53. Chapter Fifty-Three Echoes of Betrayal
Chapter Fifty-Three: Echoes of Betrayal
Maverick
I was rapidly losing consciousness, like the pins and needles feeling of a limb falling asleep, but spreading through my brain instead. I used every ounce of willpower I had within me to push myself up and off of Tess as soon as she fell into stasis. Slowly but deliberately, I half-crawled, half-fell off the bed, and fumbled through my jeans for my phone out of its pocket. It took a few tries to get hold of it. Muscles jerky and uncoordinated, I struggled to direct my finger to the sensor correctly. With my blurred, doubled vision, I worried with chilling dread that I might drop off before finishing this one last, crucial task.
We wouldn’t be safe in this room .
If we both fell into stasis, we’d be impossible to wake. If anyone found us before Lux came looking, they might panic and call an ambulance. Or even worse, an untrustworthy mage.
If not that, a hunter could find us, and if they did, they’d easily cart us away to Hell without a fight. All the while, Stone and Lux would be blissfully unaware of the nightmare we’d been running from all these years unfolding.
Finally, with Zara’s name on the screen, I jabbed at the letters, attempting to send a text as best I could. All I could manage was:
Tes n I n stasis Need 911 transfr
The moment I hit send, my fingers lost all feeling, and the phone dropped out of my clutches. It took a few attempts to pluck Tess’s T-shirt off the floor like a rigged amusement park claw machine. But once I had it, I crushed it to my chest and crawled with three limbs back into the bed.
It was a fucking miracle I managed to pull it over her head and down her body, but I knew if she ever found out my friends had phased her to the house while she was naked after our ordeal, it would only make things worse. I reached an arm around her waist, dropping my head to the pillow next to hers.
She breathed steadily without any indication of the chaos that had ripped through the room only moments earlier. A mirage of peace, a tempting fairytale my mind attempted to spin in empty, beautiful whispers. Wishing I could watch her sleep for hours more, but knowing it was impossible, I kissed her shoulder.
“We’ll be okay now, Tess. Just give me a chance to explain when you rise again.”
I knew she’d wake before me. She’d be stronger than ever, too. Her body had absorbed all my power and only needed to be in stasis to reset .
I, on the other hand, needed to build more reserves. As a Hellborne creature, in a safe and peaceful bedroom with nothing to feed on, that would require much more time.