Nemesis - Book 3 of the Hunted series.

Chapter 15 - Coming back home

I fell out of it into a bathtub, freezing water around me, Nick's smell washing over me with a slam that made my heart break all over again. I was crying but his smell made it worse, harder, my hands were around my throat, grasping at it, trying to get it free from the hand around it. Only nothing was there. Nothing. I lay there, body shaking, tears running into the freezing water, arms holding me in place, someone shaking me from behind.

"Please wake up now. Come on. Wake up. Please." Nick kept saying it, over and over, like he'd been saying it for so long that the words had lost meaning and he was struggling to keep it up. "Stop it. Stop sleeping."

The voice added to the pain I was feeling, the betrayal, the hurt. Nick had left me. He'd abandoned me.

"You left me." My voice was raw, throat dry, trembling as I felt it. Felt the rape as vividly as it had happened just now, the heartbreak, the betrayal after all the trust I'd placed in him. Hot tears ran into the freezing water, splashing there, Nick's body shaking too. "You left me. You just left me there."

"You're awake?"

"You left me." I tried to stand, tried to get away, but Nick held me harder. "I trusted you. I believed you."

"Shh, it was a dream." He was kissing my shoulder, slowly. "I had to wake you. You started to scream."

"It wasn't a dream. They were raping me."

"No one was doing that to you. I was with you all the time." Nick lifted me up, slowly, as I continued to shake, my jaw chattering, face blotchy, lifting me out of the bath and trying to help me to stand.

"It wasn't a dream. I remembered it." A bench supported me, Nick peeling off the wet clothing, or trying to, but I held it there. Refused to let him do anything. "I remembered it and you left me there, and they forced me. You weren't with me. You left me."

"Left you where?"

"At the bar."

Nick's face darkened, body tensing, frozen there. He was soaking wet and fully dressed, like he'd just rushed me into a bath, his own body shaking as much as mine had been. The bathroom was familiar but it took me a while to put the pieces together. Towels. Soap that we liked. The crib that Nick had insisted on paying too much for, empty, and a changing table close to it.

"We're home?" My teeth were chattering as I stared around the room, body shaking, unable to believe it. It was home. Forestwatch. It was my home. I blinked at it, confused, trying to understand.

"Private jet. You didn't wake up for days." He reached out, then hesitated, withdrawing his hand when I flinched.

"I thought you'd know I was in trouble." Tears started all over again, I grabbed a towel, pulling it around my shoulders. That memory was the worst one I had, that pain, that moment when I felt the trust I'd had in him shatter. It didn't matter who it was, the alpha, or someone else, it didn't matter at all. "I thought you'd know."

"I'm sorry. I ...I'm sorry."

"Why didn't you come for me?" I tried to stand, nearly falling, Nick's arms grabbing me and keeping me upright. He moved the towel slowly across my wet skin, careful to not touch too much, and I leaned against him, sobbing for the months of it.

"I came back later. You were gone. I-" He hesitated "- was hurt. My pride was hurt, I'd spent all the free time away from you trying to convince them you were it. The last one. Then it looked like you'd used me like they said. I thought ... I thought it was too good to be true. I'm sorry. It's not an excuse. I just ...I thought they were right."

"They raped me in the ally behind it."

"I'm sorry." He leaned against me, breathing hard, shaking. "I found the dress. I'm sorry. Do you want me to get Elena to do this?" He asked, after I didn't answer him, as I stood there struggling to stay upright, my chest hurting with the pain that I'd forced away for so long. Was this why I'd forgotten it all? Because he'd hurt me like this? "Anne, you need to get out of those wet clothes. Do you want me to get Elena?"