Page 66 of Shattered Vows

Intrigue boils in her eyes as she straightens up. She turns and wraps her arms around my neck, kissing me.

I am so fucked. If this woman ever decides to leave me again, I’ll be destroyed.

I want to believe she won’t, but everyone who has ever loved me leaves me.

I really fucking hope she’s the first one who won’t.

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

RAPSODY

Sometime in the middle of the night, I awaken to find myself alone in bed. I roll over and my hand runs over cold sheets. I sit up and look around the room, noticing the glow under the door to the hallway.

All the little hairs on my body stand on end. I turn my head in the other direction and see the curtains are open. Only darkness fills the outside. It’s even darker than it should be, as if there’s no light left in the world. I can’t make out anything beyond the glass.

When I glance back, the warm glow still rests outside the door. I debate what to do and decide that once before the light led me to Kol, the night that things began to change for us, so I trust it will lead me to him again.

I slide out of bed naked and reach for Kol’s discarded shirt on the floor. Slipping it on, I walk over to the door, holding my breath and trusting my gut, and open it.

Once again, the light moves down the hallway.

I hurry to catch up, moving through the shadows that feel as if they’re chasing me. I leave the north wing, pass the stained-glass lion, and follow the light to one of the doors that leads outside.

My footsteps halt as it moves through the door. I nibble on my bottom lip, unsure what to do. It was different, going outside in the middle of the night, when I was trying to escape. But this time, I have an ominous feeling about leaving the manor.

The light stills, waiting patiently for me to decide. With a deep breath, I step forward and turn the handle on the door.

“I better not regret this,” I mumble to the light, but when I look up, it has vanished.

It takes me a minute to figure out why the light led me here. The thick fog sits heavy near the ground, but I spot Kol sitting on one of the chairs on the patio. He’s slouched back, holding a bottle of booze.

I approach quietly, taking him in. When I draw closer, he’s clearly deep in thought about something, but I have no idea what. It’s obvious from the way he grips the neck of the bottle and from the look of agitation on his face as he stares into the darkness.

It’s been a few days since Kol found me at Black Magic Bar, and he’s been attentive and is no longer holding back in bed, something I’m grateful for. His mood has been good, stable. But something must be bothering him for him to leave our bed in the middle of the night and come out here.

“Hey.”

His head whips to me. “You look like a ghost.”

“Is that good or bad?” I ask, closing the remaining distance between us.

He doesn’t answer.

“What are you doing out here?” I glance down at his bottle of booze. If the scent coming off him is any indication, I’d guess that he’s been out here longer than I knew.

“Needed to shave my head. I usually do it out here because it doesn’t make as big of a mess.”

My head tilts. “You decided you needed to shave your head in the middle of the night. And what, you just happened to find a bottle out here?”

He gives me a lopsided grin. “Actually, I decided on the alcohol first, then I decided on the haircut.”

I frown. “What’s wrong?”

He inhales a deep breath and sighs. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

“Kol…” I slide onto his lap sideways and wrap my arms around his neck. “You can tell me.”

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