Page 31

I couldn't even blame Rain for getting a little upset. Like I said, he was overprotective when it came to me and he had a good reason to be that way. I had no desire to have children, so I couldn't imagine having one and then having it stolen away from me. Then losing the rest of my family and spending years searching for my missing daughter. But I knew it had marked Rain in a way where the person he was before was dead, and he was this new person now who freaked right the fuck out when his beloved daughter took off on the back of a motorcycle when he felt like she was already under threat.

Score one for Quinton for bringing my dad into the mix and making me feel incredibly guilty. I'm sure that was the plan all along. It also didn't hurt Quinton's cause that Trenton and Simon had taken his side and were more than happy to try and guilt me into coming home.

Me:I'm fine. I'm with Ty and I'm not sure when we'll be home.

I sent the text to the group chat, and I didn't even feel bad about leaving out the details. Sometimes I needed room to breathe, and Quinton usually hated it because he always wanted to smother me. Even when things were right as rain, he wanted to smother me to death with love and all things alpha male.

If I thought for one second after my phone conversation with Adrian that I was still in danger of the Council showing up to nab me when no one else was looking, then I wouldn't have taken off with Tyson in the first place. I could be reckless with myself, but I wouldn't put Tyson in danger. Not ever. Not unless he knew we were walking into danger beforehand and wanted to go in anyways.

I pulled up Tyson's contact information again and called him one more time. Straight to voicemail yet again.

My phone started vibrating as the texts started pouring in. I didn't bother checking them because it would just be more people trying to boss me around, telling me to come home. I simply powered off my phone to save the battery in case I really needed it later, and stuffed the thing back inside my purse where it belonged.

I flung the strap over my head and shoved my arm through. If Tyson was missing, then I couldn't sit here on my ass doing nothing while I waited for him to return. I needed to go looking for him. Even though I really, really did not want to. Don't ever tell him that, though, I didn't want him to think I was a shitty friend or girlfriend.

I stood up and edged my way toward the corner of the blanket. I lifted my foot, ready to step off the blanket, but something caught my eye and my boot came back down to rest on the blanket. I crouched down and reached out with my hand. My fingers brushed gently across the white surface that, at a glance, I noticed circled all around the edge of the entire blanket.

"What the?" I whispered. I raised my fingers to my nose and sniffed. "Salt."

Most curious.

Why was there a ring of salt all around the blanket where I slept? And where the fuck was Tyson?

The front door to the church swung open and I screamed a little as I jumped.

Run,the voice inside my head screamed viciously at me.Run.

I wanted to. Really, I did. But my legs were locked in place and my body felt like a statue. One move and my brittle bones would break, the skin would slide right off my face. My breath became labored and I freaked that I might pass out.

Was this what true terror felt like?

Tyson stepped out and the door closed behind him without making a sound.

Finally, I was able to move. I sank down to my knees on the blanket and clutched at my chest. I needed Tyson to stop doing these things to me, he was going to give me a heart attack if he didn't. I pulled the strap of my purse up over my head and tossed it to the side.

"Where have you been?" I quietly demanded to know. There was something about being out here in the dark that commanded I not raise my voice for fear of waking the dead. That was, if my scream from earlier hadn't already done it.

Tyson held up the blanket in his hands like a peace offering. "It got cold out here so I went in to get us an extra blanket. I had hoped you'd stay sleeping until I got back. Sorry about that."

An acceptable answer if it were normal behavior for us to be sleeping outside beside a graveyard and not far away from where more dead bodies lay permanently in slumber.

I cocked my head to the side and pointed at the salt ring. "And the salt?" I asked in a hushed voice.

He shrugged as he carefully stepped over the salt and sat down beside me on the blanket. "You don't like ghosts so... well... maybe it's not even that you don't like them, but it's that you're deathly afraid of them." He smirked at me. "I didn't want anything to eat you while I was gone. Hence the salt."

GoodfuckingGod.

My eyes rounded in horror as I frantically searched the clearing for ghosts. The clearing was entirely empty and appeared to be a ghost free zone. That didn't mean they weren't out there lurking, just waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Tyson wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side. He was much warmer than I was. He had more body than I did, and therefore gave off more body heat. It was also a witch thing.

He spread the blanket out over top of us, this one a thick, flannel sleeping bag, and we lay back on the blanket beneath us. Tyson pulled the sleeping bag up to our chests and I turned on my side, snuggling into him. My head rested on his shoulder and I slid my arm around his middle. Ty's arms slid down. One wrapped around my back and his palm rested over my ribs, just below my breasts. His other crossed over his body to rest on my hip.

Looked like we were camping out here for the night. It was a lot less scary when I wasn't all alone.

"Have you ever seen a ghost before?" I asked him in a quiet voice. I wasn't so sure I really wanted him to answer, because I feared it would only be further proof that ghosts were, in fact, very real.

I could live without that. Ignorance was bliss and all that jazz.