Trapped in a Tangled Web

Sanity came back to me slowely. First the actually feeling of my body, which fucking sucked. Every breath I took made me grit my teeth with pain.

Then came my hearing, which was even worse. Every single voice I heard sounded like Barney on speed.

Then, a few minutes later, my actual entire life came back at once. Sight, sound, smell...

"I swear to god, if you even breath on her and she flinches, I'll skin you alive!"

"I was just going to make sure she was still breathing, Kayd," another voice answered back softly. "She shouldn't have been out that long."

"Get away from the fucking bed!" the first voice shouted. "Fucking wow guys. If I knew you'd be so hard up to be near her, I'd have but her in my room instead of the guest room!"

"But...it's so rare! I mean, come on Kayden, be reasonable. What type of shifter smells like a million different animals, is best friends with a wolf, but is found as a human while they're hurt this bad? It's so odd!"

By then, I realized who it was that was talking, and exactly where I was.

Kayden lived with three of his brothers, all of whom I never really met. Kayden, however, I've known practically all my life.

Which was why I had no problem threatening him even as I layed there practically dying.

"Kayden, shut the fuck up before I stitch your mouth shut," I gasped out. "Your the most annoying, anal shifter that I've ever known."

Someone in the room that I didn't know gave a loud laugh. "Well I'll be damned. She does know you pretty well, bro."

Taking a wild guess, I ran through a list of names that I remembered him saying. "Parker, your no prize either. Get the fuck away from my bed before I wear your skin as a coat."

This time it was Kayden that laughed, walking towards me and smiling as soon as I opened my eyes to look at him.

"Good guess, Flame. But that was the wrong brother. That was Deryk. Parker went out to eat."

I gasped in pain when I nodded, my neck cracking painfully at the sudden movement. "Vampire, right?"

"Right," he agreed with a grin. "Now my dearest elusive friend, mind telling me why I had to drag your sorry ass out of the middle of a crowded street while you were bleeding to death?"

I bit my lip as if thinking really hard, then shook my head slowely. "Nope, I really don't."

"Flame," he growled. "I want to know why I had to practically kidnap my best fucking friend from a crowded street when she's supposed to be halfway across the fucking country!"

I rolled my eyes and bit the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming as I pushed myself up into a sitting position.

"And I want to fuck half the members of Avenged Sevenfold. We all don't get what we want, Kayd," I shot back. "If you really want to fucking help me, find a good tracker."

The entire small room went dead silent. So silent that my shallow breathing made my ears hurt.

"What do you need a tracker for, Flame?" Kayden asked softly. "You can't be going after who did this to you. It doesn't look like you faired too well the first time around."

I gave an abrupt laugh, shaking my head while holding my stomach from the pain it caused. "Fuck no. I wouldn't go near those psychotic fucks again if you payed me all the money in the Taj Mahal. I need to find a girl that's in trouble. That's all, I swear."

Kayden frowned at me, a cold hard stare that chilled me to the bone. "I know a good tracker, Flame. And I'll help you find this girl. But I swear on my life, if your lying to me, I'll kill you myself. Friend or not. Got it?"

I nodded my head and let myself fall back onto the pillow once again. "Got it, Kayd."

...............

I woke up a few hours later when the bed dipped down. A scream of protest lodged in my throat as a hand touched my shoulder softly.

Dear god, don't let me be back in that fucking place. Please!

"Flame," he whispered. "Girl, your having a nightmare. Wake up. Please?"

Gasping, my eyes flew open to stare into Kayden's concerned face.

"What baby?" he whispered. "You kept screaming about killing a baby."

My face was drenched with tears from crying in my sleep. Annoyed, I quickly wiped them away before pushing myself straight up. "Nothing. Just a bad dream," I mumbled. "Uh, did you find a tracker?"

Kayden took a deep breath before blowing it out, apperently giving up the argument before it began.

"He already found the girl you wanted. Wrote you a note with directions how to get to her place."

At my questioning gaze he added, "Some vampires can read minds. He got the name out of your head while you slept."

I nodded, accepting the answer for what it was. "Where's the note?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small envelope, handing it to me with a shrug. "That's all he gave me. And uh, there was a guy here looking for you before. Said you knew him?" he asked in more of a question than an actual statement.

"Did you get a name?" I asked slowely, fear lacing my voice.

Kayden nodded. "Said his name was Zane. That he's your husband."

HUSBAND?!? My breath began to come out as panting s I stared at Kayden.

He threw his hands up in defeat. "I told him I didnt know who he was talking about. Swear, girl. I wanted to ask you first to verify it."

A very slow growl tickled the back of my throat as I stared up sat him, my lips curled back to bare fangs that were starting to grow with my anger.

"That's the fuck that did this to me. He's a sick demented fuck that held me and my friends captive, and just happened to delude himself into thinking that rape was marriage."

Kayden's eyes went wide at that, his eyes immediately dropping from my face to my stomach. "So the baby you were dreaming about..."

"Misscarriage," I replied slowely. "Bet it right out of me."

I sighed after sitting in dead silence for a few minutes.

"It's a war, Kayd. A war that every shifter will be in on soon. A guy named Marcus Johanson is creating his own army of shifters, brainwashing them to follow his command. He tried to get me, a few of my friends, and my mate to break and follow him. Even got his son, zane, to try and break me.

They kept calling me Angela, Kayd. The girl that I need to find. I need to warn her before they find her. She needs to be prepared," I finished on a whisper. "I can't be taken back there Kayd. I don't think my mind or body would survive it."

All that time he stayed silent while I was talking. Now I saw why. Lifting my eyes up to his face finally, I couldn't help but feel my heart break when I saw tears trailing down his face.

"Why didn't you come to me for help, Flame?" he whispered.

In one quick movement he sat down and pulled me into a hug. Burying his head into my neck I could tell he was sniffing me as if to make sure that I was really there.

"Kayden, don't cry for me," I gasped out. "I'm here now. Alive. Safe. It's all good hun."

It took another few minutes until he calmed down enough to form a coherant sentence.

"I swear I'll kill him myself if he comes back here,' Kayden vowed. "I'll strangle him with his own intestines if I ever see his fucking face again."

I laughed at that, trying to break some of the murderous tention that suddenly filled him. Placing my hand on his arm gently, I kissed his cheek softly before quickly pulling back.

"That means alot to me Kayd. But right now how about just helping me out with a vehicle so I can go save the girl I was tortured in place of. Yeah?"

He let out a strangled laugh as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a set of keys.

"Hummer?" he asked, quirking his brow and smirking.

Laughing, I took the keys from his grip and stood up, patting his head like a little kid.

"In your dreams, wolfy."