I can barely concentrate, and something is seriously wrong with Kora. I abruptly get up, my hands leaving marks on the table from how clammy they are. Ezra grabs my arm as I walk past.
“Are you okay?” He asks, and I nod to him before Mateo gets up, following me. I walk to the bathroom, wetting my face with the cool water, trying to cool down.
“Kat?” He asks, concerned.
“Yeah, I just need to lay down,” I tell him, swaying against the wall, suddenly feeling dizzy.
Mateo grabs my arm, escorting me to one of the offices before helping me down to the couch. The moment my back hits it, I lurch forward, grab the little white bin next to the desk, and throw up.
“Shit!” Mateo reacts quickly and grabs my hair back from my face, letting me heave before handing me a tissue. I wipe my mouth with it and lie back down.
“I will go get you some water,” he offers, walking out and into the hallway. He returns moments later with bottled water, and I rinse my mouth out before spitting it in the trash to rid the bile in my mouth.
Mateo passes me a can of coke, cracking it open for me.
“You sure you’re okay?” He studies me, eyes full of concern.
“Yeah, I don’t think I should have skipped breakfast,” I whimper, knowing sometimes it causes me to become nauseous.
“Just rest, I’ll come to get you when the meeting is over,” Mateo offers, helping me lie down. I nod, closing my eyes.
My head is pounding and spinning like a rave club got unleashed up there. Closing my eyes is making the feeling worse. Yet, opening them, I can barely see anything through my double vision.
“Kora?” I whisper, yet I get no reply. I feel like I am falling even though I am laying down, and it is so hot, sweat runs off me and drenches my blouse. “Ezra!” I mind link.
“Not now, Kat, having issues. I know you’re sick, just hold on a sec,” he says before I hear all hell break loose in the room beside me.
I’m so weak and dizzy, I’m afraid I’ll pass out. So I crawl off the couch and stagger back to the desk where I left the bottle of water. I try to grab it, but my double vision makes me misjudge the distance and sends me flying face first at the desk.
Nothing stops me, I bash my head into the corner of it, and a trickle of blood trails down my forehead as I hit the carpet.
Not too far off there’s the sound of arguments and fighting, but I am stuck. I can’t even get onto my hands and feet at this point. The room continues to spin like I have been locked onto one of those tilt-a-whirl rides at full speed.
I try to mind link with Mateo or Ezra, but there is no reply. Whatever is happening out there is taking all of their attention.
I get to my hands and knees and pull myself forward, crawling to the couch, swaying before I can grab onto it. I manage to fling myself back on the cushions. The door is so far away, but I have no choice. I struggle forward, forcing myself to make it. I hang onto the handle as I force it open, and I swing forward from the momentum.
Mateo stands between Alpha Andrei and Ezra, a hand on each of their chests, pushing them apart. Alpha Nicolas is screaming at both of them and Harley is sitting on a chair, with his feet kicked up and looking quite bored. I don’t understand what they were yelling about or who is in the wrong.
“Ezra?” I whimper, staggering a few more steps forward between the conference room and the office.
“Kat?” Ezra says, and I wipe my eyes trying to see when I hear a terrifying growl coming from nearby.
“Kat! Mateo, get her out of here,” Ezra orders, just as the three Alphas suddenly shift, their clothes shredding everywhere, and I don’t understand what just happened.
“Mateo now!” Ezra screams, shifting and tackling a big gray wolf as he jumps onto the table.
Maddox rips into him, and fur and blood fly everywhere when I am tackled from the side. Claws sink into my back, yet I can’t feel pain, just hear the tearing of my flesh and the weight on top of me before it is suddenly gone.
“Run, Kat, you’re in heat, get home!” Mateo roars at me as I try to pull myself up. I slip on my own blood on the floorboards in the hall.
“Kora?” I call frantically, as I rush out the door, falling face-first on the concrete. The big wolf Maddox tackled, bounding out after me, followed by a pissed-off Maddox. The big wolf pounces at me, but Maddox runs at me and knocks me out of the way. I hit the ground hard, but at least the creature hadn’t gotten me.
Finally, Kora forces the shift. Yet, I can tell she is weak. I am numb and hot, pain still doesn’t register, as we run toward the pack house.
Howls come from all around us, a mocking mix of wolves on the hunt, when Kora suddenly shifts back, leaving me face down in the dirt.
“Kora!” I shriek, getting on my hands and knees.
“Heat,” she breathes rapidly, almost panting. “I can’t help Kat, heat is in human form, not wolf form,” she breathes, trying to catch her breath. “Run, Kat, they can smell it from miles away,” she says, as I will my feet to move.
The howls continue, circling in. I thought it just made you horny, why do I feel so sick? I think.
“It’s because it’s your first heat, so you can be caught by prospective suitors.”
“Suitors? I have a Mate!” I snap. No way am I about to let one of these other wolves maul me.
“Doesn’t matter, just don’t stop,” she pants, trying to lend me what’s left of her strength.
I am on the verge of passing out, each step becoming agonizingly slower than the last, before finally, I collapse, pain ripples through my stomach and I curl into a ball on my side.