I couldn’t stay standing there forever. I needed to wrap my arm better, change and feed Josslyn, start breakfast.
Pushing open the bathroom door, I dragged myself inside, each step a battle. By the time I cleaned the gash, I was gasping for breath, my vision doubled. Blood bloomed through the makeshift bandage before I finished knotting another strip of shirt over it. Telling myself it was only for a moment, I collapsed onto the bed. Brumous leapt up, too, and I hugged him as shivers racked me.
He licked my cheek, and I could almost hear him saying,Seri strong. And I wanted to be. Ineededto be.
Right now, I felt anythingbutstrong.
“I’m trying. I’m—” When my voice gave out, he pressed harder against my heaving chest, whining as my tears soaked his ruff. “I should’ve told you to run away that first night. You would have had a better chance in the wild than with me.”
He gently took my wrist between his teeth, and I liked to believe he was saying he wouldn’t have left me no matter what.
As I stared at the wall, nearly drowning in hopelessness, the tears kept coming.
“Please. Please, help. Just a little help,” I breathed. The wolf pup licked my face again, his tongue lapping my tears.Brummy here, I imagined him saying, and I smiled weakly. “I know, but we need more than just us, Brumous. We need a miracle.”
25. Beyond All Expectations
Seri
“Makes a man hungry.”
I jolted awake, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. The room was pitch black, the silence so heavy it pressed against my ears. My breath came in shallow gasps, and I clutched at the sheets tangled around my legs, the fabric damp with sweat.
Claudio’s taunt echoed in my head, cruel and menacing, and my stomach turned. I hated the way his words curled around my mind like smoke I couldn’t clear.
I’d tried to show Zane the memory a few hours ago, and Casimir had cautioned me this might happen. He’d even offered me a sleeping pill, but I’d settled for Koa’s honey-kissed chamomile tea instead. Now, I wished I would have taken the pill.
It hadn’t even worked; the silence shackle had kept Zane from seeing and hearing anything except a few fuzzy images and distorted sounds.
Shivering, I pulled my knees to my chest and tried to fold myself into something small and unseen. The clock on the nightstand glowed faintly: 2:03 a.m.
I knew I was at Evermere, not back on the Bell homestead. I also knew I was safe from Arabesque and Claudio. And yet…
I want my husbands.
The thought surprised me, but it felt right.
Will they mind if I go in their room?I bit my bottom lip.It’s an invasion of their privacy, but Zane said I wasn’t a bother.
And they’d understand I was scared and didn’t want to be alone, wouldn’t they? So far, they’d given me nothing but care and kindness, something I hadn’t dared hope for when I’d learned I was to be married to a vampire.
Speaking of getting married, our human wedding ceremony was tomorrow, and I was both excited and nervous. The guys had bought gold wedding bands to match mine, and I couldn’t wait to see them wearing them. They’d even agreed to dress up with me, and Zane had valiantly promised no sarcastic sayings on his shirt.
I wasn’t sure if I was ready for a wedding night. I hadn’t even kissed them on the lips yet! But the way they made me feel inside with every touch and hungry glance—
“Look at those pretty eyes. Like a cornered doe. Makes a man hungry.”Claudio’s taunt and leering eyes ruined the thought.
Makes a man hungry. Makes a man hungry. Makes a man hungry. Makes a man—
A soft whine broke through the fear spiraling in my mind, and I turned to see Brumous at the threshold of my room, his charcoal-gray fur blending into the shadows. The door was slightly ajar, just enough for him to slip in and out as he wanted. His eyes glowed faintly in the night, and I knew he was concerned.
“Just a bad dream, Brummy.”
He padded over to the bed, his steps slow and careful, as though he didn’t want to startle me. When he reached my side, he dropped his chin on the mattress, his warm breath brushing my arm.
My fingers trembled as I reached out to stroke his fur, but he took my wrist in his mouth and tugged until I sat on the edge of the bed. Then he walked back to the door, raised a paw, and pointed across the hall.
Was he telling me to go tothem? To my husbands?
