Page 183 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

“Freeee,” it says, like I can just wave a wand and make us both disappear from here.

“If I could get myself out of here, I would.”

Something rubs up against my senses. Like a puff of smoke that slithers, it slides around me, watching and waiting.

The smoke winds around me, pressing in on me, becoming tighter and tighter.

Dread creeps in, overshadowing the fact that this is a dream. The strain around my muscles and chest feels too real to think straight.

The smoke grows, coiling around my whole body now, constricting any air from getting in.

I try to push it away but more replaces it, the invisible binds encasing me whole.

My body turns cold, my body and mind drowning in fear. This can’t be real. It’s just a dream. I repeat it over and over, but nothing changes as the coils grow upward and over my head.

My last thought are the guys and each of their faces. It takes seconds before the dark envelops me whole.

* * *

In the blink of an eye,I’m somewhere else. Somewhere with light.

I release a harsh breath. That last…dream… was fucked up. Seems even in my dreams I can’t escape death.

I’m now standing in a room, but there’s fog everywhere…

No… not fog, shadows.

They float around me like figures made of smoke. I move away from them, not wanting the same thing to happen in my last dream.

As if sensing my apprehension, they move back, clearing the space around me before completely disappearing and giving me a better idea of the room I’m in.

My stomach drops, recognizing the same room from before. The one withthemin it.

Mumbles of voices grow clearer as I move toward them like a beacon.

I stop just before they come into view. A warmth builds inside my chest as I look at each of them. All still the way I remembered them.

My guys. My mates.

Kai leans against the kitchen counter, his arms crossed as he frowns at something Rion just said.

Although I can make out their voices, their words are mumbled as if I’m hearing the end of an echo.

They can’t hear me or see me, either.

This time is different, though. I’m here, but I’m not. It’s as if I’m in the world that sits right beside theirs. An invisible film keeping us parted as I watch on.

Rion is wearing his worried look, nodding at Kai’s reply.

Axel shakes his head, his angry attitude displayed on every inch of his body. Jax and Luka are standing close to one another. Neither one looking any better than the other.

Why did my dream have to make them look so worried and stressed all the time? Why couldn’t they just be happy?

Kai says something that makes Axel whip his head to him. Axel stomps across the room and upends the furniture. Kai looks exhausted as he closes his eyes briefly.

The more I look at them, the more I see how hopeless they all look. The light in each of their eyes is nearly depleted, leaving nothing but emptiness.

Even though it’s just a dream, I want to reach out to them and comfort them. To hold them and not let go.

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