Page 45 of Dark Encounter
Chapter 17
Erik
Ilaid in the bed forever, the vision in my mind's eye so fucking disturbing. My dreams had been far worse than ever before, and none of them were about Delaney, which was a bit of a relief. Too bad they were about my girl instead.
Grace was curled up on her side, her nightgown silky and white, her black hair spread across the pillow. She looked like an angel sleeping in my dark sheets. I wanted so badly to reach out and make her mine, but I stood at the edge of the bed, watching her sleep instead. The dream almost seemed peaceful until the sheet just below her ample breast turned red, blood staining it from somewhere on her body.
I freaked out and raced to the other side of the bed to find a hatchet buried between her shoulder blades, angled to hit her heart.
"No! Baby." I pressed my hand to the back of her shoulder and grabbed the handle of the weapon with my other one. "Baby, please tell me you're still alive."
Nothing.
"Grace. Goddammit. Tell me you're okay." I gripped the handle tighter as my stomach turned upside down. "This is going to hurt. Hold on, okay?"
I was talking to a corpse. I knew it without a doubt. Her soft skin had lost its heat. A scream lodged in my throat as I pulled the hatched out and chucked it across the room. She didn't move.
"Baby?" I rolled her onto her back and brushed her hair back as horror rolled over me in thick waves. Her skin darkened before my eyes, her hair growing tangled and wet. No.
I backed up and cupped my mouth with my hands as sob after sob ripped from the center of my chest. I'd never touch another woman if the moment were real, true. Grace.
"My Grace," I whispered and cried into my hands. No one survived around me. I'd killed her by letting her in.
No. Fuck no. I whipped my hands down my face and let my eyes move down the long length of her body, stopping at her tummy.
"No," I whispered roughly and walked to the bed, dropping down beside her and running my hands over her large swollen abdomen. Pregnant. She was pregnant with my baby?
Fury, mixed with the darkest depression I'd ever experienced, covered me like a wet blanket. The scream that left me shook the walls as I wrapped my arms around her and pressed my face against my lost future. I was a monster, and I deserved exactly what I had gotten.
Death.
"Fuck," I whispered and rolled onto my side as emotions beat against the inside of my chest. The afternoon before at the park was too much. Thank God my father had wanted me home the night before to take care of a few things. Had I gone back to her place and spent the night with her, I'd probably have proposed. She was everything I wanted in my fucked up life, and yet, I had to keep her at arm's length. What choice did I have?
She would get in the way of the syndicate, and someone would remove her, friend or foe.
"Erik. You up?" Kane's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
"Yeah. Shit." I got up and grabbed a pair of pants from beside the bed, a little surprised at the lack of an erection. It’s the nightmare. They always fucked me up something good. I ran my fingers through my hair and opened the door. "What's up?"
"Lucien wants to see you." Kane turned and walked down the hall, the poor guy looking haunted. What the hell was going on?
I grabbed a shirt and pulled it over my head on the way to my father's office. "Dad?"
"Come in and close the door." My Dad turned to face me and stood. "Take a seat, Erik."
"Alright." I sat down in the chair across from his desk and glanced up at him, giving him my full attention. "Nate and I spoke yesterday about this cop you're wanting to bring on staff."
"I'm wanting to bring on staff?" I snorted. "This was Nate's idea, but I don't see any harm in it. He's been a little nosier than he should have, but-"
"That's because he's already working for me." My father pressed his hands to the table and eyeballed me in a way that had me wanting to shrink back. "Tell me about Grace Adams, son, and don't leave out a detail."
"Alright." I brushed my hands down my thighs. "She's a girl at the library that I had sex with a few times. Nothing more."
"Thecitygirl?" He lifted his eyebrow before walking to the window. "You've been missing a lot over the last few years." He glanced back at me. "Since Delaney died."
"Was murdered." I leaned back in my chair. "I like to read. It gives me something to escape to. I'm not like you, Dad. I can't bottle that shit up inside and release it in vengeance. A good historical novel every once in a while and I'm right as rain."
"And you're in love with her." He turned and cupped his hands before his waist.
