to!”
Her mom tucks Kayla’s hair behind her ear. “Kayla, sweetie, give him time. He will come around. Why don’t we go see Jackson? He’s been asking for you.”
“No, I can’t. It’s not fair to Damien.”
“Honey,” her mom starts. “You have to think about yourself too. Jackson has been waiting for you to come visit him. He did take a bullet in the stomach. Do you know he actually got into a fight to be able to go and rescue you? You need to go see him.”
Kayla fidgets with her fingers. “I can’t.”
“You love him, Kayla,” her mom whispers. “You have to go to him.”
“How do you know that?”
Gazing down, her mom replies, “We watched the tapes from the hanger. We needed to know exactly what happened. I needed to know who took you.”
“Wait, William is dead, right?”
“Yeah, he’s dead. So is the other guy that was there.”
“What about Trin?” Kayla inquires. Her mom gives her a confused look. Kayla explains, “Trin was the girl that was there with us. What happened to her?”
Kayla’s mom frowns. “She was taken into custody. They aren’t sure what they’re going to do with her yet.”
“I think she was brainwashed. They should take it easy on her.”
“We’ll see,” Kayla’s mom sighs. “Please, try to eat something.”
Staring down at the food, Kayla asks, “Does it have Kiej in it?”
“No, we thought you’d had enough of that lately. You need to be as free as possible. They also have some counselors they want you to talk to.”
“I don’t need to talk to anyone,” Kayla mumbles. “I’m fine.”
“Honey, you were kidnapped and went through a very violent situation. Anyone would need help dealing with that. It would be good for you.”
Kayla shakes her head. “No, I’m fine for right now. I just want to go home.”
“You need to eat and be given a clean bill of health, and then we can take you home,” her mom tells her. She pushes the tray towards Kayla. “Eat.”
Begrudgingly, Kayla picks up the bowl of soup and starts to eat it. They sit in silence for a while. When Kayla is finished eating, she sits back. “Can I have some time to myself?”
“Sure, if you need anything, just call out. We can hear you.”
Kayla snorts. “Wow, that’s great. No privacy again. I just went through this.”
With a heavy sigh, her mom murmurs, “We don’t want anything to happen to you again.”
“But William is dead. We don’t need to worry about him anymore.”
“That’s true. Fine, I’ll see what I can do about the microphones being turned off. Just try and rest.”
Kayla nods. “Okay.” Her mom gives her a kiss on the cheek. When she leaves the room, Kayla dials Damien’s number again. This time it just goes straight to his voice mail. Kayla hits end. Completely broken, Kayla brings her knees up to her chest and cries.
Chapter 24
A week later…
Kayla is staring down at her phone, trying to decide if she should try Damien’s number again, when she hears a light knock on her door. “Yeah,” she yells.
“Tracy is here to see you,” her mom says.
“You can send her in.”
Her door flies open and Tracy tackles Kayla on the bed. “You’re alive! Oh my gosh! I thought you were dead!”
“No, I’m fine,” Kayla replies with a smile. “I was just kidnapped.”
“JUST KIDNAPPED!” Tracy yells. “Everyone in the country was looking for you. Damien’s family put up millions as a reward.”
“I know, I saw it on the news. I’m so glad you’re here.”
Tracy gets up to close the door. When it’s shut, she turns around. “What in the world is going on? Where is Damien, and why aren’t you talking to Jackson?”
Kayla snorts. “Damien has fallen off the face of the earth, and I refuse to talk to Jackson.”
“You haven’t talked to him since you’ve been back?”
“I haven’t talked to Jackson since I was rescued. I can’t.”
Tracy sits down on the bed next to Kayla. “Why not?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll just sa
y that I really hurt Damien and doing anything with Jackson would just be salt in the wound. So I’m staying away.”
“Jackson won’t stop calling me. He desperately wants to talk to you. You won’t return his phone calls.”
“Just like Damien isn’t returning mine,” Kayla sighs. “Damien did so much for me and confessed his love for me and I…I hurt him terribly.”
Tracy puts her arm around Kayla. “Tell me what happened, from the beginning.”
With a groan, Kayla exclaims, “I wish I could tell you, but I can’t! The only two people I can talk to about it are Jackson and Damien, and they’re in the middle of it.”
“Why can’t you tell me?”
“It’s, like…a huge secret,” Kayla whispers. “I could get into a lot of trouble. I would seriously disappear from your life if anyone found out that I told you, so I would rather keep it a secret.”
“Come on, just tell me,” Tracy murmurs back. “It will never leave this room.”
Kayla leans in close to her friend. “I mean it, Tracy. If I told you the truth and someone found out, you would have no memory of me ever again.”
Tracy looks at her and smirks. “Good thing I’ll keep my mouth shut for the rest of my life. If you can’t tell it to me directly, then make up a really convincing story that will make sense to me.”
“What?”
“Make up a really good story. You know, one that would be so far from plausible, how would I ever believe it?”
A light bulb goes off in Kayla’s head. “Okay,” she whispers ever so softly. “Let’s say there’s a girl name Krista and she finds out she is from another world…”
After an hour, Tracy is sitting in front of Kayla with her jaw gaping. Dead silence settles between the two of them. Finally, Tracy leans forward and says, “I want to see.”
“No,” Kayla hisses. “It’s a made-up story!”
“Yeah, I know. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to see it.”
Giving her a stern look, Kayla snaps, “No!”
“Fine, I’m going to the local news then,” Tracy quips, standing up. She turns around and whispers, “That’s a lot of memories to erase.”
“You suck! Fine,” Kayla grumbles. “If I never get to talk to you again, I will be so mad!”