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Chapter Seventeen
The other times, when the visions changed, I’d seemed to be adrift. This time, I missed that floating sensation when I hit the ground hard enough to shove the air from my lungs.
Waiting around and whining wasn’t in the cards for me, though. The memories of the men as they’d suffered, as they’d faced the worst in their own heads, had me shoving to my feet. They’d all gotten unstuck as far as I knew, but what if something had gone wrong?
I mean, we were in purgatory…I had a feeling that things didn’t generally go according to plan here. I needed to see them to know we’d made all made it together.
Soft grumbling from a certain silver fox let me breathe. If Troy had made it, if he’d been able to move past his hang-ups, the others had to be close by.
From the thick mist came a dark figure, and as it neared, I recognized Hunter. He strolled as if walking on some lovely hiking trail rather than through purgatory. He paused, then stuck his hand down into the mist. When he rose, he pulled Grant to his feet.
Each person loosened my chest further. Sure, we were in the one place nothing was supposed to be, and arguably one of the most dangerous places anywhere, but I didn’t want to lose anyone on the trip there. I mean, I didn’t want to lose anyone facing Lilith, either, but someone dying before we’d even gottenherewould be a serious insult.
I hadn’t found Kase yet, though. I turned, a chill in me as I recalled the horrific sounds he’d made in the memory I saw. What if he wasstillstuck? What if something had happened, and he hadn’t made it? What if he was trapped in that horrible loop?
“Kase,” I called out, cupping my hands in front of my mouth to let my voice carry as far as possible.
“You called?”
I twisted to find him standing behind me, and I had a moment of wanting to wrap my arms around him. It was from the fear of him missing, from the memory of his I’d experienced.
I took a step forward before pausing.Right.Kase wasn’t a fan of affection like that. I dropped my arms.
A crease appeared in his cheek, as if he were charmed, before he held out a hand and beckoned me forward.
And I wasn’t about to second guess that offer. I crossed the few feet and slid my arms around him, needing to feel how solid he was, that he wasn’t the same broken man I’d heard scream.
He pressed his lips to my head and tightened his grip around me, as if maybe he needed the same reassurance.
The hug helped. Hewasthe same man I’d heard, but he’d grown since then. When what he’d suffered could have made him cold, when he could have ended up just like his maker, he’d fought it. Instead, he cared—even if it wasn’t easy to tell all the time, even if it wasn’t in the same way as others, it was still there.
Too soon, I pulled away, glancing up to meet his dark eyes.
He stared back, a quiet moment as if trying to decide whether he’d really seen me in his memories, as if he weren’t sure it wasn’t just all a dream.
He seemed to come to a decision, because he pressed his lips into a tight line.
He didn’t like his secrets out in the open?
Too fucking bad.
I turned to take in my surroundings, the mist that was heavy despite being thick enough to rise as high as I could see. Unlike hell, where there was an actual landscape, there was nothing around us but the mist. It twisted, moving as if there was a breeze despite there not being one.
My forehead itched from the mark Grant had put there, but I was too smart to wipe it off. The chill as the mist brushed my skin reminded me of when I’d choked on the mist in my sleep, of what I’d felt inside me when I’d ventured into the abyss.
I didn’t need any imagination to know how it would feel if that mark came off, and I was in no hurry to experience it in real life.
“We all made it,” I said, finally letting out a big breath.
“Seems that way,” Hunter answered as he slid an arm around my shoulders. “Good job, shadow-girl. When we get back, you might just want to consider looking at a job as an immortal therapist. Could make a killing helping stupid men past their hang ups.”
“Thanks, but I’m pretty sure that was the extent of my advice-giving skills. I much prefer being the one fucked up rather than the one fixing other people.”
“I like you being the one fucked as well,” Hunter offered with a salacious grin.
Even here, in the middle of all this, he could make me laugh.
Troy peered into the mist. “So, where to now?”
