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And I hope it’s soon.
I take her by the shoulders and turn her so she can see what I’m about to say and also so I can look at her one more time before we go back to the caves.
“I’ll do whatever I can to protect Rayne. Not only for your sake but because he’s one of us now,” I sign, and I mean it. If Rayne does this, I’ll be with him. I’ll do everything I can to make sure he makes it back into Adrik’s body. I’ll treat him like I would my brothers, both because he’s earned it, and because Ann loves him.
So, him doing this will be a risk, but not a guarantee that he’ll lose his life. Which is much better than the alternative… that we just keep going until we eventually fail and everyone loses their lives.
Ann smiles, probably not aware of my thoughts, or she wouldn’t be smiling. “Thank you.”
And for some reason, I feel guilty.
FIVE
Ann
My dreams were filled with nightmares. Terrible images of losing Rayne all over again. Of losing Phantom. Of losing all the men I love. I swore I kept hearing a woman’s voice in the distance reassuring me, but I had no idea who it was or why she thought everything would be okay when I wasn’t even sure.
When I finally woke up, I felt shaky and off.How much more could I take?
We ate quickly, knowing that the sun was setting and soon we would need to be out once more, searching for moon shards and watching for more enemies. Because we didn’t just have to be aware of attacks, we had to be prepared for their sneaky shit too. If they manage to plant enough moon shards on earth, they’ll have the ability to spread the Void and take over our entire planet, turning it into a dark world of shadows, monsters, and no other life.
So, we hunt. Not just our enemies but the shards too.
“Ready?” Dusk asks as I finish putting my belongs in my bag and hoist it onto my shoulder.
I check to make sure the bag tied to my belt filled with moon shards is still there and securely attached, which it is. “As ready as I’ll ever be?”
Rayne laughs. “Ain’t that the truth!”
I smile at him. Bloodmores aren’t exactly people known for saying words like ‘ain’t,’ so I know he’s trying to make me happy. Even though nothing my men do can chase away the emptiness in my soul where Phantom was, it means a lot to me that they keep trying.
Onyx and Dusk do their best to hide any signs that we’d recently been in this cave, and then we head out into the evening. The night animals are awake, filling the air with their calls to one another, and tonight there’s at least a small sunset in the distance, painting the sky with orange.
“It’s beautiful here,” Rayne says.
Onyx signs, “We didn’t have sunsets like this in the shadow world.”
“How did anything survive?” Rayne signs back, while speaking aloud.
Onyx gives an almost-smile. “Life just has a way.”
As we start walking, picking a path at random, everyone’s eyes are on the ground. It’s not as hard for them to find moon shards now that I’m with them, because for some reason they glow when I get close, but we still don’t want to miss any. And, luckily for us, we find one right away. It glows that soft blue glow, even though it’s partially concealed under a bush.
Onyx kneels down and reveals the sliver that looks like a glowing piece of broken glass, then he stands and hands it to me. For a second, I just stare at it in disbelief. If Phantom didn’t have this one shard in his heart, he’d behimagain. And if there are too many shards on earth, the Shadow King will take this world for his own.
How can such small things ruin so many lives?
“Ann?”
I look up and realize everyone is staring at me, but it was Rayne that spoke.
“Are you okay?” He runs his hand along my back as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking.
“I’m fine,” I say, probably too quickly, then open the pouch on my belt and place the shard inside, trying to seem normal.
Rayne clears his throat, then glances at the other two men. I catch it all out of the corner of my eye, then look up at them with a frown. The shadow beasts used to do this to me when we first met, communicate silently, so I feel oddly left out. On one hand, I’m glad Rayne has been pulled into their little fold, but on the other hand, I hate that I’m not part of the silent looks.
We keep walking, but tension builds between all of us. They hang back a little, and I know damn well they’re signing to each other, even though Rayne is still learning. I can feel their emotions, and I almost curse the mate-bond between us, because without it I wouldn’t be as aware of the fact that they’re having a serious discussion without me.
