Chapter Twenty-Nine
When They Call
Adreana
All around me is darkness. Fear creeps its way up my spine. I instinctively know I am not alone. Something caresses my neck, sending a full body shiver through me.
“It’s too late,” a voice whispers.
I feel the darkness wrap around me tighter, seeping into my bones and tainting my soul
“They are lost to you.”
I know this disembodied voice is talking about my men. My lovers.
“No!” I shout into the void.
“Yes,” the voice hisses in return. “You turned your back on them. Mana is done with you. And where he leads the rest will follow.”
Panic envelops me, my throat closing in on itself, making it hard to breathe.
****
I wake with a scream. Daisy makes little noises of distress beside me and I gently rub her ears. It was just a nightmare. But if that’s true, why do I still feel the darkness roiling inside me?
Swinging my legs off the edge of the pull-out couch, I start moving. My feet carry me quickly through the house I grew up in and I dress in haste. I can’t stay here.
I may have been afraid of what was happening between the five of us, but I am truly terrified of losing them. Come hell or high water, succubus, ghosts, mothers, demons, angels, or any number of godforsaken things, I now know where I belong.
I love them and they love me. And together we can conquer and survive anything.
Exiting through the front door, I take a deep breath of the fresh night air. And then I do the only thing I can think of.
I run.
Not away from what scares me. No. I run toward what I now know I can’t live without.
I run to Mana.
I run to Kaleb.
I run to Lethe.
I run to Bowen.
I only hope I’m not too late.