I wonder how different she’ll be afterward. If she’ll look the same or somehow changed. If she’ll keep her sarcastic sense of humor.
“Move, please,” Zav says and gives me a shove away that breaks me out of my thoughts.
Valen growls at Zavier and wraps his arms around me. “Watch it.”
“My mate is dying. I think Ava will survive a tiny shove,” he retorts. “A little privacy?” He glowers at the four of us.
I glance at Celine to make sure she’s okay—well, as okay as she can be—and she gives a small nod.
I grab her hand and squeeze it one last time before scurrying to one of the side rooms The penthouse suite is decorated in dark reds and blacks with luxurious fabric and shimmery wallpaper. It oozes money and has me curious about who, and what, the guys who own this place are.
Levi and Luna file in after us, and the exhaustion of the past few … hours, if I had to guess, seems to hit all of us, our shoulders sagging. Even as tired as I am, I have to resist the urge to run back and make sure Celine pulls through. But I know how intimate this moment is for them and need to respect their space.
I shut the door to try and drown out as much sound as possible. I don’t like hearing my best friend in pain.
“This is so fucked. Is everyone else okay?” The others nod. “Does anyone have any idea why Damien tucked tail and ran when Levi and Luna showed up?
“Who?” Luna asks. Her nose scrunches in confusion.
I shrug. “The big, bad villain who seems to be behind all this craziness—the copycat killings, taking Valen, you name it.” My lips part with realization. “Wait, he owned the club too. I’m sure of it.” I snap my fingers and reach for my phone before I realize I’m wearing my dress and the clutch that held my phone and ID is missing now. “I’ll have to double check that later,” I mumble. “But something bigger has to be going on here, right?” I meet Valen’s gaze. “He doesn’t just want you for funsies. He needs you—your blood or whatever—for something important.”
A scream from the other room has all our heads whipping in that direction.
“It burns!” Celine screams at the top of her lungs. “It fucking burns!”
Valen wraps a reassuring hand around the back of my neck and squeezes. “She is going to be okay.”
“No, she’s not. Being okay would mean remaining human for however much longer she wants. There’s nothing okay about this.” I close my eyes and wince at the memory of her jumping in front of me.
“I think we should go,” Valen says.
“Go where?” I laugh humorlessly. “Home? Pretend none of this ever happened?” I shake my head and fight the unshed tears burning my eyes. “We can’t just shove our heads in the sand because we seemingly got away. Heletusget away. He was scared. It’s the only explanation. But of what?” I ask, downright hysteric. “Or who?” I point to Levi.
“Me?” he asks, raising his hands innocently. “I didn’t even see this Damien guy.”
“All I know is something spooked him.” My shoulders sag. “But a guy like this is determined. He’ll come back. For all of us. And something tells me we won’t like it when he does. We need to be prepared. I need … I need to be stronger, have better control of my magic.”
Valen pulls me in against his chest in a hug. “This isn’t your fault.”
“It is, though.” I shove him off and pace a few steps away. “If I was stronger, I could’ve done something. Not just been a liability.”
“This isn’t on you,” Valen says. “I promise.”
I don’t believe him. My best friend is hurt and dying, all because of me.
Another scream echoes from the room beside us and I cover my ears, falling to my knees.
Valen mutters, “Fuck it,” and kneels on the ground beside me, pulling me into his embrace.
He holds me as I cry, and he keeps holding me long after my last tears have dried.
CHAPTER 61
AVA
It’s beena week since I last laid eyes on Celine. If Zav’s telling me the truth, then she’s still in the suite of the hotel, recovering from her change and acclimating to being a vampire. But I desperately want to see her with my own two eyes. To know she’s alive—well, undead alive—and okay.
“You need to stop moping,” Valen says. I turn to find him with Pom Pom cradled in his arms like a baby.
