Page 57 of Born Free

I look down the alley, and right on time, a black car parks at the curb. Two seconds later, the large and intimidating-looking man rounds the vehicle and walks down the alley.

I swing down from my hiding spot, landing with ease on my feet.

“Everything went smoothly?” Patrick asks as he squats and scoops Mason’s limp form into his arms.

“All according to plan,” I say with a nod. I follow after Patrick and scan the road when I reach the car. No one can see anything. I pull the back door open, and Patrick settles Mason into the seat as if he were going out for an errand.

Patrick and I both round the car, and simultaneously, we drop into our seats.

“Please don’t freak,” I say as he puts the car into drive. “He’s going to wake up instantly. I’ll immediately die. I’m going to stay dead for about five minutes. But I will come back, I swear.”

Patrick shakes his head. “I still can’t believe you kept this a secret for this long. I didn’t believe it when Mason told me. But then Elena told me her story.”

I give a nod and my heart is beating faster and faster. I still don’t know if there’s any kind of time limit to when I can die for someone. Every second counts right now.

“Okay, here it goes,” I say, cracking my neck one way and then the other.

I press my hand to the side of Mason’s neck, and pain instantly explodes from my chest as if I were the one staked. And then death comes to greet me once again.

CHAPTERFOURTEEN

I barrel through death,defying all the laws of nature. Life funnels back into me, a result of a curse and a gift, both given to me by the mother I never got to meet.

My eyes fly open, and I sit up with my hands sweeping around me as if fending off an enemy.

“Holy shit,” Mason says, jumping violently.

I groan at the discomfort wracking my body. I blink slowly, letting my surroundings come into focus.

I’m at Roman’s secret church, lying in the bedroom I once lived in for three weeks. Gaping at me in shock like I’m the ghost of Alexander the Great, Mason stands at the end of the bed.

“I still can hardly believe it, and I just witnessed it.” Elena stands beside me. Her arms are crossed over her chest, and she shakes her head. “How did you keep this a secret for two months?”

“Don’t be dramatic,” I say as I slide my legs off the edge of the bed and steady myself for a moment. “It hasn’t been that long that I knew I could do this part.”

“Even five minutes is way too damn long.” Roman strides into the room. His eyes instantly lock on mine, and nothing in the world could get in his way as he stalks straight toward me. He places a hand to the side of my neck, tilting my face up before he kisses me. Hard.

“I think I should die more often if this is the welcome back I can expect,” I say breathlessly.

“Absolutely not,” Roman says firmly, even as Elena gives a whoop, egging the whole thing on.

“I honestly thought you’d kill her before anything even close to this might happen,” Mason remarks with a shake of his head.

“Come on, I made lunch,” Roman moves on as he pulls me up to my feet. The tense set of his shoulders, the erratic beating of his heart are all tells of just how hard this is for him, to know I’m dying, again and again.

I hope he didn’t see me when I was carried back into the church, dead. Roman swore he’d take a thousand stakes before he’d watch the light go out in my eyes again.

If I can avoid putting him through witnessing it, I will.

“Looks like everything went okay,” I observe as I follow the scent of food. “Is Sebastian here?”

No one could miss the wariness in my voice.

“No,” Roman says darkly. “And he’s never going to find out about this place.”

“Apparently, there was a whole mountain of secrets you two kept for each other,” Elena says, arching a brow at me as we grab food in the kitchen.

I bite into an apple slice and simply shrug my shoulders.

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