Page 26 of Lunar Desires
“Moon mine.”
“Moon is path.”
“Stop it,” I told myself aloud. “Just stop it.”
The voice dimmed, and I picked up the pace.
After ten minutes without apop, I paused at another curved section with a second tunnel on my left. No Hecate Crystals or lights shone down there.
I shivered watching the darkness, trying not to let it bother me too much. I mean, my scalp prickled, and I needed a pee, but I couldn’t allow a natural, human reaction to creepy darkness trip me up.
Nibbling on my bottom lip, I shook anxiety from my hands.
“Okay,” I told myself out loud. “Carry on.” I hopped from foot to foot, getting ready to break into a run.
Movement stirred in the other tunnel.
I froze, spinning to face the darkness again, chilly fingers tracing my spine.
My witch bangle light turned green again. It’d been red the whole time I’d been down here.
Uh-oh. Danger lurked in those shadows.
Prowling footsteps approached, two red eyes burning to life in the dark.
“Death is here,” the shade hissed.
Chapter 8
DRAKE
Man, this hurt. The unrelenting pain, and Riley up ahead without me.
Every attempt at getting to my feet only magnified the agony. Sitting in this slumped position was all my body allowed.
Shit.
I’d tried being strong for Riley, to get him to safety. But the initial surge of adrenaline had crashed, leaving me defeated. I wouldn’t be moving by myself, and was completely dependent on Riley and the soul bond now. If I didn’t pop up beside him, then who knew what my next move would be.
“Shit…” I rasped, triggering several stabs of pain in my ribs. They set off a round of pulses in my skull, which spread to my spine.
Fucking chain reaction.
I’d definitely suffered some sort of concussion. With every move, my stomach lurched, nausea rolling. The blue figure had really fucked me up, the physical consequences closing in.
I only hoped Molly was alright.
Unnerving silence engulfed the tunnel, only the faint sound of dripping water somewhere in the distance. Riley’s footsteps had long faded away, leaving me alone with my thoughts, sitting here like the useless lump of shit I was.
This whole thing could’ve been avoided if I hadn’t left the mansion. At the time, I thought I’d been doing right by him. Now I understood I was a giant prick who put The Moon in grave danger.
Unnecessary danger.
Man, thinking was dangerous for a man like me. It set me off down dark paths, crushing me, sending me careening into one sorrowful wall, only to bounce off it to hurtle toward the next one. A relentless pounding, like a ball inside a pinball machine. A brutal way to live. But since the night I lost my parents, I’d been thrown into the shit pit. Lived in care, adopted by a monster, giving up on a happy ending while hungering for it at the same time.
I went through life as a walking paradox of emptiness and longing, never feeling good enough for love, always on the outside of the world, watching it roll by behind frosted glass.
Until I met Riley.
