(3) Painstaker

Chapter Twenty: I Have to Kill Him

My body was buzzing in awareness as I slowly crawled out of unconsciousness. Every inch of me had never felt so relaxed before. My muscles, my bones; they were all more rested than they'd been since I could remember. Like a fool, I smiled into the pillows that smelled like him and prayed that sleep would take me under again, if only for a little while longer.

My prayers weren't heard. What I did hear, though, was the sound of a woman's voice not too far away from me. Confusion stirred me from my comfortable position on the bed. Peeking out from the blankets, I noticed a pool of light spilling into the room, sourcing from the door to the hall. There Zeke stood in nothing but a pair of boxers, talking to...

Oh hell no.

Quinn was leaning against the doorframe, twirling a piece of hair around her finger and staring up at Zeke as though he'd hung the moon. In fact, she was standing a little too close to him. Why wasn't he moving away?

"You never came over," Quinn pouted.

Zeke chuckled. "I was a bit busy, love." Love? Love? Why the hell was her calling her love?

Quinn smiled a seductive smile before she rocked forward and kissed him. Seeing nothing but red, I stumbled up to stand and marched into her line of sight. "Get your hands off of him!"

But then I noticed. He hadn't pushed her away... He was kissing her back. The loud smack of their lips parting was a knife to the heart. What the hell was going on? Quinn, who's eyes were now on me, let out a loud giggle. "Oh my God," she exclaimed, placing her hand on her lips. "She fell for it. She actually fell for it. How pathetic."

This wasn't right. This wasn't right at all. Zeke looked at me and he laughed. There was only one emotion on his face; amusement. The lust was gone. The want was gone. It was all gone. "Who would ever want someone like you? You're worthless, Crystal. I could find someone much better than you with a snap of a finger. In fact..." he wrapped his arm around Quinn and drew her closer. "I have one right here."

My heart twisted in my chest with a pain I'd never felt before. "So, what? You were using me then?"

"They say sex with a mate is the best out there." Zeke glanced down at Quinn. "I beg to differ. You couldn't even get that right. I should have assumed this from the beginning. You live to disappoint."

I started to protest, to defend myself, anything. Yet nothing came out. All I could do was stay rooted to my spot, watching as the two of them starting kissing in front of me again. Just like in that enclosing room with Flower, I froze.

Something strange happened next. One minute they were there, the next they had disappeared into smoke. I looked around the room, even peered out into the hall, but I was alone. "What's going on?" I asked out loud, hearing as my voice echoed along the narrow hall.

There, at the end of the hall, was a wolf staring back at me. I couldn't detect a scent, but I would always be able to distinguish who this was based on their wolf form alone. There was a clawing in my heart, how easily Zeke had put it there, but my attention had to shift to this wolf.

He turned and began running down the opposite direction of me, into a cloud of impenetrable darkness. Panicking, I raced after him. "Wait!" I cried out. The echo of my voice hurt my ears. "Don't go! Don't leave me!"

The wolf was faster than me. Donovan had always been faster than me. As I entered the darkness, I couldn't see him anymore. He vanished just as quickly as Zeke and Quinn had. By then, however, it was too late. Any direction I looked, all I could see was the darkness. All I could feel was the cold slithering against my skin.