Dangerously Damaged
The Shadowed Souls Series Book Three
Abigail Cole
You can't spell Mental Health without Men.
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Avery
Meg
Avery
Wyatt
Dax
Meg
Garrett
Wyatt
Avery
Meg
Axel
Huxley
Wyatt
Avery
Meg
Avery
Axel
Wyatt
Avery
Dax
Meg
Garrett
Avery
Wyatt
Huxley
Meg
Avery
Wyatt
Dax
Meg
Avery
Sydney
Meg
Wyatt
Epilogue - Avery
Thanks!
Acknowledgement
Avery
Broken. I’m completely, utterly broken.
Slamming my palm onto the release button, I spill into the study and drop onto the rug where I watched my twin fight tooth and nail to save me. My tears pour onto the floor, my chest tearing open as I scream and rub the rough carpet with my fingertips. Blood rushing through my ears deafen me from the sounds scratching my throat raw as my anguish consumes me. She’d been right there while I watched through a screen, trapped beneath Dax’s arms. Half frozen in fear and half bucking like a bull to get to her. If I’d been stronger, if I’d struggled harder – it could have been me in the trunk of a car right now instead.
A gentle hand curls around my shoulder, jolting me from my pain long enough for fury to force its way in. I glare into Dax’s striking blue eyes, my nostrils flared, and jaw clenched as the tears continue to leak from my eyes. There’ll be no stopping them and I don’t want to. As he retracts his hand , through the sea swimming in my gaze I notice the claw marks I’ve left on his arm, blood seeps from the deep grooves and a perfect indent of my teeth in his flesh. Good.
A whirring sound outside distracts me, my heart jolting as I remember the others. I raise my hand as a beam of light passes by the window, temporarily blinding me and leaving spots in my vision as I dart for the door. My feet barely lift in time for me to make it down the staircase, only my tight grip on the bannister keeping me upright until I land on the bottom floor.
Dax is right behind me as we race across the living room and enter the kitchen to find Huxley slumped by the back door. His eyelids crack slightly before his head lolls to the side again, just like I’d seen him do on the camera feed upstairs. Ignoring the grip in my chest, I rush past him with the knowledge he can wait for assistance. Rounding the outside porch, not even seeing Axel’s still body through a lens could have prepared for the real deal.
The moon’s glow adds to his ghostly pale complexion, the line of blood trailing from his mouth glistening. Garrett is pushing all his weight onto the blood-soaked t-shirt at his lover’s mid-section, his usual easy smile a distant memory. The whirring grows louder, filling the landscape with its urgency as the spotlight finds us on the porch. The air ambulance I called from the panic room begins its descent, my hair whipping across my face as I slide to my knees beside Axel. Pushing two fingers against his neck, I search for Axel’s pulse frantically before finding its worryingly light flutter against his pasty skin.
Two paramedics jump from the helicopter before it’s even touched the sand, racing over to us with a stretcher carried between them. Their heavy footfalls on the wooden deck has me scooting back, giving the professionals room to work. A woman of my height with a brown ponytail orders Garrett not to move while her partner checks Axel’s airway with a torch before pulling an oxygen mask from his backpack. After firing a round of medical history questions at a barely responsive Garrett, the pair begin to prep Axel for moving. Pushing myself to my feet, I shift back on shaky knees and hide my sobs behind my hand.
My back collides with a solid warm body, Dax’s arms wind around me for comfort. But I don’t want it, not from him. None of this needed to happen if I had just offered myself up, no one needed to be kidnapped or hurt. And although the tiny rational part of my brain is shouting at me this isn’t Dax’s fault; I shove out of his embrace anyway. Unfortunately for him, he’s here and I will self-combust if I turn my hatred on myself where it squarely belongs.
Garrett keeps his arms straight, despite their trembling as the paramedics shift Axel’s limp body onto the stretcher. A groan escapes him with the movement which fills me with more hope than it should, his arm hanging uselessly over the edge as the stretcher is lifted into the air. Garrett releases his hold as Axel is carried away, his arms falling to his side. From this angle, I notice the dried flow of tears from his eyes to his stubbed jaw, the longing in his gaze breaking the last of my resilience. I’m desperate to run into his hold, kiss away his pain but it’s not my place. I’ve caused this.
Shifting over to him, I gently push a hand against his bare back and force him forward a step. His body flinches and his hazel eyes blink several times once they’ve landed on me, as if he didn’t realise the world still existed except for the man being carried to down the porch steps to his uncertain fate. “Go. We’ll meet you there,” I urge, pushing him another step forward. Garrett quickly assesses me, glancing up and down my body and nodding to Dax over my shoulder before lunging forward to catch up.
“I’m sorry, only family members can come with us.” The woman’s voice travels to me as the pair continue walking, clearly in a rush to get Axel the help he needs. Garrett keeps pace with them right up to the helicopter door, aiding them to lift the stretcher safely inside. The woman pulls herself up and shakes her head down at Garrett, readying to slide the door shut in his face as the propellers start to speed up once more.
“He’s my boyfriend!” Garrett’s shout is loud enough for us to hear over the growing noise, his hands fisted
