Page 17 of Loving Nightmares
Eros chuckled softly. “I don’t think I have, Arabella. I should probably do that.” I nodded, betting that it would make a difference.
“I don’t know your relationship,” I admitted, “but the man goes across the country to deliver messages for you, and more importantly, he’s here.Withyou,foryou. I think that means something, Eros.”
Eros swallowed and nodded before offering me a tight smile. “I should probably go talk to him before everything goes to shit.” Then he was gone in a blink, leaving me with Razar for us to catch up with the others.
“That was interesting,” I said to Razar, who let out a hum of agreement.
“I will never not be surprised by the effect you have on nightmares,” he said, his voice low enough that only I could hear it. “I should have recognized it as your own unique magic from the beginning.”
“I just can’t believe I’d never heard of asis metabefore,” I admitted, though I knew exactly why I hadn’t—War. He had hunted them down. Out of all the things he had done—the ones I knew about, at least—that one hit particularly hard.
Butsis metaswere still being born, and as we took the elevator down to the shelters where class D nightmares and their families were being kept, my thoughts went to Nia, the youngsis meta, and the other children we had rescued from the human institution in California. I knew they were safe with Isla—hell, I knew most of the people down in the shelter would be, because her mates weren’t leaving her side—but I wouldn’t lie, I felt a stab of guilt. I had promised them a safe haven, and while this was better than where they had been, I felt like I had brought them into a war zone.
As we entered the four-story domed cement hallway far beneath the institute, voices echoed from the room that held everyone that wasn’t fighting. The reinforced steel doors were still open, but outside of them were four massive sentinels, no doubt waiting for the order to close the doors. I was glad I would get to explain what was going on first to the nightmares inside.
The sound of children laughing, unaware of the danger outside, and babies crying filled the makeshift nursery they’d created down here. Nightmares turned their attention to me as I moved past my mates towards the front, my own gaze seeking out Isla, who offered me a knowing smile.
“Everyone quiet!” she called out, though her voice wasn’t as commanding as she probably wanted. I looked to Saint, and he sent out a blast of power that caused everyone to quiet and turn their attention to us in recognition of his dominance.
“Hello, everyone.” I’d spoken loudly, but the volume of my voice surprised even me. Then I noticed the magic surrounding me in a soft coating. One of my mates was using their magic to amplify my voice, I just couldn’t tell who. Ashur? I had a feelingit was Ashur since I didn’t immediately recognize the magic signature.
And I was now officially labeling him as my mate.
“We are launching our last attack on War, one that will free our institute from his threat and allow us to resume our peaceful existence,” I announced. “To ensure your loved ones can focus as they defend our home, we will be closing the doors and leaving the sentinels to stand guard. The threat has not increased, so there is no need for panic—we just want our teams to be able to give one-hundred percent of their attention to the battle so we can return to normal as quickly as possible.”
The crowd nodded as I spoke, trying to appear calm.
“Isla, her mates, and a number of the other class As in here will keep you informed of what is going on outside, but I just wanted to personally explain what’s going on.”
After some murmured conversation and sounds of agreement, I stepped back and looked up at the sentinels, their eyes glowing purple. The one that normally spoke to me met my gaze, and I swear for just a moment I thought he smiled.
“Pink-haired human, you can be assured that these smaller nightmares will be safe.” The sentinel’s voice boomed, shocking the kids.
“I know, I trust you,” I said evenly and then stepped back, hoping to infuse the confidence that I truly felt into my voice. “See all of you soon! Close the doors.”
My mates stood around me, Amun’s hand coming around my waist as the sentinels used their power to shut the doors, the heavy steel vibrating with purple magic. Isla offered me a reassuring smile, and when the doors closed with a finalthunkthat reverberated down the massive hallway, determination soared through me.
I would keep my word to all of them.This would be over soon, no matter what I had to do.
7
ARABELLA
We were ready.
I felt confident about that statement as I looked over the gathered soldiers, all of them facing out as they waited for the containment room wall to open. Each was dressed in a uniform that had been crafted for battle, and each now carried a shield specifically for the singular weapon that could hurt them. We even had healers waiting in the back of the containment room ready to move any injured nightmares to a designated area where Keres could heal them.
I stood inside the observation room as my men finished getting ready and my father prepared to open the wall. Our cameras outside showed that War’s men were once again ready for battle, knowing we weren’t done. In fact, there were even more out there than before, plus the aerial forces that were waiting in the wings—something the apocalyptic and avian creature terrors planned on handling personally. We had no intel that suggested the bombs had been equipped with poison like the other weaponry, but they planned on taking the utmost caution.
“I’ve got that handled,” my dad said, drawing me from my thoughts and making me realize that my musings had been vocal.
“What?”
“When I went out there, it was to plant drones to intercept the aerial forces. War caught me before I could come back in here and activate any of them, but it shouldn’t be a problem now.”
“Thatwas why you went out there?”
“That, and his nightmare instincts were probably telling him to kill War for hurting Irina—even if through Hate,” Saint called out. My dad grunted but didn’t deny it, looking back down at his files.
