Rolling her eyes at me, her attention went back to skating. I let the ice spread every time she glided further out onto the lake. Soon, all the water was solidified.
That beam she gave me made surprising her worth it.
This was nothing, I told myself. There wasn’t anything wrong with me giving the girl what she wanted even if I got her smiles. In two days, she’d be gone and safe from me, anyway.
Wrath slithered up my spine, spreading hatred though me. I crossed my arms and observed the happiness on her face instead of focusing on the parts of me I had no control over. Her bright gaze and upturned lips as she moved across the frozen water only seemed to make my sin worse, though.
It was a reminder of why I didn’t do these things. I was too dangerous for anyone to be around.
Good thing Sebastian wasn’t there. He would say something stupid like I was trying to impress her. Thinking about him, I whipped my head around worried he’d magically pop up from behind a tree, but he wasn’t home. I didn’t sense his essence close by either. Most likely he was preventing kidnappings for the human festival like I should be doing.
The reminder darkened my mood.
Gwendolyn’s laugh caught my ear, and I saw her spinning around. How could she be so carefree? She knew her fate, yet she was so reckless. Maybe that was the reason I was drawn to her. I remembered the feeling of being reckless and fun as a kid. Before the Devil cursed me, I had been a real heathen—always getting into trouble. I’d seen glimpses of Gwendolyn’s past to know that she was a good person, but somewhat of a troublemaker all the same. Only I didn’t dare risk being foolhardy anymore, not when everything pissed me off. People died if I raged out. Watching her twirling on the ice brought me a moment of bliss.
Her dimples were showing.
Cute.
I could find a few more minutes to give a dying person the happiness she sought. Even in her flannelled pajamas, she was a pretty girl.
Chatty, flirty, and cute.
Something warm and serene settled in my chest.
Attached. Fucking Hades. I was already devoted to her.
And, I suddenly realized how dangerous adorable things could be. I was smiling, or at least my mouth was curved in a way that felt like I was. An odd combination of wonder and want collided inside me.
Rage burst free and crawled over my skin. The warmth that burned within me grew brighter until it was something more. Heat descended over my stomach, and my cock hardened.
Fucking dimples.
Red flannel and dimples were having a wild effect on me.
The enticing sensation paused when I saw Gwen gasping for air. Although she was in the center of the lake, I could hear her irregular heartbeat thumping like a hobbled gait in my ear.
She’d had enough.
I grabbed her oxygen and faded right on time. As I reappeared in front of her, she fell into my arms. Panting, she grinned up at me. I glared back. “Time to go.”
“No,” she murmured.
I didn’t give in. Instead, I narrowed my eyes and set my chin. She got the message and picked up the cannula and placed it in her nostrils. Slowly, she inhaled the oxygen and rested her head on my chest as I faded us to the hospital.
We were only at the lake for a few minutes, but her body wouldn’t allow for much more. Glancing at her blue lips and frown, I suspected the human would let herself die skating rather than be stuck in a bed.
“Gwendolyn!” A woman rushed toward us. Helen Pattison, Gwen’s foster mother, slipped through me and gripped Gwen’s shoulders. “Where have you been? The nurse said he just left your room a few minutes ago.” She palmed her forehead and gasped. “You’re burning up! Oh, look at your lips! You haven’t been using the oxygen, have you?”
“I’m fine.” Gwendolyn smiled and pushed Helen’s hands away.
“Gwen!” Helen hissed. “This is your life you’re jeopardizing. Can’t you follow the rules for a change? You’re not supposed to get up. It strains your heart.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have told Ms. Reckless about her death. Taking her to skate might have shortened her life by hours.
All the same, dying would still be the same for her. Studying the smirk on Gwendolyn’s expression gave me the impression that a few hours didn’t matter to her if she was stuck in there.
I could respect her courage and outlook on living even if it was foolish.
I needed to go. If I glanced at my phone, I was sure I’d find a dozen messages from Payne with coordinates for potential portal openings. Gwendolyn’s life would be over soon while all the ones kidnapped for the human festival had the chance for a future. I didn’t know why I had to acknowledge that truth. For some reason, it was hard to just walk away.
Nodding once at Gwendolyn who watched me through thick lashes as her mother rambled on and on, I turned.
“Wait!” Her voice was weak, but her grip on my cloak was strong for a dying girl. “Don’t go.”
“In two days, I’ll come for you,” I promised.
I never looked around to see her expression, but I wondered if chills spread down her spine. Her days were numbered. Did she truly not care of dying?
“Take me with you,” she said.
I stopped but didn’t know why I did. I wouldn’t take her anywhere, but my feet froze. Something odd happened. My heart twisted. Something happened to me. Changed me. Her name was Gwendolyn.
“Who are you talking to?” Helen asked. “Gwendolyn! Doctor!”
I stiffened, not wanting to see her condition worsening. Her time of death hadn’t changed.
With a deep breath, I stepped into the hall but halted again, a dark sensation causing my skin to prickle.
I sensed something that wasn’t human. An ominous presence similar to witches or werewolves. I glanced around but detected nothing out of the ordinary. Did I imagine that peculiar aura? I peeked at the door to Gwendolyn’s room. Maybe it was me.
And my strange reluctance to part from the hospital.
Or her.
The short time I’d spent with a dying human had done something to my brain. I had to remind myself again about all the lives at stake.
Finally, I left.
And the promise I made to her would be a lie. Even when I knew I shouldn’t, I would come back to her before she died.
Chapter 6
Gwendolyn
So, there was agony in death.
Maybe not the moment you died, but the process of slowly dying hurt. A lot.
I remembered the Reaper leaving. Nothing else after that. I probably passed out. All right, I knew I did since I’d been fading in and out of consciousness since he brought me back to the hospital. Pain shot through my chest since there wasn’t any oxygen going to my lungs while I skated. That’s what it had felt like, anyway. Only there must have been because I was alive, but it wasn’t enough and that was torture. Constantly gasping for more… I didn’t seem alive any longer.
Yet lifting my head from the pillow when I regained consciousness told me enough. Helen stepped out of my room, and I rested my eyes for a second even though I hadn’t been awake long. She blamed my current state on the fact that I never listened nor wore my oxygen much. But I saw it in differently. I was dying, and that was that. No amount of lying in that bed would have saved me, especially without a new heart.
I didn’t know why I believed the Reaper, but I did.
It upset me that he didn’t take me with him. That made me sound horrible. The Pattisons cared for me, and I thought the world of them, but it was hard being around people so caught up in sadness. I’d rather be anywhere else.
That time in my dreams, the Reaper hadn’t been there. I should have asked him if he could fly… I still hadn’t gotten to soar. Something in my dying heart told me that if I’d latched onto him, I would have.
If he came back before I died, I promised myself I’d stick to him like glue.
_____
The Reaper still hadn’t visited my dreams, but I awoke again to a
warm palm on my forehead. Fingers traced my cheek as I fluttered my eyelashes. Death couldn’t have kept the rush of heat zinging through my chest and landing in my stomach at what I saw when my eyes finally opened.
He was back. Remembering my earlier words, I couldn’t help but be happy to see him even though his presence must mean I’d slept long enough for it to be my time to go.
The Reaper leaned over me, face concealed by the hood and darkened room, but I saw the tattoos on his large hand rubbing my cheek. The red wisp glowing around him was strangely docile compared to the erratic way it moved the last time.
“Is it time?” My voice was hoarse. I hated that I couldn’t make myself sound stronger, so I smiled to convey it instead.
His index finger moved over my lips as he glanced over at Helen asleep on the chair. I nodded slowly to let him know I understood to be quiet. The heart monitor started beeping as he disconnected me from it. As he waved his hand, the entire screen turned black, then he pulled the blanket off me. I quirked a brow as the cool air hit me. What was he doing?
When his hands slipped underneath me and scooped me up, I figured it out. “You’re taking me away again?” I beamed up at him as I spoke.
Without replying, he grabbed my oxygen tank and faded with me. Dark enveloped us before the bright light came and delivered us to the rainbow woods again. I sucked in a painful breath just as the Reaper adjusted the cannula at my nose. I helped him with it.
“Thanks. You came back for me,” I whispered, still in his arms.
He sighed, but those burly arms pressed me closer into his chest. “I said I would.”
“When I died,” I added. Wanting to see his face, I reached out and pushed his hood off his head. He liked hiding his fierce scowl in the shadows, but I’d much rather see it. He let me. His deep abyss eyes stared down at me before one dark brow lifted.
“How do you know your time isn’t this very second in my arms?”
I yanked at the tubes connected to the oxygen tank and laughed. Pain sliced into my chest, but it had been worth it to make the sound. “Then why bother with my oxygen?”
With another heavy exhale, the Reaper picked up the tank and carried me deeper into the glowing woods. “What are we doing?” I asked as I glanced around. As we moved, the towering trees seemed to lose their rainbow colors, matching the surrounding darkness. I didn’t see a sun or a moon the first time he brought me, but there seemed to be some sort of light in the sky. It was a strange glow combining dawn and dusk—many shades of orange and purple. Deep in these woods, every plant gave some sort of glow.
I’d seen nothing so enchanting.
“Your world is so beautiful,” I said as I reached out and ran my fingers across the tree bark. Nothing like Earth.
“Don’t let the beauty fool you, my world is far from nice.”
I glanced at him, the stubborn set of his stubbled jaw and narrowed gaze. “Are you ever happy?”
“No.”
Well, that didn’t take long to answer.
“Sounds like you need some goodness in your life,” I told him.
His eyes flickered over me briefly before he set me down on a large boulder with my tank. “You can’t skate,” he muttered before plopping down beside me.
“I’m aware,” I grumbled. “Each inhale reminds me of my health, no need to state it.” I had no energy to argue about it at that point.
“But you don’t have to spend every second in the hospital,” he added with a grunt. He crossed his arms over his chest and made no move to look my way as if his actions made him embarrassed to face me.
“Thanks,” I said genuinely. “This is much better than the hospital.”
“Tell me when you’ve reached your limit. First sway or wheeze from you, I’m taking you back.”
“I’m dying. What does it matter?” I shrugged. “I’d be okay with taking my last breath here in the arms of a handsome stranger.” I hugged myself for full affect and he tensed. “So romantic.”
“It does matter,” he admonished. “Pain is pain. No one wants to see someone suffering. I didn’t bring you out here to struggle. I brought you here to be happy. You make it pretty obvious how much you hate being in that room.” He scoffed. “You begged me to take you. You don’t have no fucking sense of danger, do you? I could be the very thing that kills you and once again, you let me whisk you away.”
I watched the tense way he moved and scowled at me. A discomfort slipped into my chest. I didn’t like that I upset him. “You’re right.”
“Fuck yeah I’m—” He gawked at me. “You agreed so easily.”
I took a deep breath and looked up. “Sometimes I feel nothing. Other times I do too much. I think it’s my mind’s way of protecting me.” I slid my fingers over the thin tube hanging from my nose. “Occasionally, this terrible numbness takes over me, and I truly don’t care either way what happens. For the last three years, doctors have told me my fate, and I’d think what’s the point.”
“You don’t appear numb to emotions when I’ve been around you,” he murmured.
“I don’t know how to be with you.” That was the dangerously sweet part of it.
“I want to show you something, but I need you to remain calm. I don’t want you keeling over on me.”
A sharp pain filled my chest as my heartbeat sped up. “What is it?” I said cautiously.
“Dragons.” His lips tipped upward, revealing the point of his cuspids. Why was his smile so sinister looking?
I would call it his creeper smile.
“Dragons?” I parroted.
Holy—
The flying reptiles were real? Or did they not have wings?
“You okay?” he asked.
“Give me a second. You just said dragons. They’re real?”
“Fuck yeah. Want me to call Ruby and River to us?”
“They have names!” I exclaimed, then winced as another sharp pain snagged my breath.
“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. You’re getting too excited.”
“No,” I blurted. “Call them. Just don’t feed me to them, okay? I can’t even walk at this point. I’m counting on you to scoop me up if they look at me like I’m food.”
“Gwendolyn.” He dragged my name out slowly with a slight bit of amusement in his voice.
“Just shut up and breathe. You’re about to wheeze.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re right,” I said through a cough, then winced.
Ouch.
Who cared, though? I was about to see dragons. If I died from the shock, what a way to go!
“You better not be thinking something like, ‘If I die after this, I don’t care.’” I stiffened at his words.
I narrowed my eyes as I pondered whether he could read minds.
If it wasn’t a struggle just to breathe, I would attack you with a kiss.
Then again, I could still get one off him even in this state.
“Why the fuck are you squinting at me?” he barked.
Nope. He couldn’t read minds.
“You have beautiful eyes.”
He shook his head then raised his fingers up to his lips and whistled. A loud shriek-like roar answered. I searched the sky, but I couldn’t see beyond the towering trees.
Then I heard it.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The heavy flapping of wings.
I stiffened and gasped as two white dragons swooshed through the fluffy leaves. Their wings created a large back draft, ruffling my hair, while their massive clawed feet kicked up dirt as they landed. The gentle giants lowered their heads and waited for the Reaper to approach. One had blue eyes, the other a deep red. Their scales shimmered as the glowing plants illuminated their beauty.
Because they were beautiful, albeit terrifying creatures—no doubt about it.
The Reaper held out his hand and the blue-eyed dragon nuzzled its snout under it. “You still alive? If so, want to pet them?”
Chapter 7
Barron
The
glow of Grim’s woods made Gwendolyn’s eyes mesmerizing. The fluorescent shine of the plants enhanced her green orbs to the point that I was bound to slip up and do something foolish.
Who was I kidding? I’d already made an error in judgment with her.
I came back for Gwendolyn on my accord the second I stopped what human trafficking we’d discovered so far. With very little thought, I’d plucked up her fragile body and brought her to my world. After I brought her there the first time, I figured she’d appreciate the beauty of the woods. The constant smile on her face was my confirmation.
Her eyes bulged as I rubbed my palm against River’s snout. The giant dragon purred like a kitten, its entire body vibrating as he watched Gwendolyn. He wanted to approach her so bad he was shaking.
Him and his sister were such big babies.
Gwendolyn glanced at Ruby and River then me. “Will they get upset if I touch them?” she asked.
“River is about to whine if you don’t come to him,” I told her. “See him shaking? He’s like a dog, desperate to get to you.”
River hissed at my words.
Gwendolyn beamed, and my heart crashed. Ka-fucking-boom.
That was all I needed to see to know I made the right choice. Between her failing health and my erratic curse, someone might consider my action reckless.
When I was away from the human, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I didn’t have any choice but to whisk her away. Right?
The most startling part of this was my wrath. It was calm, steadier than I ever remembered being. I’d touched Gwendolyn more than once and no crazy rush of rage seeped through me either.
Maybe it was a fluke the first time it happened.
Regardless, I was fucking glad.
The dying girl was only annoying because I couldn’t stay away.
Conjuring Wrath (Seven Deadly Book 3) Page 5