Page 26

Origins. With this thought, I drifted off to sleep, lulled by Hannah's warmth and gentle breathing.

The first thing I saw was a forest, one I had never seen before and yet was eerily familiar. A deep, red sun stood high in the sky, visible through the thick canopy of trees above us. I was running, looking behind me as if something was chasing me, but I didn't see anything.Fear raced through my mind, body, and heart. Not fear for myself, fear for the female I was carrying.

Suahaana, wake up, I yelled, out of breath.Suahaana.But the female didn't stir. Her eyes were closed, and she was so still. So incredibly still.

Had I hurt her? No, impossible.

A droning sound surrounded me, becoming louder and thicker; if sound can become thicker, this one did. As thick as a blanket, making my ears pulse. It was heavy, too. Heavier than a rock and my body began to bend under the weight.

Suahaana, please. I pleaded with her to wake up as my legs betrayed me and collapsed underneath me. I moved a few more paces forward on my knees, pressing Suahaana against me. I had sworn I would protect her, and I would die keeping that oath.

The pressure was becoming stronger. I couldn't move another pace. My arms betrayed me next, letting go ofher.Suahaana. No! I screamed while blackness enveloped me from all sides, and the weight pressing down on me was getting heavier and heavier until my face hit the soft moss underneath me.

My breathing turned erratic. There was no one around us, and yet I could have sworn something heavy was sitting on me, pushing on me, until the very last of my breath left me.

She lay there, right in front of me, her face relaxed and peaceful as if she slept, but I knew better. Had known better from the moment I picked her off the ground to flee with her. My eyes moved to her outstretched arm. Filled with mating marks. Our mating marks. Immeasurable pain and misery consumed me as I watched them slowly fade both of us.

I cried out her name with my last breath, "Suahaana!"

She was the last thing I saw before my vision turned black.

HANNAH

"Suahaana!"

I woke with a start, thinking at first he had called my name. My heart was pounding relentlessly. That name! It echoed inside my chest, raising emotions I couldn't describe. My tattoos were burning like they usually did when Thrax and I parted for too many feet.

Thrax!

My still sleepy brain took a moment before I figured out that I was lying on top of him. His arms were cradling me, and this was the most comfortable place I'd ever rested on. There was something wrong, though. He was still. So still.

"Thrax?" I mumbled, still not fully awake.

Fuck, was he even breathing?

"Thrax?" This time, I not only yelled his name but placed both of my hands on his chest and pushed and pulled on him until, his eyes opened, followed by a deep groan that sounded like someone who had been underwater for too long taking a deep first breath.

"Thrax?" Concern filled me.

"Hannah?" He blinked his eyes. His black eyes appearedglazed over before he blinked a few more times, and they finally focused on me.

"What happened?" he asked, holding his head. "Frygg, that hurts."

"I don't know. You mumbled a name, and I woke, and then… I think you stopped breathing." I put my suspicions in words, not liking the thought of him juststopping breathing. Fuck, who did that?

Carefully, I climbed off him. An aching sense of loss washed through me as if I was leaving him forever rather than simply getting off him and the chair.

"What name?" He pushed out while cradling his head.

The memory of the searing pain when those tattoos spread over my body returned and how comparably cool he had taken it. That was the worst pain ofmylife, so the fact he was curled up like this for a headache made me truly start to worry.

The wandrushed through my head. The dildo healing thing. Where was it?

"Suahaana?" I tried to emulate the way he had made the name sound and failed miserably, but I did find the wand.

When I turned, Thrax was rolled into a fetal position, holding his head while breathing hard enough to move a freight train. I had no idea how the damn dildo thing worked. I should have asked Thrax at the time instead of making fun of it. There were buttons to push, which I did, hoping this wasn't some kind of laser weapon, too.

The thing vibrated slightly in my hand. Hah, my dirty mind reiterated, but I was too worried about Thrax to dive deeper into what other usages this little thing might have. I remembered him waving it up and down, so I held it against his head. The vibrating increased.