Page 3 of Haunted Nightmares
“Which is what?” Orion demands before I have the chance to leave. “Notleading the Purists?Notinitiating the Uprising?Notfiguring out who the mole was, tracking down the missing members of the Counsel, or honoring my cousin in any fucking way you swore you would?”
My hands are around his throat before the thought of strangling him ever crossed my mind. “Hold your tongue or I shall hold it for you.”
The male stares up at me, his gray eyes swirling with anger and tears. “Zephyr… wouldn’t want… this for… you.”
“Who the bloody fuck do you think you are?” My grip tightens as Aries grabs my arms, trying in vain to get me to let go. “Telling me what she would want.”
“Wraith,” Aries pleads.
“Acting like you know what’s best for me.”
“Wraith, you’re hurting him.”
I lower my face toward Orion’s, my fingers digging into the flesh of his throat. “How fucking dare youspeak her name to me.”
“Wraith!” Aries yells as he shoves me, pushing me so hard I lose my balance and unintentionally let go of the male seconds from passing out. “Jesus, you asshole! We are not the enemy!”
My chest heaves as I right myself, the exertion showing how malnourished I truly am. “Everyone is the enemy, and no one is safe.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Orion coughs as he rubs his neck.
“Take from it what you will, butnevertell me how I am to handle my grief again.”
“Fuck you,” he spits. “Fuck you for saying that. You’re not the only one grieving, Wraith.”
I point a finger in his face as I catch my breath. “You knownothingof grief, nothing of mourning and the pain it creates. You have no idea what I’ve been through these last six months and?—“
Stars explode across my vision as I stumble backward, catching myself on a column moments before I would have fallen to the ground. A dull ache pulses through my jaw as I blink, my eyes refocusing on Orion as he rubs the knuckles of his right hand.
My eyes widen a bit in surprise. “Did you just fuckinghit me?”
“I did.” He nods. “And you deserved it. It’s been a long time coming, honestly, and while I know our grief over Zephyr is different, it doesn’t make mine any less valid or painful.”
I squint at him through narrowed eyes for a beat, lifting a hand to touch my jaw before I blow out a breath. “Point taken.”
“Good, because it’s time for you to get your head out of your ass.”
I chuckle morbidly as I push off the marble. “I’ll give you the bit about mourning but that’s all. I don’t need either of you, or anyone else telling me what I should or shouldn’t be doing while I wait for death.”
“God, you’re such a fucking asshole.”
“And this is somehow news to you?”
Aries rolls his eyes as Orion clenches his jaw. “No, but you have shit to do before we send you off to the other side.”
“Like what?” I scoff. “The two of you seem to be fine, Declan still works at your club and has found himself a new prick to protect. Somemusicianfrom what I gathered, and he seems to take up most of the male’s time. Outside of you three there’s no one else I would have been inclined to worry about, if I did that sort of thing anyway, so what, pray tell, is thisshitI’ve to do before I rot completely?”
Both of them just stare at me for a beat, their anger and confusion, theirhurtand worry evident in not only the expressions each male now wears but also in their thoughts. Thoughts I have no desire to hear, especially as my own begin to race yet again.
“You should listen to them,”the voice in my head snickers. “Listen to them cry and beg, let their fear fill you. It will feel so good.”
I scowl as my eyes bounce between Orion and Aries. “Quiet. I just want quiet.”
“No peace, though. None for you. None ever. There is no peace for one who murders their own mate.”
“Shut up!”Spinning from them, I start lumbering toward the street.“Why won’t you shut the fuck up?”
An image slowly starts to take shape in my mind, a vague image of a humanoid creature, a combination of many that have come before and can no longer be found.
