Page 115 of Catching My Dreams

“Brett has already done enough to us,” she told him. “Don’t let him have this too. Don’t let him cast the blame on you when it lies entirely with him.”

Noah hesitated, but he nodded, and Ella could see it in his eyes—he knew she was right. “I did everything he told me to,” he said, more to himself than her, “and he still went after you.” He shook his head angrily. His jaw clenched, and his nostrils flared.

Ella sighed. “It wasn’t because of you. It was because of me.”

She told him about the dream she’d escaped from only to land up in Brett’s seedy motel room. She told him what she’d figured out and what she’d said to Brett to make it clear she would never want him, even with Noah out of the picture.

“I guess he lost patience,” she finished with a shrug.

Noah muttered a swear when she was done speaking. “He’s been invading your dreams since the end of July?”

“Seems that way,” she replied, hating that he’d been in her mind for so long without her knowing. “Speaking of Brett,” she continued. “If my memory serves me correctly, you said he was gone?”

“I did,” Noah replied, shifting his chair even closer to the bed. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”

Ella was surprised to feel tears filling her eyes. They weren’t the tears of someone who’d lost a person they used to call a friend. They weren’t the tears of someone who felt remorse or sadness for someone’s death. They were the tears of someone who felt nothing but profound relief.

“Thank you.”

“I just wish I could have done it sooner,” Noah admitted, and Ella understood.

She wished that she could have done so many things differently. She wished she could have saved her friends from the pain Brett’s actions had caused. She wished she could have spared Noah from Brett’s ire and Riley and Asher from his scheming.

But it was no use living in the past and in regret. What happened had happened, and they couldn’t do anything to change that.

“You’re not in any trouble, are you?” Ella asked, only then realizing that there might be consequences to his actions, no matter how justified they’d been.

Noah shook his head. “With our injuries and Olivia, Chris, and Drew’s statements, the police were quick to rule it self-defense. Detective Perez still wants to speak to you as a formality, though.”

Ella let out an audible sigh of relief. “How is Olivia?” she asked, thinking of the way Brett had held that knife to her throat. “And Drew?”

“They’re fine. Drew got cut, but it was shallow. Olivia was pretty shaken up, but I called her this morning, and she sounded much better.”

“Wait, do they know everything?” Ella asked, her eyes widening. If Brett had used his ability in front of them, Noah would have had to explain it all to them. “Did they see Brett traveling between planes?”

“No. They both left to get help before Brett used his ability.”

That was good, but Ella’s tense muscles couldn’t relax yet. “Did they mention anything about the knife Brett was using?”

Noah’s brows lifted. “No. Why?”

Ella slumped back into the bed. “It had a rune on the blade, and Brett used it to create some kind of spell just before you got there.” She swallowed hard, thinking about what he’d said before he pressed the knife to her chest. “I think it was a spell to keep us tied together in death.”

Noah stiffened. “What?”

She let out a shaky breath. “He said something about seeing me on the other side and that I’d have an eternity to realize I love him.”

Noah had gone pale and deathly still. “But I used that knife to kill him after he stabbed you with it,” he said quietly. “You don’t think…”

Fear gripped Ella for several seconds, thoughts of how she might be tied to Brett’s spirit when she died making her stomach lurch, but she shook her head. “He only created the spell after he stabbed me in the stomach. I think that’s why he was going to stab me again. The knife wouldn’t have worked on me the first time.”

Noah nodded slowly. “So he had to kill you with the spelled blade for it to work.”

“Right,” Ella said, remembering the way Brett had angrily cursed after he’d lowered her to the ground. “And that’s why he fought you. He would have just let you stab him if the spell had worked and his plan was to die with me.”

“Fucking hell,” Noah murmured. “He really was a psychopath.”

“He was,” Ella agreed.

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