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“Everything you love gets destroyed by your own hand.” My mother’s words bombard, filling me with hopelessness and dread.
I blink again and suddenly it’s me cradled in my arms, my dark eyes empty. I toss aside the bloody knife, panic making me frantic as I search for a pulse. Even though somewhere in my mind I know this is a nightmare, it doesn’t register.
There’s no pulse. I’m dead.
No. Not again. I can’t do this anymore.
The intense pain of losing a unity bond again cleaves through me. It rends my heart in two and feels like my soul is being seared by a fiery hell from my body.
I gasp and sit up, clutching my chest. Panting, I hold my arms out to ensure I’m me again. I am. My hands may be trembling, but they are mine.
What kind of dream was that?
I flip the sheets off me and run for the door.
It wasn’t a dream. It was real.
Driven by a force I don’t understand, I fling open my door and run to close the distance. My bare footsteps make no sound on the carpeted floor as I race to the end of the hall and climb the stairs to the penthouse.
Access to Sebastian’s royal suite can only be gained by the biometrically programmed elevator or from the floor of his most trusted enforcers.
Without hesitation, I throw open Sebastian’s door and race into the darkness of a suite that takes up the entire top floor of the hotel.
The leaded blinds are down to block the daylight, but I call a ball of flame to my palm to find my way to his bedroom.
On instinct more than anything else, I open that door and make my way inside. An old-fashioned oil lantern glows dimly beside his empty coffin and my heart hammers.
Where are you?
Muffled sounds off to my right draw me across the room. I listen at the door and still.
Is he sick?
Another throaty retch rips out of him, and I open the door.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asks, his voice echoing in the porcelain bowl. “Did you come to stake me in my sleep?”
I rush to the vanity and grab a facecloth. “You can be angry I invaded your space later. Right now, I need to make sure you’re all right.”
I run the velvety cloth under cool water and then ring it out.
“I don’t want you here.”
“And yet, here I am.” I kneel beside him and lift his ebony hair to place the cloth on the back of his neck. Shit. Even for a vampire, his skin is cold and clammy. Deciding cool isn’t what he needs, I run the water warm and try again.
“You need to leave.”
“When you finish throwing up, you can make me.” I gather the dark lengths of his hair and place the damp cloth across his nape.
I don’t miss the quiet groan he lets off or the way his muscles relax. It’s the same sensation I felt when we sank into the embrace of the vampire woman in the memory.
But how do I bring that up?
Maybe I should get Finn or Rune? A shiver wracks Sebastian, and he rests his head on his arm. “This is your fault.”
Of course he’d say that.
“I had things locked down until you showed up and stirred up the fucking unity bond bullshit again. Now look at me.”
