28. Nevin
28
NEVIN
I woke up clawing at the sheets, wrestling with the man from my dreams as he dug his fingers around my throat and squeezed. I could feel his claws burying in. I cried out and thrashed, tears wetting my cheeks.
“No! Please!” I shrieked, only stopping when my leg connected with something—no, some one —and I heard a soft, familiar, “Oof.”
“Easy, Nevin. It’s me. You’re safe.” Kace was right there at my side, flipping on the bedside lamp so that the room was bathed in light. There was no monster in this room. It was just the two of us. Me and my loving, worried mate.
I collapsed against the mattress and began to sob. “Please, don’t let Rex take me back there,” I begged. “I don’t wanna go back there! Not when I’m finally happy.”
Kace wrapped me up in his arms and held me tightly to his chest. His lips caressed the back of my neck as he hushed out, “You aren’t going anywhere, honey. You’re home and I’ll do everything within my power to keep you safe. You have my word.” He gently kissed my nape, then breathed in deeply. “Breathe with me, Nev. In and out...”
I couldn’t shut it back off, though. My nerves were strung too tightly, and even as I laid beside Kace in the darkness, even as my mate’s breathing evened out as he fell back into a peaceful slumber, my nightmares lingered. All I could see was Rex’s twisted face in my mind’s eye, leering at me with his cruel golden eyes.
I hated him.
It snowed most of the day. I sat by the window and watched the thick flakes come down, coating the ground in a blanket of white. Depression hollowed me out. I knew Kace was worried about me, but I couldn’t seem to pull myself out of my funk.
“I have an idea,” he announced, a few hours before dinnertime. I glanced up, but tugged the blankets tighter around me with a shiver. Kace didn’t take my silence for me ignoring him, though; he knew me better than that.
Instead, he flashed a smile. “How about we go to the Festival of Lights tonight? On Greymercy Square? They do it every year. It’s wonderful. We could make an evening of it, grab something to eat there.”
I frowned, puffing out my lips. What if it wasn’t safe? What if Rex was lurking right around the corner, ready to snatch me up the minute he saw me? Right now, I didn’t want to go outside again…ever.
Kace sat down beside me and placed a hand on my leg. His smile was gentle. “Nev, baby. You can’t hide in the house forever.” Tears sprang to my eyes and I quickly blinked to try and clear my vision. He squeezed my knee. “There will be a lot of people there, way too much of a crowd for Rex to make a move, and I’ll be right beside you the whole time. I won’t let you out of my sight.”
I still didn’t like the idea, but he looked so damn earnest. I hated letting him down. “You promise?”
“I promise.” He leaned over to kiss the tip of my nose, which made me giggle softly. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Kace. So much.”
So, against my better judgment, we bundled up in coats and hats and scarves and piled into Kace’s truck. He drove us into town, and he was right—the square was packed tight with people. We were lucky to find a parking spot that wasn’t two blocks away. Thank god. My poor pregnant self couldn’t handle that much walking.
My boots crunched through the snow, my gloved hand tucked inside Kace’s bigger one, as together we walked through the maze-like display of lights and decorations that the town had put up for the holidays.
We got cups of hot apple cider. A vendor was selling roasted turkey legs, so Kace and I split one, taking turns taking bites as the juices dripped down our chins.
Still, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being watched. There was a tingling at he back of my neck, and my wolf was on high-alert, warning me of danger. I even swore I caught wind of Rex’s gasoline scent at one point. Panic gripped me, but Kace was there to calm my frantic heart.
“Relax, honey,” he said, cupping my face in both of his. “It’s probably just someone’s exhaust. Everything’s okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He pressed a sweet kiss to my lips and I leaned into it, needing that comfort. When he pulled back, he smiled down at me. “Let’s go home. It’s getting cold.”
“Okay,” I agreed, more than happy to get the hell out of here.
Cozied up on the couch, wrapped in blankets with mugs of steaming hot cocoa and leftover Christmas cookies that Gracie had brought over earlier in the week, we settled in to watch a holiday Hallmark movie. The kitten curled up on my lap and purred gently.
Still, I kept catching myself stealing glances out the window, worry in my heart. Expecting to see my ex-Alpha standing there, sneering at me.
Because deep down, I knew that Rex wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted—me.