Chapter 2 #2
“Yes!” I called out as the mist disappeared along with the golden shell, the bubble’s equilibrium returning. “I don’t really understand what’s going on—”
Blackwell suddenly appeared inside, Mykia letting out a disapproving sound but allowing it.
The chaos had grown around us, but that didn’t stop the son of Hades from sweeping me into his arms and kissing me hard, having placed my father safely on the ground in the bubble.
When he pulled back, I let out a sigh and examined his black eyes that were flashing with a raging gold storm.
His hair was out of place, and the normally broody man was filled with a vicious energy that I had felt when he was buried inside of me—
Blackwell slammed his lips against mine once more. “You’re going to get yourself in trouble. Stop it.”
I liked the trouble he was talking about, especially since people kept locking me up in fucking bubbles. The least they could do was make it interesting.
I also knew that, like all my nightmares, Blackwell felt the intense need to keep me safe.
It was one I couldn’t blame him for, and I loved him all the more for it.
I knew how much he loved me, and if I hadn’t…
well, he literally wanted to impregnate me, so if that didn’t say serious, I’m not positive what would.
Another blast slammed into the bubble.
“It’s bad out there,” I said, Blackwell offering a grunt of agreement.
“And it’s about to get worse.” Zain appeared out of nowhere, slipping into the bubble.
He landed agilely on the ground, transforming mid-air from apocalyptic form, red lighting up his scars, to his more human form.
He looked more than a bit out of sorts, his shirt ripped and his breathing uneven.
The fear I saw in his neon blue eyes rocked me to my core, and I knew at that moment we had to get out of here.
His words also had Blackwell hoisting my father up and over his shoulder, Irina’s voice distantly calling for him.
The sounds of battle and the chaos made me wonder what news Zain could possibly have that would make this situation worse.
“Aerial forces—drones—minute away at most,” he said, his eyes sparking with a primal darkness that had me swearing.
Looking around, I could see that more people were joining the fight, and nightmares were being shot at…
hopefully those weren’t the new bullets.
And now that he’d mentioned it, I could hear the hum of plane engines in the distance, growing closer by the second.
We had to get the fuck away. We weren’t ready for this.
“We need a better plan and defense; we need to retreat,” I said. “Tell all of them.”
“Retreat?” Saint joined the bubble, looking confused.
“Yes. Retreat, now.” I could explain later. Hell, we’d hopefully have better technology later. We couldn’t afford—
The first missile dropped at that exact moment.
The air itself seemed to burst into flames, everyone caught off guard as the drones deployed their artillery without regard to their own soldiers’ positions.
My body was thrown back, but I was cradled by someone, the familiar pine and night air scent telling me it was Ashur.
Flames licked my skin, and I heard my men shouting as more missiles fell.
I whimpered as my vision began to fade to black, Ashur’s lips against my ear whispering ‘my moon’ the last thing I heard from the creationist terror.
Then my brain dragged me into a much happier memory, one where everyone I loved was safe and the biggest concern I had was whether or not my nightmares would find out about my feelings for them.
“Blackwell,” I admonished, a giggle slipping from my lips as I was thrown over his shoulder. “Seriously, you can’t take me away from this! I am literally hosting it!”
It was an amazing picnic I’d put together for the institute, to celebrate the start of summer. Northern Michigan didn’t have the best weather, but today had turned out both warm and sunny, and now Blackwell was trying to take me away from it.
“We aren’t playing that game,” he grumbled. I tilted my head up so I could see where he was taking me, my cheeks tinting pink at the group of nightmares that were watching us.
“Why not?” I demanded.
“Because you aren’t kissing anyone,” he growled. I rolled my eyes.
“No crap, Blackwell. It’s not a real spin the bottle game.”
“Oh, I think it was plenty real for them, considering they’re your age,” he bit out. I shook my head, secretly loving his antics, and melted into him, completely okay with him taking me over his shoulder—even if he was being an overcontrolling nightmare.
Plus, I was excited to get back to our little campout zone.
When he let me slide down his body, I turned to find my other friends spread out on the ground and at our picnic table.
Razar offered me a knowing look as I gave him a cute smile and went to sit next to him.
I could hear Zain talking to Cy about something regarding their fighting styles, and Damian was talking quietly to Blackwell, both focused on the group Blackwell had just hauled me away from. Something that totally spelled trouble.
Actually, what really spelled trouble was—
“Saint!” I hopped up and walked towards the man. He was seemingly deep in an argument with my father, who looked amused at best. I think my father was one of the only people who didn’t even entertain Saint, and it drove him a bit batty.
“I’m just saying, I think that having a graveyard here would be sort of nice.”
“Saint,” I groaned, knowing he had been over this a million times. The man turned towards me and flashed a smile.
“What?” he said, chuckling. “I need somewhere to lurk and be a reaper. Arabella, you infect every space with happiness; I can’t possibly be focused on death in our dorm.”
I snorted as he flashed me a smile and offered a pointed look to my dad. “Think about—”
“Did. Answer is no,” he responded smoothly.
I tugged Saint’s hand away, unable to help the small giggle that slipped from my lips.
“I am going to get through to him eventually,” he gritted out as I pressed into his side and let out a happy sigh, looking over everyone gathered and appearing so relaxed. Was it so wrong to want this forever?
“No, it’s not,” Saint said, brushing his lips across my temple and leaving me in shock as he stepped away. Well, shit. I had said that out loud. But then he joined the others, and I couldn’t help but let my smile grow.
Was it that easy? Was simply asking for it all I needed to do? My chest clenched. Probably not. After all, they didn’t know the truth. They didn’t know I wanted so much more than friendship.