Page 131 of His Retribution

Cora is mine for always, mine forever, and I need to get my head out of my ass and into the fucking game. Fear of what could happen should not rule over my thoughts, should not consume our time together because no matter how ugly it gets at times, Cora and I have a beautiful future just waiting for us, one I have to keep fighting for without letting the fear rule over me.

I fucking get it.

"We'll need to continue the treatment in order to make sure the little one is still receiving nourishment but..." Henrich shakes his head, his stare never leaving her stomach. "But I do believe she is out of the woods and it will only be a matter of time before she wakes up."

Thank fuck for that.

Henrich continues with his exam, feels around the elaborate design for abnormalities, checks my angel’s vitals, her reflexes, and responses. Grace hooks me up to draw blood, takes enough for two treatments this time in hopes they will be the last, and just as she removes the needle from my arm, Cora's door swings open again.

"She wants to talk," Andrej growls just before his eyes dart to the bed where Henrich is covering Cora.

His gaze shifts back to me, a look of concern and bewilderment since he was only able to catch a glimpse of my light’s beautiful scar. I grin just a little and shoot him the “everything is fine but we will discuss it later” look, then arch a brow. I want to know what brought him here in a tizzy.

A tizzy for Andrej anyway, which is basically a small increase in heart rate, a faster pattern in his breathing, and an eerie darkness to his already ink black eyes.

"Joyce," he grunts. "She has agreed to talk, but under one condition."

"Which is?" I ask as I lick the bubble of blood on my arm the needle left.

Andrej's eyes shift between us again then settle on me. "She will only speak to the little one."

Of course.

Why would she make it easy on us?

Hold her vile tongue for seven days then when she decides to talk, refuse to speak to anyone except the one she stabbed into a coma.

Of fucking course.

"Since that is an impossibility at the moment"—I push up out of the chair and stretch to my full height—"perhaps that horrible bitch will settle for speaking with me."

My friend nods, obviously on the same page since he had to have known my light was still unavailable; he knows I would have immediately notified him if she woke up.

I lean down toward my angel, smooth my hand over her glossy hair, and press a kiss to her forehead. "I shall return shortly, my love. Rest, heal, come back to me." I kiss her lips, the corner of her mouth, then smile as I whisper in her ear, "The sooner you come back to me the sooner we can get started on our new home, and get back to practicing what we need to do in order to fill it with dozens of babies as precious as you."

With one more kiss to her lips and reassurance from Grace that she will stay with Cora until I return, I straighten and go right into interrogation mode.

Joyce may have thought Cora was scary, but she has seen nothing yet. That plastic bitch crossed the wrong male, no fucking doubt about it, and I'm about to make her realize what can happen when you repeatedly threaten my mate, my fucking future.

Dream Fasting

"It is time, my child."

I tilt my head toward the soft voice, the sound like a melody I've long forgotten but remember still the same. My eyes struggle to open, struggle to see the source of the voice, to see anything at all.

"You do not need your eyes to see, my child. Open your heart, free your mind. See what is beyond without sight."

Trying to focus my thoughts, focus on the voice, I follow her instructions. I open my heart, free my mind, and I see... see without sight into the beyond.

And what I see instantly fills me with so much love it's almost crushing.

A woman, a beautiful, ethereal woman with hair like mine that falls to her knees in a waterfall of waves. She's a tiny thing, maybe no more than an inch taller than me with skin just as fair as mine; although, it shimmers against her warm off-white glow, features so familiar it creates an ache in my chest.

"Ah, there she is."

The woman smiles at me then looks toward the deep voice at her side, a brassy chuckle that sends goosebumps scattering across my skin.

I can see him now, a tall, lean man with hair just as long as the woman's though it's pulled into an elaborate braid and seems to be cornflower blue. His features are sharper than hers but no less captivating, especially when I look into his eyes and see my own staring back at me.