“I… I… uh…”
I hated how confused, how hurt he sounded, but it told me that I didn’t have room to panic. I needed to be his gliding light, er…darknessin this case.
“Rowan, I need you to tell me if you’re safe. Are you away from the sunlight now?”
“Yes. I am. I, uh, closet? It’s dark.”
“That’s perfect. Can you pull some of your clothes down over you just in case? As many as you can reach. I’ll help you hang them up later, so don’t worry about the mess.”
“Uh, yeah, yeah, I can do that.”
“Perfect. Thank you, Rowan. I’m heading out my door now. I’m on my way, and I’m gonna fix it, okay?”
“Y-y-you don’t have to. I c-can make it until nightfall.”
“Absolutely not,” I said with a vehemence I didn’t expect before softening my voice. “There’s no reason to wait when I’m right here. You’re not in this alone anymore, remember? Now, once you have all those clothes on you, I want you to shut your eyes and relax, okay? You’re gonna be okay.”
“I’m gonna be okay,” he repeated dully. Fuck, I’d never heard Rowan sound like that. His voice was so flat, so listless. Every single instinct in me was screaming that I needed to get to him as quickly as possible, so I finished putting on my shoes, grabbed some duct tape, and sprinted to my car.
My baby needed me.
Fate was on my side, because not a single cop pulled me over on my way to Rowan’s, and IknewI was blowing past speed limits like they were suggestions. I turned into his tiny driveway way too fast and ended up more diagonal than actually parked, then raced to the door.
Which was locked.
Of fucking course.
I was all for the pace our relationship was going at, but I wished we were at the stage where we had exchanged keys.Fuck.As much as I hated to damage Rowan’s property, I wouldn’t let anything stand in my way—not even a heavy duty, old-fashioned door that really fit my boyfriend’s aesthetic.
“I’m almost there,” I said as calmly as I could muster, trying to exude comfort. “I’m coming, Rowan.”
I backed up on the small stoop, then kicked just under the doorknob with all the power I could muster. Once. Twice. A third time. A fourth. On the fifth, when my foot was starting to throb, the locking mechanism finally gave, the door jolting forward only to be caught on the chain.
Not a problem.
I kicked one last time, then I was in, slamming the door behind me. I grabbed his umbrella and propped it against the door to keep it closed.
I rushed through the delightfully maximalist yet classically decorated rooms, up the stairs, and down the hall to the bedroom. Sure enough, on one side of that skylight that had impressed me so much, a solid beam of light as wide as my palmwent from about two-thirds up the bed all the way down onto the carpet.
Horror lanced through me at the sight. Although I knew Rowan had survived it because he’d called me, I suddenly realized howclosehe’d come to it all ending. If that beam of light had been just a little higher or a little wider, or if he hadn’t been able to force himself awake…
With that realization came a deeper understanding of what it meant to date one of the undead. Sure, he was essentially immortal, but he was so vulnerable in ways shifters weren’t.
That was… something, all right. Something worrying, anxiety-inducing, and all around concerning that I just didn’t want to think about it.
“Naomi?”
Rowan’s voice, barely there and reedy, jolted me out of where I’d frozen in the doorway. My first impulse was to run to the closet and see if he was okay, but that would just reintroduce the light he’d fought so hard to escape from. I wasn’t sure if he had to be directly in the sunbeam for it to hurt him or if it just being in the room was enough. I still had so much to learn about my beau and his species. Really, this seemed like something all magical folks should be taught. After all, if I was exposed to silver or wolfsbane, I would hope any vampires, harpies, or anyone else there would know what to do about it.
“I’m here, Rowan, I’m here,” I called, fighting to keep the calm in my voice. I had no doubt he was panicking pretty hard, and I didn’t want to add to that despite how dire the situation was. “I’m going to get something to patch the gap so I can get you out of here safely.”
He didn’t answer, and that had my short little legs sprinting as fast as they could back down the stairs into the kitchen. It was easy enough to find some black garbage bags, but it took a bitmore rooting around to find scissors to cut the tape I’d brought. Thankfully, I found a pair in Rowan’s utility closet.
“I’m coming! I’m coming!” I called, not even sure if he could hear me. Vampire senses were better than human senses, but they weren’t on par with shifters. The real question was if he was around my level as a latent shifter.
But that question would have to wait for a more appropriate time.
I was nearly to the stairs again before I turned back to grab the stepladder in the corner of the kitchen. I was definitely going to need that.
