Chapter 159: Screaming Awake
Kayden
The first thing that came was the sound.
A sharp, echoing crack split through the air like ice fracturing beneath a heavy blade, and then, the world exploded into pain.
It tore across my face before I could even register what was happening, my head snapping to the side as the force of the impact sent me staggering.
My vision blurred instantly. For a few seconds, there was nothing but a suffocating darkness, followed by the thick, metallic taste of blood pooling in my mouth.
"Stand up!" The voice screamed at me.
My chest heaved, my breath coming in uneven, jagged stabs. My fingers trembled where they pressed against the ground—cold, unforgiving, and rough. It wasn’t ice. It was concrete.
"I said stand up!" the voice shrieked again.
A hand appeared in my blurred field of vision, grabbing my collar and yanking me upright so violently my body could barely keep up.
I slowly forced my eyes to focus on my tormentor, meeting the dark, hollow eyes of Julius.
My heart hammered against my ribs in a rhythm of pure shock. He shouldn’t be here.
What the hell was he doing here? I thought, my lungs burning as his grip tightened around my throat.
"Do you really think you could make it?" He laughed, the sound grating like sandpaper. He jabbed a thumb into my shoulder. "How could someone like you make it when I am here? The hockey world belongs to me, not someone like you!"
He didn’t wait for an answer. He swung, his fist connecting hard with my jaw. I let out a scream of pure agony, my knees buckling.
"I can... I can still play for the Avalanche..." I gasped, the words barely audible through the ringing in my ears.
The second hit came faster, harder. Blood sprayed from my lip as my head snapped back.
My body swayed dangerously before his grip tightened again—this time so hard I couldn’t even draw air.
"You still think you want to play?" he yelled, stinging my face with a sharp, degrading slap.
I shut my eyes, my hands fisting at my sides, desperately reminding myself that there was no way this was happening.
I remembered Rhys. I remembered the rescue. I remembered Rhys shoving Julius to the ground. So why was Julius still here? Why was he still breaking me?
Was this real?
"Look at you," Julius hissed, digging his fingers into my jaw and forcing my face up. "Your hockey career is over. I made sure of that, you stupid Omega."
Omega. The word hit me harder than his fist. He knew. How could he know? There was no way he could have found out about my identity like that.
"No!" I screamed, my voice cracking. "This can’t be real!" I looked around, searching for a single thing that made sense, and that’s when I saw it—the way his eyes were rolling back into his head on their own. "It’s not real," I muttered to myself, shutting my eyes tight. "None of this is real!"
"It is real! Open your eyes and listen to me!" Julius bellowed. His voice began to distort, shifting into a frightening, monstrous growl that vibrated through the very bones of my skull. I kept my eyes clamped shut, chanting under my breath like a mantra.
"Open your eyes!"
He started hitting me again, blow after blow landing on my face, but no matter how much it hurt, I refused to look.
"No, this is not real. No!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I threw my arms out to push him off, but the background shifted instantly. The building was gone and I was standing on the edge of a jagged cliff.
Before I could find my footing, Julius shoved me. I slipped backward, falling into the abyss.
I screamed, my hands clawing at the empty air, hoping to snag onto anything to stop the fall, but there was only the wind.
Above me, Julius stood at the edge, staring down with a mocking, triumphant grin.
"NO—!"
The scream tore out of my throat as I squeezed my eyes shut. The sound followed me out of the fall, dragging me through the darkness and into a sudden, blinding white light.
My eyes flew open. The overhead lights burned into my retinas as my chest heaved violently.
A fresh wave of pain crashed through my ribs so hard it knocked the air right back out of me.
A sharp, frantic sound filled the room. Beep. Beep. Beep. It was too fast, too loud, too much.
My body jerked instinctively, a broken gasp ripping from my throat as the pain intensified, spreading from my chest down my spine like liquid fire.
"Kayden—!" A familiar voice sliced through the chaos. "Hey... hey... calm down. Leo, do something! Why is he like this?"
My head shifted slightly, the smallest movement sending a wave of dizziness crashing over me. My vision was a hazy mess; I could barely make out the figures hovering over me, but I knew that voice. It belonged to him.
"Leo, what is happening to him!" Rhys shouted.
"He is entering shock. Something must have triggered a flashback," Leo responded.
Right. Julius. The dream. It had to be a dream, because there was no way I was falling and hearing Rhys’s voice.
"Should I release my pheromones? Will that calm him down?"
I didn’t hear Leo’s answer, and since I was still struggling to see, I had no idea what was happening.
But then, I felt it.
A rush of soothing pheromones flooded the air around me, seeping into my skin and quieting every jagged nerve. It was cold at first, then a wave of pure warmth that eased the fire in my chest.
I stopped thrashing.
"You are okay," Rhys muttered. I felt the weight of his forehead rest against mine. "Just breathe."
"Rhys..." I croaked his name. I could see a hazy silhouette of his dark curls. I groaned, forcing my leaden hand upward to touch him.
My fingers found his lips.
"Breathe," he whispered.
I could feel the vibration of his words against my fingertips.
"Rhys..." I tried again, my voice sounding like broken glass. "I can’t see you."
"Don’t force it." Rhys’s voice dropped, the panic replaced by a soft, steady hum that acted like a sedative. "Listen to me. Just take a deep breath, close your eyes, and when you open them again, you’ll see me."
I kept my hand over his mouth, feeling the warmth of his breath to remind myself that he was real. I followed his instructions. I shut my eyes tightly, took one deep, shaky breath, and then slowly let it out before fluttering my lids open again.
The blur began to sharpen. Two faces came into view.
Leo was on the left, waving a penlight in front of my eyes to check my pupil response. Then I looked to my right.
Rhys was there, smiling down at me with eyes that looked like they hadn’t slept in days.
"Rhys," I muttered, moving my hand from his mouth to his cheek, rubbing his jaw gently. "You’re really here."
"He is stable now," Leo said, switching off his penlight and stepping back.