Page 32 of To Crave Deeply
I felt the tears well in my eyes as an immeasurable sadness claimed me. The words my father always chastised me with felt stronger than they ever had before. I was a failure. I’d failed to save my friend, failed to fight for the woman I loved, and I was going to fail Elissa.
The lights flickered above me, and I looked up at the shitty fluorescent bulbs they had down here. It was rare that we needed to come down here, so it didn’t need fancy LED energy saving bulbs like we had in the rest of the building. To be honest, most of the basement looked like it was stuck in some backward era. I liked to think that was the reason Cassian liked it down here, but I knew that he really liked it down here because it was soundproofed, and he could make people scream down here. I at least knew that much about him.
The lights flickered again. Maybe there was a faulty wire or something? I’d mention it to Jasper, although how I’d explain why I was down here in the first place, I had no idea.
I looked back down to say a final goodbye to the friend I never really knew, and my stomach dropped.
The table was empty.
The lights flickered again.
There was a growl, but it echoed around the room. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
What the fuck was happening?
Then the lights went out completely.
Shit. My heart pounded in my ears. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Oh, god. Where was he? How was he even moving? He was dead. Completely fucking dead as a doornail.
There was a whoosh as something raced past me.
I called my magic to me, and a fire hovered above the palm of my hand, illuminating a soft glow, and casting long, flickering shadows across the room. I looked into every corner of the room, but I couldn’t see him. I walked backwards towards the steps back up to the basement. I needed to get up there before he did, but that was pretty difficult when you couldn’t see your enemy.
Fuck it.
I turned and ran. I was not dying down here with the dead.
My boots hit the steps. I took two at a time. I was going to make it. I was nearly—
My face slammed into the steps as something pulled my legs from under me. Pain exploded through me as my body landed on the edges of the stairs beneath me. My nose broke and my ribs cracked. Blood trickled into my mouth, and I spat it out.
I didn’t look behind me. I just threw a blast of air over my shoulder, hoping that it found its mark.
There was a thud and a growl as Cassian fell down the stairs. I scrambled to my feet and climbed to the top.
Wind rushed up the stairs.
Oh, shit.
I looked then because I knew I wouldn’t see a man anymore.
Looking back up at me from the shadows at the bottom of the stairs were the ice blue eyes of Cassian’s dragon. He hadn’t fully shifted. Iridescent black scales covered his torso and his right arm. His wings hung limply behind him, and it was almost like he’d forgotten how to shift. Then again, he was supposed to be dead. He shouldn’t have been standing there shifting at all.
His eyes were pale, shimmering orbs, and they were pits of nothingness. His body might not be fully shifted but his mind was completely out of it. He didn’t know who he was or where he was. Whoever had come back from the dead wasn’t the Cassian who’d died.
He smiled at me, and his wide grin revealed a sharp set of wicked-looking points. Shit. I needed to get out of here. This Cassian looked like he was looking at an all-you-can-eat buffet and I was the main fucking dish.
I didn’t waste another second. I ran through the door, bolted it behind me and crossed the main basement. That wasn’t going to hold him long and I still had another fucking flight of stairs to climb.
I ran. My lungs burned. My heart raced. Adrenaline roared through me as Cassian chased me. Debris rained down behind me as his wings caught on the walls and the ceiling. He was too big down here, even at half his fucking size. Part of me was grateful that, on some subconscious level, Cassian hadn’t shifted to the full size of his dragon. He’d have brought the entire fucking house down if he had.
I sprinted up the last flight of stairs, agony searing my lungs as I tried to breathe with broken ribs. I hit the door release button and fell into the corridor beyond. I caught one last look at those feral eyes as my boot slammed into the door, closing it on the man that should be dead.
Then, there was nothing but silence as the soundproofing kicked in. Nothing but silence and my ragged breaths as I wondered how the fuck I was supposed to explain this fiasco to Jasper.
Chapter 12
LORI
