My mind was running so fast that it was hard to keep up with any thoughts or feelings. While Rune wasn’t holding me and our link wasn’t open, I always became numb and cold. I knew Rune noticed thanks to my piece of soul in him. But I had a feeling he didn’t want to pressure me into opening up.
He wanted me to go to him for help.
Since our souls merged, it was something I had to face. Because of him, I was being forced to look at my broken pieces and find what kept me from piecing myself back together. I knew I would need his help. It was a gut feeling if I knew any better.
I swallowed hard and swiped my arm up and over to over my eyes as if that would help me hide. There was so much happening. Right now, all I could feel was panic.
I didn’t want to be the victim again in any of this. And I didn’t want any more people being a casualty and caught in the crossfire.
Harper popped into my mind, and my stomach dropped. I didn’t want to lose her too. I held onto the belief and hope that Hluti and his men would keep her safe. And that nothing would happen to her.
I asked Rune earlier on our way to the home we were staying in where she and the others were. He eased my worry by saying she was in a different cabin with her mates. It didn’t really help ease anything because she was alone with them and not with me. I was a hot mess when I was pulled out of my element and into new worlds. So I would think Harper wasn’t any different, especially when she knew I was here.
What kind of friend was I if I didn’t want to be around her to make sure she was okay? I knew if I were in her position, I would want her to be around to help me not lose my shit. She would’ve been my familiarity and a lifeline.
Even though I was surrounded by Rune’s presence and comfort in his sleep, I felt exposed and raw. I was on the brink of freaking out again and running outside to find Harper.
I swallowed around the rising lump in my throat and tried to even my breathing as it picked up. Turning my head, I peeked at Rune with his eyes shut and his face relaxed in his sleep. He looked younger as he slept. There were no harsh lines by his eyes, and his lips weren’t pulled down into a frown, which I had a feeling he often wore when I wasn’t around. Looking at him, relaxed and so trusting, I found the desire to draw him.
It’d been a minute since I had drawn anything. I wasn’t any good at drawing people and stuck with sceneries. But seeing Rune relaxed with his long brown hair tousled around him and some of the locks spilling over his eye made me want to draw him.
I didn’t bring any art supplies and didn’t want to search the home for a pen and paper.
What if I never got to see him like this again? Some things happened only once. The way he looked could be the last.
My heart raced as I flicked my eyes to the darkened bedroom doorway.
As if he could hear my thoughts and feel my rising anxiety attack, his arm that was already draped over me tucked me in closer to him. He clasped me with his hand on my bare lower back.
It was like déjà vu.
Me not being able to sleep, worrying over everything, and watching him sleep.
Jesus. I kind of felt like that creepy teenage vampire watching the human teenager sleep.
I turned back over so I wasn’t staring at him and peered around the dark room.
We weren’t back in his cabin outside the city, away from the protection of Dumah and his men. Rune brought me to a beautiful home a few blocks from the Viking hall full of his clothes and a woman’s, who I assumed was mine.
But being here, in this position in this bed, felt like it had happened before and would happen again in the future. Training, fucking, then cuddling until we fell asleep.
Even though I couldn’t sleep, I was glad he could. The soft whispers were there, but I couldn’t make them out.
I looked at the large window across from me and watched the snow continue to fall from the sky, but a little faster and thicker. Moonlight spilled in through the lace curtains that hung by the window.
While I watched the beauty in silence, the night sky lit up with soft glowing lightning that showed a storm was miles away. The whispers I had been hearing increased a little more.
I bunched my eyebrows together.
I heard about lightning snow but had never seen it happen before. Which was a shocker considering I heard about it happening from others in Missouri, but I’d never been fortunate enough to see it happen.
Thunder softly rumbled—showing it was still a ways away.
My heart pounded faster from... excitement.
I slowly sat up as I gently removed Rune’s heavy arm from me. It was a struggle because even in sleep, he didn’t want to let go of me. I climbed out of bed and shuffled around in the dark to put something on and not be bare-ass naked as I looked outside.
After I slipped on clean panties and a form-fitting tank top I found in the bag I packed, I went to the window. Thankfully, it was closed so the cold air wouldn’t come in and turn the bedroom into an icebox. There weren’t any blinds like I had back home for privacy, but there were lace curtains giving us some semblance of privacy.
