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That one sentence haunts me more than anything else.

You have no control.

“I won’t go with you!”

Fight, Emma, I think to myself. Don’t let him take the control from you.

“Open your eyes,” he commands and my body obeys, my lids blinking open. I focus on his empty hazel eyes in front of me.

“Leave me alone,” I plead.

He slaps me across the face with one hand while the other digs into my arm harder. Blood streaks down the inside of my arm.

“Never.”

“Let. Me. Go,” I demand, stronger this time.

He laughs manically and shakes his head. “I’ll never leave you alone. We will be together always. Until death do us part…”

“NO!” I scream and shoot up off the bed.

“Emma! Jesus, baby, what’s wrong?”

I look around the room and realize the only other person here is Nix.

It was a dream.

I release a breath and tears drip down my cheeks.

“Shhh, it’s okay, honey. You’re okay,” Nix coos, pulling me into his arms and rocking back and forth.

I gasp for breath as I sob and clutch Nix’s arm for dear life.

“Calm down, Em. You’re okay.”

Streak, Chance, and Tucker bust into the room, the door banging against the wall, and causing me to jump and scream again. Nix’s arms tighten around me.

“Everything okay?” Chance asks.

“Yeah, she just had a bad dream,” Nix answers.

Streak scans the room while Tucker keeps his eyes locked on me.

“All right, we’ll leave you to it,” Chance says. Streak and Chance leave the room but Tucker stays behind, watching me.

“It’s all right, Tuck. I’ve got her,” Nix assures him and after a moment, he nods.

“Love you, Em.”

All I can do is nod in return. He seems to understand and leaves the room.

“Come here, baby.” Nix lowers us back down on the bed. I rest my head on his shoulder and curl into him, needing to get as close as humanly possible.

“It was just a dream, Em. It’s not real. You are okay,” he says, stroking my hair and kissing my forehead.

“I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”