Page 22 of Covert Desires

I’m supposed to be dead, a ghost.

You never know what connections these assholes have. If they start pulling on the thread that is Kiah McClane’s identity, who knows how much they’ll unravel?

A bit of blonde hair dye only goes so far.

What if someone figures it out?

What if they realize that Jenna Cade didn’t die that night at the docks?

I put my hand on the feverish man’s head, silently begging for his recovery.

Please don’t die.

Chapter seven

Delerium

(Nico)

Likeamadman,I’mrunning through the forest, the darkness wrapping around me like a suffocating mantel.

The ground beneath my feet is uneven, roots and rocks conspiring to trip me up.

But I push on, running, running.

I don't know what’s chasing me, but I hear it—heavy footsteps crashing through the underbrush, a low growl that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

I don’t dare look back.

The growls are closer now, almost at my heels.

Panic rises in my throat.

I try to scream, but no sound comes out.

The silence is deafening, oppressive.

I’m not going to make it, I—

I wake up before the beast catches me.

Cold sweat clings to me like a second skin. My breath is rapid and unsteady; it burns in my throat.

Cazzo.It was just a nightmare.

Just a dream.

The damn forest one again.

I hate that one.

That place is so creepy, so dark.

But as my real surroundings blur into focus in the warm orange light of the cabin, I remember that my nightmare isn’t contained to my dreamworld.

My waking life is a scene straight from Stephen King’sMisery, and my own personal Kathy Bates still has my dick in a cage and my legs tied to the bed on this secluded island like I’m not the heir to the Ricci dynasty. Like I’m some common lowlife thug instead of a prince.

I don’t know how long I’ve been here.

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