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Not in an hour.

Not ever.

Dropping to my knees, my life ends there with hers.

I gasp awake, sweat clinging to my chest as I scramble to sit up. My feet hit the floor and my face falls into my hands as I try to calm my erratic breathing. Nausea swirls in my gut as my pulse pounds in my ears.

“Nightmare or a vision?”

I startle at Creed’s voice, quickly remembering where I am, and I turn to see him sitting on the other sofa across from me. Sighing, I wipe a hand down my face. “Both.”

“Want to talk about it?” he offers as I scrub a hand through my hair.

Do I want to talk about it? Fuck no, that feels like I’m going manifest the vision to reality if I speak it into the world, but shit, do I need to tell him about it? Fuck, yeah.

“She was dead, Creed. Dead,” I croak, my palms pressing into my eye sockets as I will the words not to be true. Fuck manifesting, I’ll do everything I can to make sure that isn’t the case.

“We won’t let it happen, Eldon,” Zane murmurs, appearing in the open doorway. He likely hasn’t slept, not that I’m surprised, and after seeing what I just saw, I don’t think I ever will again.

“It felt so real. It always does,” I admit, prying my eyes open to stop the repeat from happening on the back of my eyelids again. “It started as the raven vision always does,” I add, leaning back in my seat and rubbing my hands together. I need to get it all off my chest before I bottle it all up, which won’t be useful to anyone.

“But the ending was different?” Creed summarizes, and I shake my head.

“There wasn’t ever really an ending before. This time, there were screams of pain, visions of bloodshed, horror coating my limbs, and then her, Raven, with jet-black hair sprawled out on the ground.”

“Fuck,” the pair of them murmur in unison.

My chest grows tight. That can’t be our end. It can’t be. My lips part, but no words come out as I try to find the right thing to say. Thankfully, the alarm echoes through the house, just as it did last night and the night before, and the telltale sound of Marieta and Peta rushing down the stairs follows a moment later.

“They should be here soon,” Marieta says with a tired smile as she peeks her head around the doorframe. I nod in agreement as I push up onto my feet.

My shirt clings to me slightly as I put it on, but the hope and excitement to see Raven alive and breathing, even if only in her dream form, has me rushing toward the door.

“How do we know we can trust the shadows?” Zane asks, stepping out onto the porch first.

“We don’t,” I admit, another dose of reality tightening my throat.

“That’s not unnerving or anything,” he remarks with a lifeless chuckle.

“When you’ve lost hope in everything else, you’re willing to believe in anything. It’s a sad and harsh reality that we instinctively doubt anyone’s actions. One day, we can only hope to create a safer realm for everyone to live in,” Peta states, the strength in his words lifting me up, too.

Rolling my shoulders back, I stare at the bleakness that surrounds us until movement ahead comes into view. I would recognize those pretty pink strands anywhere.

I’m rushing toward her before anyone else can move, and no one tries to beat me to her. I silently thank my brothers for giving me this moment as I capture my little bird in my hands, pinning her tight against my chest.

Her arms circle around my neck as her legs coil around my waist. I don’t move for a second, content to stand here and breathe her in.

“Is everything okay?”

I hum into her hair, not ready to let go of her. She must sense it because her hand trails down my back, consoling me with her touch until I’m able to lighten my hold on her.

“I’m good,” I murmur when her eyes reach mine. There’s a hint of worry to her smile, and her eyebrows pinch slightly, but she doesn’t push. “I should let you greet the others, too, huh?”

Lowering her to her feet, she smiles up at me, but the determination in her eyes confirms I’m not completely off the hook; she’s just going to give me a moment to get a handle on myself.

I press a kiss against her forehead before letting her run to embrace Creed and Zane while taking a second to just watch her. Her presence alone is uplifting, and I offer another silent thank you, only this time it’s to the shadows. They brought her here, seemingly without Brax, so they held up their agreement with our shadow-seeing gargoyle even without his presence. That has to count for something… I hope.

“No Brax?” Marieta asks as I follow the others back to the house and Raven glances around to confirm he’s not here, worrying her bottom lip as she does.