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I tried to ground myself, my eyes fluttering shut as I begged the world to stay still.
When the moment passed, I leaned into Kieran for support. “You don’t know what it means to me . . . what you’ve already done tonight. Thank you for fighting for me.” Forcing myself away, I walked backward toward downtown, keeping my eyes on the man I loved. “Nightshade.”
He dipped his head, a devastating smirk played on his lips. “Chaos.”
I turned and stepped over AJ’s body before hurrying to the streets waiting in the distance, my stomach twisting and sweat beading on my skin as I did.
I just needed to make it.
I needed to—
Shit.
I was already a couple streets away, just blocks from downtown, when I realized I could’ve asked Kieran for money . . . or taken it off AJ.
And as one block came and went . . . and then another . . . I was cursing myself more and more for not doing exactly that.
My fingers were the first to start tingling. But within minutes, my arms and legs felt heavy. When I finally made it to the main street, my entire body felt relaxed in a way that terrified me and had memories taunting me.
I’d been walking with purpose . . . I think.
Now I wasn’t sure if I was moving at all.
I jolted back when two guys were suddenly in front of me, their eyes raking over my body as their steps slowed.
My stomach rolled and bile rose in my throat as the earth shifted beneath my feet.
I’m gonna throw up.
The guys faltered, their expressions morphing into disgust like they could read my thoughts before they hurried past me.
Or . . . shit, maybe I said that out loud.
My legs buckled. I couldn’t figure out how to lock them again when my body felt so heavy.
I slammed into a wall and fell heavily to the ground, my arms sprawling out to my sides like dead weights.
“You’re mine, whore.”
“Fuck you, you’re dead,” I groaned, clawing at the memories trying to drown me.
Tremors wracked my body and I couldn’t figure out how to make my lungs work. I didn’t know how to move oxygen through my body, or if I was breathing at all.
Was this what it felt like to be Kieran when Nightshade took over?
Because it was painful.
My head fell back roughly against the wall, and I forced my heavy eyelids to open.
I wasn’t sure when they’d closed.
But there, across the street, was a black SUV.
Crouched at the back corner was a man as silent as death, watching me. A war raging in those eyes. Fear and wrath etched on his beautiful face.
How could he ever think he was a monster?
Monsters don’t fear. They don’t protect. They don’t love.
