Page 33 of Hot Vampire Next Door: Season Five

Still no pain.

Bran shifts his weight beside me.

Kelly sways on my other side.

The warmth from the metal seeps into my skin, flowing outward down my shoulders, down my arms.

It’s nothing I can’t tolerate. Maybe Rita was wrong and?—

Blinding searing pain shoots along my collarbone like a thousand tiny needles breaking my skin open, tearing the flesh nerve by nerve.

I cry out, knees buckling. Bran catches me around the waist, holding me upright, his own mental anguish etched into the fine lines between his dark brows.

He promised me he wouldn’t stop the spell.

But right now, I almost wish he would.

The pain sinks deeper, tearing through my ribs. I squirm in Bran’s grip.

The throbbing ache knots in my stomach and I have to clamp my teeth together to stop vomit from coming up.

“How much longer?” Bran asks.

Rita ignores him and takes up another handful of sand, blowing it my direction.

The pain intensifies.

I’m sobbing now, face soaked with tears.

I can’t stand on my own two feet. I can’t think. I can’t escape. I can’t do anything and?—

Kelly steps into my line of sight.

She’s blurry through the tears, but I immediately know something is wrong.

Her eyes are the same deep shade of amethyst as the Queen of the Summer Court.

“Guards!” she shouts. “Guards!”

“What the fuck,” Bran says.

“I should have known you’d betray my trust,” Kelly says, her voice hollow and raspy. “Winter Court has no honor. Guards!”

“Fuck,” Bran says. “Damien.”

“I know,” Damien says and swoops Kelly into his arms.

“Get off of me!” she shouts and fights him. But Kelly is no match for Damien.

“What is happening?” I manage to choke out just as another fresh wave of pain takes over making my toes curl.

“I think the Summer Queen is using Kelly as a conduit,” Bran says, tightening his arm around me.

“The Renshaw spell,” Damien says, bear-hugging Kelly into submission. “The link may still be open.”

“Get her somewhere she can’t get free,” Bran orders.

“Is she…” I grit my teeth as a sharp poke starts in my ribs and blooms down to my hips. “Will she be all right?”