Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
And in a flash of glowing darkness, it disintegrated into dust.
Gasps raked from the woman as the voice was silenced, and I knew the only thing she felt in its place was a hollow ache. She slumped back, still clinging to her son, who now only whimpered.
The two shackled by their shared spirit that the Kruen had tormented.
They are freed. They are freed.
Dizziness blurred my mind, the pain so great I couldn’t see. Wheezing around it, I tried to stand. To climb onto my feet. But I had no strength left. Everything I possessed had been given to them.
They were worth it. They were worth it.
I stumbled backward, and somewhere in the back of my head, I heard a scream as I crumpled to the ground.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Pax
I tossed the bags into the trunk of the car, all while I warred with the need to turn around and march back inside. I fought for the respect that Aria deserved, but I was also unable to shake the cold dread that chugged through my veins.
My spirit screamed, the call inside that bonded me to Aria refusing to let go.
It didn’t just shout.
It gripped me by the motherfucking throat.
Something was wrong.
I could sense it, the way the energy had become cloudy and dark.
Scanning the lot, my attention returned to the door, praying to find Aria walking out of it. But another moment passed, then two, and there was nothing I could do but give in to the bands I could feel stretching between us.
Fierce and unrelenting.
Beckoning me forward and urging me into action.
At my approach, the door slid open, and I stepped into the chaotic energy that whipped and whirred. I started toward the restrooms, though the crackling against my flesh persuaded me to change course and drove me deeper into the store.
Mayhem suddenly broke out, and shouts sliced through the air as random people began to scramble toward the disturbance that I felt all the way to my spirit.
My heart jumped into my throat as terror pummeled through me, and I started to run, racing through the racks and following the commotion.
A crowd was gathered at the front of the dressing rooms, and I pushed through the people who were trying to get a peek at what was going down.
“Hey.” A middle-aged man scowled as I jostled past.
“My wife is in there,” I growled, knowing it was what would get me through, even though everyone parted once they shifted enough to look at me anyway.
But the only thing I could focus on was the girl who was crumpled in a ball on the floor just inside one of the dressing rooms.
“Aria,” I wheezed. I hurried the rest of the way to her and knelt at her side.
A woman was across from her, sitting on the floor with her back pressed to the wall, her face covered in a sheen of sweat, her arms shaking as she desperately held on to an infant who whimpered in her hold.
Awareness spun.
Sickness and fear and pride collided when I realized what Aria had done.
“Aria.” Slipping an arm under her back to support her, I brushed back a lock of hair matted to her forehead. My spirit cracked when I saw blood had begun to saturate the front of her shirt.
What the hell?
“Someone call an ambulance!” an attendant shouted.
“No, she’s fine,” I grunted. I prowled around my head to find a suitable excuse. “She just gets low blood sugar, and I need to get her something to eat.”
I scooped her into my arms, hoping no one would notice the pooling red on her chest. She hadn’t put her sweatshirt back on since she’d tried on the jacket, and the only thing that covered the trauma was the thin fabric of her tee.
“She’s fine,” I grated when someone tried to push up to check on her.
I prayed to God it was true, because this was something we hadn’t dealt with before. Something unfamiliar. Something I didn’t understand.
Our lives were already an impossibility.
But Aria?
She was beyond it all.
Rising high above.
Hope and light.
Her breaths were harsh and shallow, and her body was limp, even though I could feel her shaking at her core.
My gaze landed on the woman on the floor, who stared up at us.
Shocked.
Disoriented.
Confused.
A tear streaked down her cheek, and I could feel her confused gratitude soak the atmosphere.
In acknowledgment, I gave her a jut of my chin before I began to weave back through the people who were vying for a closer look.
No doubt, most of them had gathered for the entertainment. Morbid curiosity. I knocked my elbow into some chick who had grabbed her phone to record, making it topple to the floor, tossing out a quick “Sorry.” Acting as if it were an accident.
We were fucked if someone posted about this.
If someone stopped us and started asking questions.