Zuzu looks as panicked as I’m starting to feel. “Not close enough to make it. She’s right—youmustreturn for your safety.”
“You’re going back.” I take Dexter’s hand and lead him into the center of the stone ring. “Because I can’t lose you, and I need to see my dad.”
He stands there like the stubborn fucking vampire Dom he is. “You comewithme,girl, or I stay. Those are theonlytwo options. I willnotbe separated from you again.”
Noooo…actually, there’s a third option.
And I’m reasonably certain Dexter’snotgoing to like it.
35
Dexter
I love this woman,but she is about to drive me insane because she willnotquit arguing with me. I don’t understand what she doesn’t understand about this situation. Leaving her side is not an option.
I guess I need to spank her more. Maybe she enjoys the spankings too much, and I need to use my belt or a cane on her to drive the message home.
“You can’t stay, Dex. It’ll be dawn in less than an hour!”
“Then let’s leave.Now. We can return tonight once it’s dark.” I don’t want to force her to go, but I will, if I must.
“And what if wecan’treturn? I’mnotleaving here until I see my father. Maybe you’ve been alone so long you don’t remember what it feels like tonotwant to be alone, but I spent most of my life thinking he’s dead. I’mdamnsure not going to lose him, or Zuzu, before I even get them back!”
Before I can process what she’s doing, she pulls the ring off the chain, sticks it on my left ring finger, and grabs my hand. “March, mister. Go to the hotel and come back tomorrow night. We’ll be waiting here.” She spins me around to face the stones and utters that rhyming phrase. Then, she shoves me, hard, toward the outside of the stone ring.
Normally, she wouldn’t have been able to budge me an inch, much less push me off-balance. Except I’d started to turn back to her. In the process, I stumble over a rock and find myself falling backward, into air, landing hard outside the stone circle on the cold, dewy grass in what I instinctively know from the smell is my own world.
I jump up and whirl around, seeing nothing but the looming dark shapes of the stones.
I am alone.
“Eilidh!Zeuzehn!”
No answer, just the sound of the breeze swirling around me. I let out a roar and fling myself back inside the ring of stones.
Just to find myself stillhere.
Withouther.
“Dammit!Eilidh!”
If I still had a pulse, I know my heart would be hammering in my chest, my breath coming in ragged gasps.
Wait. Actually, my pulseishammering.Weird. Come to think of it, it’s been doing that a lot since Alaska. And I’m breathing, too.
Double weird.
Closing my eyes, I take a few deep, cleansing breaths and think about the phrase she chanted. I say it, chant it, spin around inside the stones and try to replicate how she said it earlier when we came through. No matter what I do, even though I feel a few strange tingles, it’s not working.
Except, problem.Massiveproblem.
She was right. It’s close to dawn, and I should’ve been sealed up in our hotel room by now. As much as I want her safely back in my arms, I can’t do anything for her if I explode into a pile of ash.
Cursing myself and my body, I experience a brief moment of panic when I can’t find the rental car key fob in my jacket, just to remember it’s in my jeans. I could blur to the hotel, but I don’t remember the exact way and need the car’s GPS. I blur back to the car, climb in, and spin the tires as I race toward town.
I’ve had close calls before in my life. The last and worst was in World War II. I found myself trapped in London during the start of the German bombings. I had been in the city on business and opted to stay there instead of risking a drive back to my estate to the north.
That was an unfortunate decision.
