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  BLINDED

  BLINDED

  Terrin Pass Pack Book 3

  COPYRIGHT

  © 2018 by E.M. Leya

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  Emma Marie Leya on Facebook

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or author. Requests for permission to copy part of this work for use in an educational environment may be directed to the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. References to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or persons or locales, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

  Edited by: Dillion B.

  Cover Art by: Sara York

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ALSO AVAILABLE FROM E.M. LEYA

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  To my beta readers, editor, cover artist, and support team, you are the best friends I could have. Thank you for being brave enough to tell me when I have it wrong or when I can do better. You are my confidence. I couldn't do this without you. Hannah, Kris, Sara, Dillion, Jesus, Carolyn, Diana, Alyson, Sarah, Stephanie, Sabella, and Cindy thank you for the time and effort you put into helping me. And to the readers who keep asking for more, a huge thank you for your support!

  CHAPTER ONE

  Brett

  It was a strange scent that woke me. An ingrained knowledge that danger was approaching. Not that it mattered, I couldn't run. I couldn't see what was coming. All I could do was try and focus through the pain that consumed my body. I tried to lift my head, but only managed to get it barely off the ground before dropping it back onto the blood-soaked dirt beneath me.

  Bears.

  The scent was strong enough that I was able to place bears. Hell, if this was how I was meant to die, so be it. It was better than being trapped and left to starve to death, which I figured was what was going to happen. At least with the bears, they would kill me quickly, consuming my body until all that was left were bones.

  As the scent grew stronger, I tried to growl, but it came out more of a whimper. I was exhausted, my wolf beaten and bloodied. As much as I wanted to stand and fight, I couldn't.

  "What the fuck?" A deep male voice said from several yards away.

  I tensed, the smell of bears becoming almost overpowering. They were shifters, like me, which meant they probably wouldn't tear my body apart and have me for an afternoon snack. Hell, I wasn't even sure what time of day it was, or even what day.

  "Jesus, who would do this?" another male voice asked.

  I wanted to know the same thing. Who the fuck did this to me? Who beat me and left me to die up here on the mountain?

  I'd come up with Bridger, my friend from college. We hadn't seen each other in over two years. He had come home to Montana to join his pack, while I'd gone back to Utah to join mine. I'd been excited for the week-long visit, but now, as I lay in the dirt beaten and blinded, I wished I'd just stayed home.

  "This one smells like Kurt's pack, but I can't place the other." One of the bears had moved closer.

  "Dead?" the other asked.

  "Yeah. Looks like his neck was slashed with a knife," one of the bears said.

  "This one is alive, but I'm not sure for how long."

  The bear's smell was strong. He was close. I tried to growl, scared to let anyone near me, but again, it came out nothing more than a whimper.

  "Can you hear us?" The bear asked.

  Again, I tried to lift my head, but didn't have the energy.

  "Damn, we've got to get them to Kurt and let his pack figure this out."

  My fear increased, but it wasn't as if I could do anything to stop them. I was so weak, so tired, and my body so broken that it really didn't matter. I was probably going to die anyway.

  "Leave the wire on his legs. It looks embedded into the bone already. I'm afraid removing it could do more damage, and he's in no condition to shift." One of the bears was right beside me. I smelled him strongly. I was lost being unable to see. It left me at a disadvantage. I wanted to tell them to kill me. Just end the pain and suffering now.

  I'd tried to shift after I woke up, but I was too weak. All I could do is lay here and wonder where Bridger was. Now I knew he was dead. Hopefully, it had been fast. Too tired to feel the grief I should, I just waited.

  A gentle hand caressed my side and I whimpered again, wanting to lash out and bite at the unfamiliar touch, but unable to.

  "Easy. If you can hear me, we're going to get you help. We'll get you to the pack doctor as soon as we get you off the mountain. My name's John and my friend is Paul. We're part of the local bear clan. We're not going to hurt you. Just try and stay calm."

  The bear's voice was soothing, but after all I'd been through I didn't dare trust anyone. I tried to shy away from the touch, but my body refused to move.

  "You got that one? I'll take this one."

  "Yeah, he won't be a problem." John ran his hand down my fur again. "I'm going to cut this wire you're caught in. It might hurt a little, but I'm trying to be as gentle as I can."

  Even if I'd wanted to fight him, I couldn't. He did something to my back legs that sent pain like fire through me. I yelped, panting as I fought to stay conscious. There wasn't an inch of me that didn't hurt, but the worst was my eyes. I could see nothing, and the pain was immense.

  "Okay, I've cut the wire, now I'm going to pick you up. I'm sorry if I hurt you, but there's no way for me to do this without causing you more pain." John slid his hand under my body, and I braced myself for more pain.

  It came fast, hitting me hard as I let out another yelp.

  I faded in and out of consciousness after that, vaguely aware we were moving, but unable to know where. All I could go by was scent, but in the bear's arms, his scent was overpowering.

  Time didn't register. We could have been moving for minutes or days and I wouldn't have been able to tell. I tried to think where we were going, but couldn't. I remembered John saying the name Kurt, but that meant nothing to me. It didn't matter anymore anyway. I was dying. I felt it. The fact that I couldn't shift was proof of how weak I was. It would be only a matter of time before my body gave out.

  "I need Cohen," John suddenly yelled.

  His scream pulled me from my thoughts, and I realized I smelled other wolves. Many of them. My pulse raced as I realized we must be at the local pack house.

  "Fuck, what happened?" a strange voice asked.

  "Found them up at Dever's Pond." John seemed to be walking up steps from the way he jostled me.

  "Jesus, get him into the med room."

  I quit trying to follow the voices and scents. There were too many of them.

  "That's Bridger," another wolf said. "I sensed his death two days ago. I'd sent several wolves out to search for him."

  John set me down on something hard. I didn't move. My fate was in the hands of the other wolves now, and if I was luc
ky, they'd put me down and end my pain.

  "Cohen, can you help him?" I smelled the scent of an alpha, his power coming over me.

  He wasn't my alpha. I was a long way from home. I wondered if anyone would tell my family I'd died here? Surely, Bridger's family would contact mine.

  I panted as new pain coursed through me. John had set me down on my leg wrong, and it was twisted beneath me.

  "Easy, my name is Cohen. I'm the Terrin Pass Pack doctor. I'm going to do all I can to help you, but it would help if you could shift."

  Did he really think I hadn't tried? I had no way of letting him know I couldn't, but he must have taken my stillness to mean it wasn't going to happen. His hands roamed over my wolf's body, and the scent of my own blood seemed to increase.

  "Okay, I'm going to try and get some of the bleeding stopped, I'm giving you something for the pain also. Maybe once you've relaxed you can shift."

  The pain started to ease quickly, and my breathing calmed. I ignored the hands that poked and prodded me, just glad to be free of the fire that had consumed my body for however long I'd been lying in the dirt.

  As the pain faded, I was able to think clearer. As hard as I tried, I couldn't remember what happened, how I'd ended up trapped. Bridger and I had been running through the forest. We were headed to the lake to play in the water and catch fish. I remembered Bridger yelping, then something hit me in the hind leg and I'd yelped as well as I fell to the ground. When I'd woken up, I couldn't see or move, and even though I could smell Bridger nearby, I didn't hear him, nor did he respond to my whines.

  "What do we have, Cohen?" The alpha was there again.

  "Jesus, I don't even know," Cohen responded. "He's been stabbed several times. Several bones are broken, it looks like he was hit with a blunt object repeatedly. I can get the bleeding stopped, and if he can shift, the bones will heal easily, but he hasn't responded to me at all other than when John first set him down, and I think that was only a response to the pain, not a cognitive response."

  "What about his eyes?" The alpha's scent got very strong as if he was leaning close.

  "Fuck, I can't fix what isn't there." Cohen sighed. "Even shifting won't help. His eyes are gone. I've managed to stop the bleeding there, but honestly, Kurt, whoever did this looks to have forcefully removed both of his eyes."

  My pulse raced as I heard what he was saying. I tried to lift my head, but barely managed to move it. I started to pant again, unable to handle the news that my eyes were missing.

  "Fuck, guess we know he can hear us," Kurt said.

  A hand pressed to my side.

  "Listen, if you can hear me, I've tried to contact Bridger's family. Hopefully, we can find out who you are. I don't recognize your scent, so I'm guessing your pack isn't from around Montana. We are going to do everything we can to help you. We'll get you through this."

  The thing was, I didn't want to pull through. I wanted to die. If I was faced with living a life blind, I didn't want to live. What kind of life would a wolf have who couldn't see? I'd be like an old, aging wolf that others had to care for. I didn't want that. It wasn't the kind of life I wanted to live.

  "Do we know who did this?" Cohen asked.

  "Not yet. I've sent wolves with John and Paul to the location. They said they smelled humans in the area, but there was no sign of anyone when they found the wolves. They'd been tied up with barbed wire and left tied to a couple of trees," Kurt informed Cohen.

  "They were darted."

  "Fuck." Kurt shook his head. "Do we know with what?"

  "Not yet, but I'll run tests. It was stuck in his right back leg. He probably jammed it deeper as he fell. I doubt Paul or John would have seen it. I haven't looked at Bridger's body yet, but I'm guessing I'll find a dart in him as well."

  Maybe that was why I couldn't think straight. I thought it was just the pain, but if I'd been drugged, that explained why I couldn't remember anything. What it didn't explain was how Bridger and I didn't smell humans or danger around us. Even at a few hundred yards, if the wind had been right, we should have noticed something.

  "Try and stay calm." Cohen's hand stroked over my side. "I need you to relax so you can try to shift. I can work all night and still not heal you the way shifting will. I know you're weak, but as soon as you feel strong enough to shift, I want you to do it."

  If I didn't shift, would I die? If so, I wasn't going to shift.

  I replayed Cohen's words in my head. 'Eyes were removed. I can't fix what isn't there'. I tried to imagine what I looked like in my wolf form with two hollow eye sockets, then thought about what I would look like as a human.

  My stomach convulsed, and without warning, my wolf vomited. I was too weak to do more than let my body do what it wanted, and wetness surrounded the area where my head rested.

  "It's okay, that's normal when you've been through trauma." Cohen's voice was so gentle as he lifted my head and started to clean up the mess I'd made.

  I wanted to tell him to let me die, but to do that I'd have to shift, then I'd heal, and they wouldn't listen to my pleas. There was no way to win. Now, with the pain eased, even if it was due to drugs, I was sure I wasn't going to die. Staying in wolf form would only prolong the pain and the injuries. My best bet was to shift, then as soon as I was able, take my own life.

  I refused to be dependent on anyone. I refused to sit around a hindrance to my pack. At least the elders earned their rest and relaxation by serving the pack the first half of their lives or longer. I wasn't even thirty yet. I hadn't done anything to earn my pack's care.

  "I'm going to go out call Bridger's family. I'm sure they felt his death, but I want to be with them when they see the body," Kurt said.

  "If I can do anything, let me know." Cohen sounded as if he was across the room.

  "I will. For now, just focus on him. I'll find out who he is and contact his pack as soon as I get the information." Kurt sighed. "Just when things were starting to get quiet around here."

  "We need to find who did this. I don't care if they are humans." Cohen sounded angry.

  "I will. I've got a call for Bayne and a few others to meet with me tonight. We'll start investigating. I've got wolves at the site now, and they'll bring back all the information they can gather."

  I heard the click of the door shutting. It was frustrating. I kept trying to look at where the sounds were coming from, at the person speaking, but there was only blackness. Why would someone take my eyes? Why would they kill Bridger, but not me? None of this made any sense.

  I took several breaths, debating if I had the energy to shift. I was stronger than I had been when they brought me in, but not much. It had to be because Cohen had controlled my bleeding.

  I whimpered, trying to mentally step forward and push my wolf back, but my wolf didn't want to move. He was scared, in protective mode, and wanted to stay in case more danger came.

  Trouble was, unless he let me step forward, I wasn't going to be any good fighting. I needed to heal, then we would be stronger, able to do what we needed to, which was end our life.

  I gave my wolf a mental shove, forcing him aside as I willed the shift. It took every bit of energy I had left, but slowly my body started to change, my wolf becoming man.

  I have no idea how long it took. I was just suddenly aware that I was a man again, and my wolf was pacing in my mind, ready to shift back at the first sign of danger. He was as confused as I was being unable to see, but I depended on his ability to scent danger, letting him forward enough that he seemed pleased to have some control.

  "There we go." Cohen sounded close. "Can you tell me your name?"

  My mouth was dry, and I licked my lips.

  "Here. Take a drink. It will help."

  Something bumped against my hand and I felt it, realizing it was a plastic cup. I didn't take the cup, but pushed myself up so I was able to sit, surprised that the pain in my body wasn't worse. Shifting helped, but I'd assumed I was so badly injured it would take longer for everything to heal
. Once I was sitting, I reached out, hoping Cohen would offer the glass again.

  He did, pushing it gently against my hand. I wrapped my hand around it, carefully bringing it to my lips. The cool water tasted good, soothing the burn that was in my throat.

  "Easy, not too much for now." Cohen tapped the cup, making me stop drinking. "Can you talk?"

  I nodded, but to be honest, I didn't know if I could. I cleared my throat. "Thank you." My voice was raspy and sounded almost pained.

  "You're welcome. I'm Cohen, the doctor for the Terrin Pass Pack."

  "Brett." I reached up to touch my face, to feel the area where my eyes should have been.

  "No, don't touch it. It's going to take some time to heal. Shifting tried to heal your eyes, but in doing so, it caused some minor bleeding. I wanted to give you a minute to get settled before I cleaned your face up and looked at the actual damage." Cohen forced my hand back to my lap. "I know it has to be scary, but we're going to get you through this."

  I shook my head. "Let me die. I heard you say the eyeballs are gone. It won't heal. I'll never see again. I don't want to depend on anyone. Just let me die." My nose suddenly started to run. I sniffed hard, lifting my hand to wipe my nose only to have Cohen grab my hand again.

  "Easy, I got you." He took something and wiped my face gently. "I'm not going to let you die, and neither will your family. As soon as we can contact them, we'll get them here for you."

  "No, I don't want anyone. Just leave me be." I shook my head.

  "Other than your eyes, you're going to heal fine. You're going to be sore for a few days, but you're going to heal."

  "Not if I can't see. What can a wolf do without their sight?" I held up my hands. "Not now, okay? Just not now." I hated how stuck I felt. I was still weak, so weak I didn't think I could stand, and even if I did, I wouldn't know where the hell I was going. I couldn't even find a bathroom to take a fucking piss if I needed to.

  "Will you lay back down and let me check your leg bones to make sure they healed correctly?"

  "Whatever." I eased back down, actually thankful to be able to relax again, but I wasn't about to tell him that. "Did I hear right? Bridger is dead?"