Page 67 of Blood Vows
To my Nessa.
Her name tore through me before I could stop it. Her heartbeat thundered against mine, quick and erratic, filled with fear that wasn’t my own. The air tasted like blood and salt, her terror pulsing through the bond that tied us.
“No…”The word came out as a growl, breaking in the empty street. The pain flared again, sharper now, the fated link burning with urgency. Through it, I could feel the echo of movement, a struggle, a scream swallowed by silence. It wasn’t a vision. It was her, her fear clawing its way into me. I didn’t need to see it to know. Something was hurting her. Something had found her. My brothers could wait. Revenge could wait.
Nothing else mattered!
I forced myself to my feet, the shadows rising with me, trembling with the fury that tore through my veins. The world began to bend again, darkness folding in like a tide ready to consume everything in its path.
“I’m coming, little Rabbit,”I whispered, her name soon burning on my tongue like a vow. And then I was gone, swallowed whole by the dark as her name left my lips once more…
“Nessa.”
25
CRIMSON CRYSTAL CALLING
VANESSA
Sleep refused to come, but that wasn’t surprising.
I lay tangled in the sheets, my body restless, my mind clawing for calm. Every creak of the house made me flinch, every rattle of wind against the windows tightened something deep inside my chest.
He was gone.
I didn’t know how long it had been, minutes, hours, but the emptiness beside me stretched like an eternity. The fire in the hearth had burned low, leaving only faint embers that pulsed in rhythm with my heartbeat. Each one whispered the same terrible thought.
What if he didn’t come back?
What if this family reunion he spoke of ended in blood…His blood… Their blood?
What if Victor and Talon finished what they started, and this time, his darkness wasn’t strong enough to keep him alive? What if he hurt one of them? All these thoughts made my stomach twist painfully. I was terrified.
Terrified of what he might do.
Terrified of what they might do to him.
He had told me to stay in my room, to lock the door, and I had done just that. I’d lain there after first pacing the floorboards, staring out into the darkness beyond the glass, as if somehow, I’d see him striding back across the grounds.
But there was nothing. No sign of him.
Only the endless shadows moving in the mist.
Finally, I had given up and thrown myself on the bed. But after tossing and turning, I soon found myself up and at the window once again. My fingers brushed against the cool pane, my reflection faint in the moonlight. My pulse beat against my throat like a trapped bird.
At what point had he stopped being my captor and instead become my protector? Become someone I cared deeply about?
Someone I had fallen in love with.
So naturally, I was going out of my mind with worry, and that was how I came to the reckless decision that I would go after him.
Just to see. Just to know if he was really gone.
I didn’t plan on stepping outside, not at first, only to peek, to reassure myself that the manor wasn’t as silent as the grave it resembled. But even as I turned from the window, the floor shifted beneath me with a low groan, the kind of sound that made you wonder if the house itself was watching.
Then I heard it.
The soft click of my door.
