All those years, I always thought it was petals. It was leaves. Red fucking leaves.
The crossover was among the trees. I sensed it, but right then, all I could see was red.
How many times did I tell myself I wouldn’t succumb to the vision when it came? A better question—how many times had I believed my own lies?
She might lead me to death in those woods. And still—I would follow. Her expression had always been that of seduction in the visualization, but there was only so much I could do for her as I was. Why would the vision be about pleasure when she knew I couldn’t be physically seduced? Well, I was a very willing victim who could do everything but fuck her.
But…
She told me she’d stop me in the end, and I believed she’d try.
Our fate was tied up in those trees. The last trail before our fate was sealed. I had to survive the next few hours with her to claim my prize.
Chapter Forty
Kara
Luke seemed to be in a daze as he stared ahead. Hell continued to change around us, and the direction we headed was no different. A forest of trees with red leaves beckoned us. It looked beautiful. Not more beautiful than Grim’s woods, nothing could beat the whimsical colors of my father’s world, but still… the dark pits of Hell were looking lovely.
The sky was—or what passed for one—had no sun or moon. Just a reddish glow that gave the world its light, like a dying ember refusing to go out.
I couldn’t decipher Luke’s expression—so many emotions bled through his slack jaw. Shock, tension…then something softer. Acceptance, maybe.
“Are you okay?” I asked, glancing at his expression and then to the woods again, not knowing what I should watch most.
“We’re here,” he said.
Oh.
My stomach twisted. No wonder his expression was strange. We were here. The end of the path. The place where everything was meant to change—or end.
“Come, Kitten. Let us embrace our destiny.” His hand squeezed mine—tight, sure. It felt like a squeeze of my heart instead. “Together, like I said. You’ll watch as the end comes. You’ll watch as I claim my victory.”
Deep red eyes locked on me. They felt like magnets trying to pull me in.
I swallowed, straightening my spine. Why couldn’t the longing I saw in his eyes—for the human world, for something more—ever be directed at me instead?
“You know I’ll stop you, right?” I asked, knowing the longing I felt would only break me more when the last hour came and I had to truly fight him.
He searched my face for something before saying, “I know you’ll try, Kitten, and I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
Before I revealed any more of my sorrow or fear, I faced the forest.
But then he uttered, “I smell your emotions.”
I stiffened.
He brushed my hair off my shoulder with a single claw. “Bringing out your fear in the beginning… It was never about you and everything about what I denied for so long. Now that I can smell the emotion on your skin, I fucking despise it. I’d much prefer the smell of your desire.”
I smacked his hand away. “Don’t.”
“Okay. Even before I could smell it, I loathed the scared looks you gave me.”
“Luke,” I warned.
“I thought it’d be easier to be cruel—to pretend you didn’t affect me. But you do.”
Tears pricked my eyes as I spun around. “Why are you doing this?” My voice broke. “Why now—right before I have to fight you?”
