Page 68 of Bear Naked Truth
And she didn’t want him to. But the moment their lips parted, the roomtilted.
At first, it was just the air. A tremor barely there, like the house had sucked in a breath and forgotten how to let it go. Then came the chill.
Subtle, at first. A prickle along her arms, a shift in the flicker of the candlelight. Autumn tensed.
She turned her head slowly toward the far corner of the parlor—the one the ward candles hadn’t reached, where the shadows always pooled thicker than they should.
The cold pressed against her spine like a hand.
Then came the voice. Not in her ears.
Inside her.
“You opened the door, and I walked through.”
She gasped, hand flying to her chest. The moonstone pendant Dorian had given her burned against her skin, searinglike it had been set aflame. Her breath stuttered, fingers clawing at the cord as if cutting it free might stop what was coming.
“Autumn?” Dorian’s voice snapped through the haze. “What’s wrong?”
She turned to him, half a step, no more, and her knees buckled.
Her vision blurred. Her hands spasmed. Then her body went utterly, unnaturally still.
Dorian stepped forward instinctively.
And then she smiled. But it wasn’thersmile.
It was tight. Cold. Detached. A mask.
“Hollis,” Dorian breathed, every muscle locking into place. “You son of a?—”
Autumn—no,Hollis—tilted her head, studying him like a specimen behind glass.
“You call me a ghost,” he said through her lips, voice layered with hers, mournful and sharp. “But I wasalivewhen they buried me.”
Dorian’s eyes narrowed, stepping sideways, circling. “You tricked her.”
“She left the door cracked,” Hollis whispered. “And I was already inside.”
The room pulsed with cold. The mirror across the room splintered, a crack running from top to bottom. The candles flared blue, then sputtered back to life, unsteady.
Autumn’s body moved with eerie calm, her hands flexing at her sides like she didn’t quite know how to use them.
“You were supposed to be free,” Dorian said, voice low, controlled. “She gave you peace.”
“She gave me a grave,” Hollis hissed. “You think love is enough to undo betrayal? Do you know what it is to be silenced by the man who swore he’d protect you?”
Autumn twitched. Her fingers jerked upward to her throat.
“I washis,” Hollis went on. “And he promised me forever. Just like you promised her.”
Dorian’s jaw clenched. “I’m not him.”
“You’re close enough.”
A gust of wind slammed against the windows. The floorboards beneath them creaked like something ancient had stirred beneath the inn.
“She’s not yours,” Dorian growled.
