“Bastards,” I muttered as I yanked my pants back up. I’d already figured out Gedeon had a thing for loading me withhis cum, that he relished the knowledge it would soak my underwear later but, apparently, Zion had decided to try it out too.
Rising to stand, I adjusted my shirt to fall properly. My stomach grumbled, betraying my hunger, and I threw my head back. My entrails had refused any meals before our ride to Ilasall, butnowthey decided to act up.
Gedeon chuckled as he tucked himself back into his pants. “My cock wasn’t enough to feed you?”
I fixed him with a glare. “I’ll bite it off next?—”
A boom like the loudest thunder I’d ever heard popped my eardrums.
A jolt and strong shaking sent me careening?—
The floor opened below me.
72
KALI
“Kali,” a voice rippled in the sea of blackness drowning me.
The waves it’d caused rocked me gently, encouraging me to return to my slumber. The glue weaving my eyelashes together begged me to sleep for longer.
“Kali, wake up.”
Something swiped down the side of my nose.
I tried to swat the annoying seaweed away, but my arm remained chained to the bottom of the sea. The sand had swallowed my limb, hardened over it, forging a shell, an armor, an underwater cage.
“Wake up—Shit.”
Nowthatsounded familiar. Like a whiff of the past. A tone I’d once known.
At least the phantom touches had left me in peace, and I could curl up and snuggle in the nest of darkness. Its presence sang a lullaby, the notes burrowing deep inside me, permeating the marrow of my bones and stilling my mind.
“Please,pleaseopen your eyes.” The voice took on a pleading note, and this time, the ripples crashed into me like a tidal wave, rousing me from my rest, sparking twinges in my flesh.
“We have to move. We can’t stay here.”
What did it mean by saying that? I didn’t want to leave this place. This was the most comfortable home I’d ever ended up in: warm, soft, cushioned, protected from all sides.
Whoever was knocking from the other side could go fuck themselves. I wasn’t going anywhere.
“Ple— Please.” The voice cracked, and so did my patience. My forehead creased as the zapping neurons in my brain began to form an image. A blurry one at that, merely a?—
“Wake up!”
A sting bloomed on my left cheek, setting my flesh aflame and stirring my rage.
Nobody disturbed my sleep.
I pushed all shreds of energy into prying my eyes open. A sliver of light assaulted my retinas, and I groaned from the burn.
Or so I’d thought. I wasn’t sure my throat functioned. Or if I had one.
“I promise everything will be okay. Just follow the sound of my voice.”
If it meant they, he, she, whatever, would leave me alone, then fine, I’d entertain them. Struggling to inhale, I squinted, hoping it would sharpen my focus.
“Yes, exactly like that. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got you.”
