Run To Me (Lazarus Rising #4)(43)

Jay peered at the screen on the left. Saw the still image. West must have paused the playback when Jay entered the room. “Did you really think I didn’t know you’d stuck the camera in here? I mean, come on, it was my tech.”

“You didn’t say anything,” West muttered.

A shrug was Jay’s answer. “How many times have you two already watched the video?”

“A few,” came Cecelia’s quick response. “And you’re right. Wyman was using a trigger phrase for her. ‘Time for you to bloom.’”

Jay rewound the video. Went back to the moment when Willow was standing in the doorway. “You had good placement for the camera.” She looked lost. Afraid. He played the video, and when he did, he saw Willow’s face completely change when Wyman gave the trigger phrase.

In nearly a blink of time, she was across the room. On top of Jay.

“You could have tried fighting, man,” West groused.

“No, I couldn’t. I wasn’t going to hurt her.” Silence. He looked up and found West’s gaze on him. “What?”

“Just realizing I’ve missed a few things, that’s all.” West’s lips twisted. “At least she stopped.” He motioned to the image. “You can see her expression change, right here. Cecelia and I were trying to figure out what stopped her, if you whispered something to her, if you did something—”

“She did something.” Jay rolled back his shoulders. “She broke through the guy’s power. He wanted her to fight me, but she didn’t. She had more control than he thought.” Jay’s hard stare swept both Cecelia and West. “And that’s why we aren’t locking her up. She stopped. She fought him.”

“Uh, yeah, but are you forgetting the part where she later went batshit on the porch and tried to take everyone out?”

Jay’s hand rose to rub against his chest. “If he’s her father, then it makes sense.”

West backed up a step. “Hold on, did you just say Wyman was her old man?”

Right. He hadn’t exactly filled West in on that part, not yet.

Jay glanced toward the study door. He almost expected to see Willow standing there, her expression lost. Scared. But she wasn’t there. She was in his bed. Safe.

Willow was safe.

So why did he have the feeling something bad was happening to her? He cleared his throat and turned toward his brother, “Let me tell you what I know.”

***

Willow opened her eyes. Sunlight filled the room, and soft covers were pulled over her body. She turned in the bed, reaching out—and touching Jay.

He was beside her. Warm. Strong.

A smile curved her lips, and her gaze met his. She loved his eyes. Loved the way that he looked at her.

But then his gaze flickered. Pain flashed on his handsome face. Pain. Horror. Fear.

“Willow?”

And the bed covers…the white bed covers were turning red. She shoved them out of the way and saw that he was bleeding. Stab wounds covered his stomach and chest. She started screaming. Screaming because this couldn’t be happening.

Then Willow realized that she was holding a bloody knife.





Chapter Twelve


The bedroom door flew open.

Willow blinked, shook her head, and found herself staring at Cecelia. Flynn Haddox was right behind the shrink. Of course, Flynn was always close to Cecelia.

He loved her.

“I’m sorry,” Willow whispered. “Help him.”

“Help who, Willow?” Cecelia asked her softly.

Willow’s gaze swung down, back to Jay, only…Jay wasn’t there. The covers were white again. Jay was gone, and she didn’t have a knife in her hand.

I’m losing my mind.

“Willow?” Cecelia crept closer to her. “Tell me what’s happening.”

Her heart was about to jump out of her chest. “Jay.”

“Jay went to the hospital.” It was Flynn who answered. Flynn who’d just put his body protectively in front of Cecelia’s. “He needed to question Wyman. He’ll be back soon.”

Willow wrapped the covers around her body. “Jay isn’t dead?” Her voice was a hoarse whisper.

“No.” Flynn frowned at her. “Why would you think that?”

Because she’d just seen him die. Right there, in the bed with her. Her gaze darted to the window. “Something is wrong.”

“It’s okay, Willow,” Flynn assured her quickly. “Jay is just fine.”

She shook her head. “Something is wrong with me.” Her stare slid back to him. Flynn would understand. He was like her, after all. “My mind isn’t working right. I keep having flashes, seeing things that aren’t there.”

“You had a nightmare.” That was Cecelia. Sympathetic. Warm. “Everyone has those. Nightmares are normal.”

But Flynn’s gaze had hardened. He knew nightmares for Lazarus subjects weren’t like bad dreams for regular people. They weren’t like normal people.

“I think I’m going to hurt him,” Willow confessed. She could still smell the coppery odor of the blood. Feel the knife. “And it wasn’t a nightmare.” It had been too real. She’d seen the blood. Seen Jay dying. She rose from the bed. Hurried into the bathroom and changed into fresh clothes. She didn’t look at her reflection. Willow couldn’t do it.