Chapter 144: Chapter 143

Katie The memories were flooding back in lightning-fast flashes, one right after the other.

Why was this happening? When would it stop?

Suddenly, a sharp, searing pain shot up my arm, and my eyes flew oper | was still in the room with Braden, and he was still drinking my blood.

“Braden, you should stop,” | said weakly. The room was spinning now, and | was fighting to keep my eyes open. “Braden, please...”

This was how | would die. My whole life had already flashed before my eyes.

| could feel reality starting to slip away when a great crash echoed around the room. Wolves were snarling.

The sound must've startled Braden out of his blood stupor because he finally pulled away from my arm with a great rip of my flesh. | screamed as another stab of intense pain roped its way up my arm.

| collapsed onto the floor and watched as Xander and Zane snapped and growled at Braden, who was covered in my blood.

Lily was scratching ferociously at my insides. “My mates,” she said, “My mates.”

“I'm sorry, Katie,” Braden said. “You need to shift. You need to heal.”

I let go and let Lily take over, my eyes rolling back in my head as my body shifted.

And then everything went black.

| woke up to warmth on my forehead.

My eyes blinked open slowly, and there was Mason, patting my head with a towel. We were in a small bedroom with wooden walls. A small fire danced in a stove in a corner of the room.

Even with all my memories back, | didn’t recognize this place.

“Where are we?” | asked. “Where's Stella?”

“One of the Constantine hunting cabins. Stella is asleep next door,” Mason said. “We couldn’t stay at Rhiannon’s. She woke up and was super pis sed. Gabriela promised to restore all her supplies, and she...” he trailed off. “What am | saying? None of that sh it matters.”

His gaze locked on mine, the flames from the fire dancing in his dark eyes.

“Are you okay?”

wound was no longer open.

“You were able to shift before you passed out, but apparently vampire bites take longer to heal.” Mason touched the bite mark gingerly. It made me shiver. “It would’ve been poisonous to you if you weren’t a vampire already.”

| stared down at the bite. Had this unlocked my memories?

“Do you know what happened to me?” | asked Mason.

“Braden bit you. He almost killed you,” Mason said, his eyes going glassy.

So he didn’t know that everything had come back to me. G ods, how was | supposed to tell him?

“Is Braden here?” | asked. Maybe he would know why this had happened.

Mason nodded. “Gabriela has him locked up in the back room while she takes care of Xander and Zane. They passed out right after you did and haven’t woken up since. She’s freaking.out.”

fine.

| pushed myself up to sitting and swing my legs over the bed. My head felt heavy, but otherwise “I have to see him,” | said.

“He almost f ucking killed you, Katie,” Mason said. | winced at the sound of that name. Was it still mine? Had it ever been mine?

“He didn’t, Mason,” | said, placing a hand on his shoulder. 1 made him bite me. | couldn't let them take you to the Council. |

couldn't let them lock Stella away in the mansion.”

Mason’s eyes widened. His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again.

“I'll be right back,” | said, then walked straight into the room where Braden sat chained to a chair.

I “Katie, I’m so sorry,” he said as soon as he saw me. wanted to stop, | really did, | just...”

“It's okay, Braden,” | reassured him. “I begged you to do it. | knew the risks.”

| looked around the room. “Why do they have you tied up like this?”

“They think | forced you to let me drink your blood. | don’t really blame them.” He huffed out a small laugh. “That was a pretty crazy f ucking move you pulled. | knew you were wild, but not that wild, Katie.”

“It's Lanie,” | said.

Braden’s head snapped up. “I don’t understand...”

“When you bit me, all my memories came back,” | said. “You want to tell me why the hell that happened?”