Page 225 of Fangs
“It’s not real. It’s not real.” I whispered.
“Hey, c’mere,” he said, pulling me into his lap and wrapping his strong arms around me.
I covered my face with my hands, trying to remind myself this was not Trey. He kissed my hair and then my cheek.
“You’re shaking,” he said.
A sob escaped my clenched teeth.
“Look at me,” he murmured, pulling my hands from my face.
I stared into his soft brown eyes, brimming with sunshine, love, and concern.
“What’s wrong, darlin’?”
“You’re not real,” I meant to shout, but it came out faint.
He frowned, confused, and there was a little bit of hurt in his eyes that stabbed me through the heart. “Bones, c’mon, it’s me.”
I scrambled out of his lap and backed away. “No. No, it’s not.”
He stepped toward me, and when I retreated again, he stopped. “Bones? Hey, what?—”
A gunshot echoed, and he stumbled backward. His hands pressed against his heart, where blood was rapidly running through his fingers and down his arms. Instinctively, I ran toward him, my heart in my throat.
“I love you,” he rasped out, those brown eyes locked on me.
“No! Trey!” I lunged for him as he began to fall, but he vanished into black smoke.
A swell of dizziness rushed over me as I landed empty-handed on my hands and knees from my momentum. I gasped in air, trying to keep from being sick.
It’s not real. It’s not fuckin’ real.
“Emmy!”
My heart stopped at the sight of Dune running toward me. His entire face lit up in a smile. I’d had plenty of dreams and nightmares about my brother in the past twelve years, but never this clear. I’d forgotten he had a single freckle on his right cheek and a tiny gap between his two front teeth. He came right up to me as I huddled frozen on the ground and grabbed my hands, pulling me to my feet.
“C’mon, let’s go!” He grinned. “What are you sittin’ on the ground for?”
“Dune,” I breathed, squeezing his hands in mine. It felt real.Hefelt real.
“Hurry up, we gotta make it to?—”
Like a vengeful ghost, Madame appeared behind my brother with a wicked grin. I only had time to suck in a gasp before she slashed the knife she held across his throat. Dune’s hands tightened on mine, his face a mask of horror and fear as blood sprayed.
“No!” I screamed, stumbling under Dune’s weight as he tipped forward.
I managed to get him to the ground and glanced up, looking for Madame, but she was gone. It was just me and Dune. I fumbled for the wound with my bloodied hands, trying to call my power, but there was nothing. No warmth resided in my chest. It wasgone.
“No!” I gasped, tears flowing down my face.
“Ember!”
Wolf ran toward us, and the fury on his face made my panic surge.
“I didn’t—” I began, desperate.
He shoved me so hard that I fell onto my back. I watched, stunned, as he gathered Dune’s bloody body into his arms, glaring at me through his tears.
