I smirk as I peel out of the driveway, gravel spraying behind me. The road stretches out before me, dark and winding. My heart hammers in my chest, fear and determination warring inside me.
I glance at the dashboard clock, the glowing numbers seeming to mock me with their steady countdown. Two hours and forty-five minutes until my world either implodes or I somehow defy the odds stacked against me.
I quickly input my parent's address into the car dash GPS.
The route to my childhood home is burned into my memory, a trail of ghosts and nightmares that even now makes my stomach churn. The GPS gives me two hours and sixteen minutes to get there.
Leave it to Azrael to give me barely enough time to make it, the sadistic bastard. He's playing games, toying with me like a cat with a cornered mouse.
But this mouse has claws.
I grip the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white and slam the pedal to the floor. My jaw clenched so tight I'm amazed my teeth don't crack.
Azrael wants to dance? Fine. Let's fucking dance, you twisted son of a bitch.
This game ends tonight.
One way or another, it all ends tonight.
Rhyland
91
Ipace the room like a caged animal, my muscles coiled tight with tension as I listen to the others argue through the speaker.
Something's not right.
I can feel it in my fucking bones, a sickening sense of wrongness that seeps through our bond like poison. Dani's hiding something, lying through her goddamn teeth, and it's setting every instinct I have on high alert.
Lucian catches my eye from across the table, his expression grim. He feels it, too, that unsettling sense that something's not right. It still irks me that he can sense her through their shared blood bond, a constant reminder that he's tainted what's mine. But I can't focus on that shit right now.
We end the call abruptly, leaving the others to their tasks as I make a beeline for our room. I burst through the door, eyes scanning every inch of the space for any sign of her. But she's not here. The bed is empty, the sheets cold. I notice her clothes strewn across the floor, a trail leading to the closet. She's changed, switched out her usual attire for something else entirely.
I reach through the bond, my mind seeking hers, desperate for a connection."Dani, where the fuck are you? What's going on?"I feel a flicker of her for a moment, a brief flash of her presence before I'm slammed out with a force that leaves me reeling.
What the hell?
She's never shut me out like this before, never blocked me so completely. I try again, pushing against the barrier with all my mental strength, but it's like slamming into a fucking black hole. I can't penetrate her mind—she's locked me out entirely.
I blame Lucian for that shit—teaching her all about mental fortitude. But she damn well isn't supposed to use it against me.
I growl in frustration, my hands fisting in my hair. Why is she doing this? What could possibly be so important that she'd cut me off and leave me in the dark like this?
A cold, sinking feeling settles in my gut. Whatever she's up to, whatever she's trying to hide... it's bad. Really fucking bad.
"Fuck," I growl, my heart pounding in my chest as I race downstairs. Emily, Seraphina, and Sable are lounging on the couch, their eyes widening as I storm into the room.
"Where's Dani?" I demand, my voice rough with panic.
They exchange a confused glance. Emily sits up straighter. "She said she was tired and went to bed," she says slowly, her brow furrowing.
My heart plummets to my fucking feet. I must look as wrecked as I feel because Emily's on her feet instantly, her eyes flashing in alarm. "She's not, is she?"
I shake my head, my jaw clenched so tight I feel my teeth grinding. "No. She's not."
Seraphina gasps, quickly standing.
"Damnit!" Emily snaps, her hands balling into fists. "I knew something was off. She couldn't have gotten far."
