Destined for Disaster ✔️

Chapter 27

With a start, Ryleigh woke. Her eyes shot wide open and she blinked at the ceiling, trying to still her anxiously beating heart while at the same time attempting to figure out what had woken her up in the first place.

"Ryleigh."

The voice that rippled through her head was loud and deep. She sat up with a gasp, snapping her head in Austin's direction. He was sleeping, his chest rising and falling calmly. Her name rumbled through her mind again, but this time it sounded faded, far away. She pressed her hand over her heart, her breathing reduced to fits and starts.

Her wolf cowered in fear in the back of her head and pushed her to wake Austin.

Ryleigh looked at her mate again. Two more weeks and she wouldn't have him to snap her out of it. She needed to do this on her own – needed to fight this on her own.

Shooting forward, she slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a breathy cry. She dug her nails into the sheets, hoping to keep herself grounded, but her body threw itself sideways, off the bed. She fell in a tangle of covers and landed with a dull thud. Struggling to get out of the cage of covers, she dragged herself onto her knees and looked over the bed. Austin stirred, turning to his side, but didn't wake.

"Ryleigh." The word sounded distorted. It was silly, but it had been quiet in her head for a while now and she had hoped – wished – that for some reason it'd be over. But it would never be.

She pressed her hands against her temples, scrunching her eyes shut.

Her wolf howled in her head and the hairs on Ryleigh's neck bristled at the high-pitched lament.

Her head snapped to the window. Out. She needed out. Her wolf cried out again, hoping the sound would find itself out of Ryleigh's mouth and rouse Austin, but Ryleigh pressed her lips tightly shut. She struggled to her feet, her throat dry and her breathing erratic.

"Stop!" She yelled the word in her mind, even though she knew the voice could only send and not receive. Her legs were shaking, buckling every other step. Her fingers groped in the dark, finding the wall and using it to keep herself upright. Austin's proximity was not enough to quiet her mind, and she wouldn't wake him. Couldn't wake him. She might hurt him.

"Ryleigh." There was a threatening quality to the voice now, something authoritative, something stern. Her body clamped up, fighting for control, knowing it had lost it already. She tripped over her own feet and fell back down to the floor. The thick carpet drowned out any noise resulting from her fall and Austin still had no clue. Her breath caught in her throat and she dropped her head, panting on her hands and knees. When she raised her face up again, her eyes were shining bright golden.

Her legs found their strength and she stumbled to the window, clawing at the nails keeping it shut. She looked around her, her gaze latching onto anything that might help her open the window. The desk drew her attention and she went over to it, rummaging quietly through the stuff scattered on top of it. There was some paper, a quill, a few pots of inks – and a letter opener.

Austin had grown careless, trusting her against his better knowledge. She grabbed the letter opener and returned to the window. Drawing a finger across the opener's tip she noted it was sharp and thin. With utmost precision, she wedged it in between the wood and one of the nails. She started wiggling it around and slowly but surely, the nail started to come out. The wood splintered a little and Ryleigh slowed down, afraid the sound might rouse her mate. It didn't. She picked the nail out of its little hole and dropped it to the carpet, moving on to the other one.

A minute or so later, she had the window open, chilly air flooding the room. She stuck her head out and looked down. Austin's room was on the first floor, so it was quite a way down, but she would probably survive it. Her eyes flitted to the forest's edge. She didn't see any guards on the clearing right now, but she knew there were wolves scattered throughout the forest.