Page 38 of Death and Do-Overs

“I checked my room,” Levi said from behind me. “They’re gone.”

His voice startled me.

A dark chill seeped through my skin and settled into my bones. My feet stung. My legs felt weak. My lungs compressed.

ThetheyLevi was speaking about the reaper who’d broken in. All I cared about was Nie.

“She’sgone.” As the words slipped through my lips, any energy I had left slipped away with them.

Nie was gone, and it was entirely my fault.

I’d freaked out and run away when I’d seen the shadowy figure on my balcony, forgetting about Nie. I’d left her behind, completely defenseless. The scene repeated over and over in my head, a relentless assault I couldn’t escape.

An unbearable ache gnawed at my insides. I wished I could go back, just ten minutes, and do it all differently. But it wasn’t too late to make things right, it couldn’t be.

“I have to go after her,” I said, more to myself than to Levi. I let go of the railing and turned with renewed purpose. “I have to?—”

Levi stepped into the frame of the shattered glass door and stopped. He stood there, filling the space with his annoyingly broad shoulders, blocking my path.

“Move,” I told him, then in case he was as dense as he was frustrating, I added, “You’re in my way.”

He didn’t acknowledge my command in any way. Instead, he tightened his jaw. Moonlight sharpened his already pointed features, giving his usually genial face a harsher appearance.

I wanted to shove him out of my way, but he had a formidable size advantage. And something about the look on his face made me hesitant to try.

“How exactly does your healing work?” he asked, voice flat but not harsh.

“That’s a stupid question.”

He was wasting my time, still not reacting, still not getting out of my way.

“My healing works the regular way,” I said.

He narrowed his eyes, clearly not believing me.

“That…intruder is getting away. If you don’t move, I’ll make you move.” How exactly I was going to do that, I had no idea. But in most circumstances, I’d found a knee to the testicles generally did the trick.

Levi tilted his chin ever so slightly, shifting the shadows on his face. It dulled the harshness I’d seen.

He said, “If you don’t have advanced regeneration, or at the very least freezing of injuries like your sister does, we’re going to need to deal with your feet before going anywhere.”

My brain felt like it was moving too slowly as I tried to digest everything he’d said. My feet? My sister?

I glanced down to my bare legs and the bloody feet at their ends. Only upon seeing the damage did my nerves decide to strike with sharp, stabbing pain. I’d stomped right through broken glass on my way to the balcony.

Worse, I wasn’t wearing any pants.

Without having packed any clothing for this impromptu getaway, I only had the new underpants that I’d purchased andwhat I’d been wearing when I’d arrived. I’d taken off my bra and pants to sleep.

At least I hadn’t decided to sleep naked.

I squared my shoulders, embodying shamelessness and confidence I didn’t feel. It was a practiced posture that masked the little voice in the back of my head screaming for me to cover myself before Levi noticed my near-nakedness.

As if he hadn’t already seen me.

But it didn’t matter what he saw, or what he thought. He didn’t matter.

For what it was worth, he looked me straight in the eye.

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