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My body lunges forward without thought, desperation clawing at my chest. I’m not going to make it in time. She’s too far…

Please, no. Not like this. I just need one more second. One more heartbeat.

She draws in a breath—her very last. “No!!”

Her head whips around at the sound of my voice, loud enough it cuts through the shadows’ barrier. Her eyes widen when they lock onto mine.

It’s all it takes to startle her from the dream.

My eyes spring open, sweat coating my back. I remember. I remember everything. Death had stared me in the face, but it wasn’t Rhenn I’d seen, not like I’d thought. My memory was blurred, only having small glimpses. Like he said, I remembered what the Reaper wanted me to. Flashes from the nightmare he threw me into.

Now I know the truth. The whole truth.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

RHENN

Loud banging pulls me from sleep. I wrap the pillow over my ears, trying like hell to block it out. The longer I ignore it, the louder it gets.

“Fucking fine,” I mutter, yawning as I climb out of bed. This had better be really freaking important.

The door shakes on its hinges with every thud. I open it, expecting to see some massive beast ready to plow me down. Instead, I find Sumner. Not a creature of mass destruction like the banging would suggest, still very angry, nonetheless.

She stares up at me, brows pinched together like I’m the one disturbing her.

“Any reason you’re here in the middle of the night?” I ask, three seconds from turning around and going right back to bed. It’s too late for whatever this is.

Giving no regard to my question, she shoves past me, inviting herself in.

She paces back and forth, saying nothing. Hell, she isn’t even looking at me. I’ve seen Sumner pissed, this isn’t it. She’s on a whole different level of the anger spectrum. Fuck knows why she decided to bring it to my house.

“As much as I love a good guessing game, maybe you wanna tell me why you’re here?”

Her focus snaps to me, eyes blazing with pure animosity. “No.” She shakes her head. “Don’t you dare talk to me, Rhenn.”

Okay? So, her anger is directed at me. Got it. Question is, what did I do this time?

“It’s late, Vix. I’m tired. Why don’t we hash this out in the morning?”

“Hash this out?” She laughs. “God, you are such an asshole.”

Pushing past me for the second time, she stalks into my room. I follow behind, moving quickly when I hear what sounds very much like her going through my shit. I walk into exactly that. Sumner slams the top drawer of my dresser closed, pulling open the second and shuffling through it.

“Anything in particular you’re looking for?” I ask, starting to get angry myself.

“Yes.” She shoves the drawer shut, moving to the next one. “I don’t know.”

When she finds nothing of interest, she lets out a breath, running her hand over the dresser and knocking everything off the top. The picture frame of my dad falls to the floor, the glass shattering into pieces by her feet.

I’m at her side before I even realize I’ve moved, grabbing her shoulders and slamming her into the wall. “Calm the fuck down and talk to me.”

“Don’t touch me.”

“Vixen,” I warn, my patience with her growing dangerously low.

Sumner pushes against me, trying to move me, but I’m stronger than she is.

“Were you ever going to tell me, Rhenn?”