“There’s word that he’s working with someone powerful. Very powerful. But they don’t know any names, just that they want Isa and will give anything to have her captured.”
“Jesus,” Harper said, sounding far away.
Icy dread slithered down my back, my stomach churned until I became nauseous, and my heart pounded against my chest. My pulse thundered in my ears while my breaths were loud in my head. The cold and numb I’d felt when I came back to life doubled now that I wasn’t connected to Rune for his touch to keep me here.
I couldn’t bring myself to ask him for help when he was weak and needed more help than me. And I knew I could use our soul merge to brush against his to bring myself back, but I didn’t want to concern him. I didn’t want him to use the precious energy he had left on me when I couldn’t keep my shit together for two seconds.
I hated this. Ihatedwhat was happening to me.
My head spun, and my breaths quickened, the numb creeping through my blood until I couldn’t feel my fingers or face.
The hate-filled eyes popped into my head along with his promise that he’d kill me. With it came new sharp sensations in my sides and lower back that felt exactly like when I was stabbed to death in Aaliyah’s house. It ripped the air from my lungs, and I couldn’t catch my breath. The memory of an arm hooked around my neck, holding me to a large body as I was being stabbed over and over. One twisted in my lower spine.
The wolf crest flashed in my head so quickly that it was hard to make it out before it flashed again.
It had to be the wolf king’s men or someone in his bloodline that was coming after me. They must’ve found out about me or had kept tabs, wanting to finish what he promised to do.
“This doesn’t end here, bitch.”The king’s venomous promise echoed.
Tears pooled in my eyes that I tried hard to hold back in my freak-out. I glanced at Rune and lowered my eyes to my shaking hands, holding the reins.
All the dreams with the wolf crest made sense now. The emotions I woke up to, but having no memory of what the dream was. I must’ve died in my last life with the worry that he was going to come for me. I didn’t know what killed me in my past life and was too scared to ask Rune.
I couldn’t remember if I asked him how I died... but from the little information he gave me, I died in his arms. Something about that made me sick to my stomach, and I didn’t want to upset Rune by reliving that day again.
But one thing that confused me was Estr—I had enemies. From the way everyone talked about my past self, I was well respected and loved. Adored even. How the hell did I have enemies? Who the hell would hate me so much they’d try to kill me?
I swallowed hard.
I didn’t do anything to deserve this. Not in this life that I knew, anyway. I minded my business and kept my head down. I was the one who apologized first when it wasn’t my fault. I was the one who got in the middle of two people arguing and made them see the other’s perspective while not screaming like they were doing. For god’s sake, I was the one who was a blubbering mess over animals getting hurt and people hunting deer. I was the person who pulled over to the side of the road in a wooded area to help a turtle trying to cross the road to the other side.
But I guess I didn’t know anything about gods and goddesses and the grudges they held. I couldn’t get it into my head that they would have enemies.
I only knew the Christian god—as Hluti called him. I knew God had enemies, and it was Lucifer who fell from grace and waged a war. Mom and Dad had talked about Lucifer being cunning and a good liar, but in the end, would be crushed by the heel of God because of how powerful he was.
“He’s the creator, after all,”Mom said.
Now that I knew other gods existed, I wondered if any of them were enemies of the Christian god. Was I an enemy?
My stomach dipped, and my chest squeezed through the numbness. I couldn’t think about that or toy with the idea that God would be a possible enemy. For a split second, I blacked out at the thought that God could easily wipe me from existence if he wanted to. But then came another thought that brought hope because I was still alive and here.
Rune cursed under his breath, snapping me out of my spiraling thoughts.
“I don’t know how they knew about her,” he ground out. “I only just found her.”
“But this hunt has been going on since then. My guess is they were watching you and knew from your interactions that she’s important,” Hluti said, making some sense.
A low growl rumbled in Rune’s chest at Hluti’s comment that someone might have been watching Rune with me.
It made sense, though, that if someone were watching him, they’d want to investigate the woman he kept visiting. I knew the people who were after me weren’t dumb. They stayed in the dark this whole time and managed to keep us from figuring out who they were.
My eyes widened, and my stomach dipped as I sucked in a sharp breath. I knew the others heard my quick breath, and when I turned my wide eyes to Rune’s questioning ones, I swallowed hard.
“Someone broke into my home after I met you,” I said, my voice eerily calm and lacking emotions.
He narrowed his eyes as he frowned. “You didn’t tell me this because...?”
I shook my head, guilt swamping through me, unable to find my voice for a second. If I had just told him from the beginning, then maybe we wouldn’t have been in as much of a mess as we were in now.
