Page 5 of Haunted Nightmares
“Zenlothanai,” I correct. “I was speaking with them.”
“Right…” Orion arches a brow. “And now you look like you’re about to be…”
The bile rises up my throat so quickly I barely manage to turn away from the males before it’s vacating my body, the thick black liquid like tar as I spew it all over the window of the shop to my right.
Again and again I heave, expelling the death and decay from my gut until it calms everything—including the voices—for the time being.
“Now then.” I hold my stomach as I straighten my posture, wiping my mouth and pushing my hair out of my eyes with my free hand. “What’s this about the bitch?”
“You sure you’re ok?” Orion asks as Aries walks over and says, “Dec is on the way.”
Rolling my eyes, I spit on the cement then brace myself against the brick wall. “You have my attention for the next two seconds and if you choose to waste them, that will fall on you.”
“She hasn’t exactly beenfound.”Aries reaches into his pocket and takes out a handkerchief before handing it to me. “We’re pretty sure she’s alive and on the run, and one of our people thinks she may have spotted her.”
Nowthispiques my interest.
Finding my bitch mother after months of merely praying for her death, getting my hands on her the way I did Atticus, those thoughts are rather enticing honestly, and could be enough for me tocome out of hidingfor a short while.
Maybe even bring honor to my mate briefly before the madness kills me.
It’s at least worth listening to them over.
“You said Declan is on his way?”
Both males nod.
“Smashing. The voices could use the break, I’m sure.”
Orion’s handsome face twists into a look of completewhat the hell. “You are making little to no sense.”
And I just shrug. “If you’re to fill me in on everything I’ve missed and insist on putting my limited time here to good use, you’re going to have to get used to it.”
“So you’ll help? Help us find Drusilla, and lead the Purists again?”
Pushing off the wall, I clutch my gut harder and wave my other hand dismissively. “Let us not get ahead of ourselves. There is much to discuss, much to clean. We shall start with the bitch and go from there.” With an almost genuine grin, I watch my oldest and truest friend bring his Benz to a screeching halt on the curb. “Should probably call Lorna as well, the darkness seems to be oozing from me at every turn.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Declan says as he opens the passenger door for me, a wave of the saddest relief hitting me as he does.
“That, my friend, is for me to know and no one else to find out.” I give his cheek a pat before gingerly lowering myself to the seat, my friend blinking repeatedly at my other friends—maybe,so long as I can remain tolerable in all ways—and just before he shuts my door I hear his mumbled words.
“It’s worse than I thought.”
He has no idea just how bad it truly is.
Then again, Declan was there in the beginning, and things have only spiraled from where they began. These ridiculous mood swings that accompany the exhaustion once I’ve expelled so much energy—and darkness—are nothing compared to the way I’ve unraveled.
And when Orion and Aries nod their agreement then get into the backseat, unknowingly agreeing with my internal debate, for the briefest of moments, I let my eyes drift closed and slide down the soft leather with a grunt.
It is not quiet, not peace, but the collective relief that surrounds me is enough to allow for that. Seconds without rigid tension, a moment or two without my hackles raised.
But as my eyes grow heavier, as the lids begin to feel like lead, that nightmare flashes behind them again in full-blown technicolor.
My mate burning, screaming,dying.
The memory plays on a loop, one I can’t break free from and while my closest friend drives me to the house I loathe as much as everything else on the godforsaken planet, I let it.
I let that day etch itself deeper into my mind, scarring the inside to match the outside.
