Eventually, I find my way back to a familiar road on a familiar street. I’m so close to home that I pick up the pace despite the agony. I freeze solid when I look toward my home and find it engulfed in flames.
I can do nothing but fall to my knees and watch it burn, as everything I have left turns to ash.
Chapter One
Now
DELPHI
I feellike I’m swimming through tar. Exhaustion weighs on me, begging me to give up and drift away, but there’s an annoying buzz in the back of my head that won’t let me. It pokes and scratches until it becomes impossible to ignore. My annoyance pushes further, urging me to just get this over with—whatever this is—so I can find some peace. I claw my way through the darkness, ripping at the cobwebs in my head as I get closer and closer to the surface.
Eventually, I’m floating above the thick molasses thoughts, my eyes gradually opening. The light makes me hiss as I slam them closed once more.
“Del?” I turn my head toward the gravelly voice, which is familiar. My fuzzy brain isn’t quite able to place it as it focuses on more important things like where the hell I am and what happened.
“Babe, squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”
I squeeze my hand on reflex, and hear a rush of breath, the sound of pure relief, before I feel warm lips on the back of my hand.
“Thank fuck.”
I open my eyes again, this time more slowly. Fear is starting to creep in now. What the hell happened to me? The floaty disconnect is making it hard to concentrate for long. When I manage to get my eyes fully open and keep them open, I focus on the face that goes with the voice.
My eyes fall on his scars—three jagged and torn marks that run across the left side of his face. The first one runs from his temple to just above his lip, narrowly missing his eye. The second runs from his cheekbone to his jaw, and the third skims the edge of his jaw for a couple of inches before edging down his throat. To say he was lucky is an understatement. I’ve heard dozens of stories about how he got them, from a vicious fight with a neighboring MC to tripping and falling into some kind of machinery. The real story is that he got mauled by a bear. A real-life bear tore into his face. Yet somehow he managed to walk away.
I’ve encountered so many people over the years, women especially, who grimaced or reacted with fear at the sight of the scars, like they were contagious or something. I’ve always found myself oddly curious about them. To survive something like that takes more than just courage. It takes determination and a sheer force of will to live. I don’t think I ever felt like that before. I’ve always been more of a quiet person than a fighter. I can’t say it’s a fight or flight response because I don’t run either. I have zero sense of self-preservation. If my life were a horror movie—and god knows it often resembles one—I’d be the kid who curls up under the covers, hoping the monster doesn’t see them. As I’ve gotten older, those covers have hidden me well, as my brushes with monsters seem to occur with an alarming frequency. And yet, here I am.
I wonder if my life might be like that movie, where everyone escapes death just to realize they are marked by it anyway. Andnow they’re being hunted down by it years later. It would explain why I’m in a hospital bed again.
“You still with me, Del?”
I blink. Was I ever really with him? No. Once upon a time, I thought we were friends. But that was never the case. To him, I was Snake’s old lady—nothing more, nothing less, and in the end, nothing at all.
I turn away as I feel tears gathering. Like fuck will I let this man see me cry. I swore after that night—no, I’m not going there.
“Why are you here?” I manage to choke out. Holy fuck, is that what I sound like?
“Why am I here? You…I…fuck!” I hear the chair scrape back as he stands up. I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for the door to slam as he stomps out. I jump when I feel rough hands gently cup my face.
My eyes snap open and lock on his ravaged ones. “You almost fucking died,” he whispers.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but almost doesn’t count.”
“No. Fuck that, almost is too close. Much too fucking close. Don’t you ever do that to me again.”
I laugh. I can’t help it. It bursts free before I can swallow it down. The sound of it hurts my ears. Kruger winces, his head dipping so he can press his forehead against mine.
“Don’t pretend this isn’t what you all wanted, what you all thought I deserved.”
He growls, but I can’t deal with him right now. Whatever they gave me is starting to wear off, and the pain is making itself known.
“Just go, Kruger. I’ll stay away. I won’t taint Hazel with my presence. Trust me, I don’t want anything to do with Raven Souls.”
“Del—”
“Don’t call me that! Just go. You’ve never had any issue abandoning me before, why should now be any different?”
I ignore the look of pain that flickers across his face.
