Page 21 of Hunted By Fear

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him to fuck off, but when I see the bright red smear on the back of my hand, I understand his look of confusion, or maybe it’s concern?

“Stay here, I’ll get Asta,” Kai says, and his voice is gentle just like it had been that night he came to my room. He’d been damn near a different person, someone whose company I didn’t actually mind.

He hesitates as if waiting for my response, but I can’t make words come. Even if I somehow managed, he wouldn’t like what I have to say anyway, because where the hell else am I going to go?

I give him a stiff nod and thank the universe that he accepts it, only to instantly regret it when he releases my wrist and moves toward the door. He glances back as he pulls the door open before tearing his eyes away and all but running from the room with inhuman speed.

The door falls closed as if in slow motion compared to how fast Kai moved. The click of the door falling back into place sounds like a bomb in my head, and my knees hit the ground hard, but I can’t feel the pain I know is there as my head throbs.

I grip my head, hoping, if nothing else, to hold it together, but as the pain continues to get worse, I can’t help but wonder if it would be better to let the pain have its way, to give in and let go.

Tears well up and roll down my face at an alarming rate, but I ignore them. I couldn’t stop them even if I tried, and it’s the least of my concerns. My nose is still running, though now I know it’s more than just the sniffles from a dark, dreary room.

I gasp and fight to breathe through the pain and blood pouring from my nose, but every breath is harder than the last.

I just want it to stop.

“You belong to me.”Rome’s voice rings out in my mind, and I don’t know if it’s a memory or if he’s here, but it’s all too much.

“No! No, no, no.” I squeeze my eyes shut, digging my fingers into my hair.

“Aeri?!” I hear someone call my name, but I can’t make myself open my eyes.

“Fuck, she’s bleeding.” Someone tries to brush my hand away, and I flinch from the contact. “And freezing.”

Their voice is familiar, and despite the fear that’s pumping through me, their touch didn’t actually hurt the way I thought it would.

“R-Rome,” I call out, trying and failing to explain what’s happening. I can’t get enough air, can’t unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth.

A low growl fills the room, as if someone let a wild animal in here, but whatever it is, I don’t care. At this point, it can eat me. I’m already in my own personal hell, and Rome won’t be letting me free anytime soon.

Panic chokes me, and I let it, welcoming the darkness if it means keeping him away.

I’d hoped it was all a dream, that I would wake up in my own bed, with my husband wrapped around me. But seeing the dark wall of the room I’ve been in for God only knows how long now tells me I’m not that lucky.

“Damn it,” I grumble as I scoot up the bed to rest against the headboard, pushing my messy hair out of my face as I go. Thankfully, it seems like someone cleaned me up, so I’m not covered in dry blood.

“You need to eat and drink.” A deep voice to my left takes me by surprise, as I didn’t realize anyone was in the room with me, and I can’t bite back the shriek that rips its way free, despite the ache of protest from my throat.

I manage to snap my mouth closed pretty quickly, but the damage is done. His face doesn’t change, but I swear I see the tiniest hint of amusement in his eyes.

The man beside the bed isn’t Bast, Talian, or the mean one, Kai, I believe his name was.

He’s tall, easily six-five, maybe even taller, but I can’t be sure. He’s wearing dress pants and a black button-up with his sleevesrolled up to his elbows and shiny dress shoes. His hair is long and black, hanging down past his shoulders with volume most girls would kill for, and… are his eyes red? I stare at him for longer than I probably should, much longer than is polite, but I can’t make myself look away, expecting it to simply be a trick of the light or something. But it’s not; his eyes really are red. Maybe it’s contacts? To go with the rest of his costume, because despite how strange his eyes seem, he also has horns and giant wings.

I’m almost positive none of the others had wings, right? That feels like something I would remember, but with the way I was feeling last time I woke, I can’t be sure. Between my panic and the pain, everything seems a little foggy, and the longer I sit here, the more confused I feel.

“Who are you?”

All playfulness is gone with my question as he moves away from the bed toward the door, without a word or so much as looking back.

“Let’s go. You can come down and eat with the rest of us, and we’ll answer your questions the best we can.”

I don’t want to.

This man—if I can even call him that—is huge and intimidating. Nothing about him screams safe, so why am I getting up?

“I’d like to call my husband.” My voice is quiet as I follow him out into the hallway, but given the way his shoulders go rigid, I’d say he must have heard me.