Page 37 of Blood Lost

“She was having a nightmare and I tried to wake her. It’s not working. What can we do?” He sounded so concerned. I wondered what was going on. It didn’t make sense. I imagined them while being transported in the back of the truck. That had to be it. Right? I tried to open my eyes, but they refused to cooperate.

Declan’s voice was so close. I thought I could reach out and touch him. “Mo chroí, please wake up. Open your eyes. You’re having a bad dream. Just let it go and follow my voice.” He spoke so calmly. I wanted to follow him. I nodded and tried again, but my eyes wouldn’t open. I groaned again, this time hearing it echo around me.

“That’s it, love, keep trying. Follow Dec’s voice. Come back to us.” Eli’s whisper found me next. Wait—was the truck the dream? Is that what they were saying? I shook my head, trying to clear it. The explosion, the fire, the loneliness were all so real. I shivered and kept moving toward where I heard Dec talking to me softly. He was encouraging me to find him. I had to find him. Suddenly I wasn’t in the truck anymore. I was in the dark. This was so familiar like I’d been here before.

My legs ached from walking for so long. I wanted to lie down and rest, but Declan kept asking me to find him. I pushed on, trying desperately to figure out where he was. I finally came to a door. I grabbed the handle and ripped it open.

“She opened her eyes! Oh, Myshka, we were so worried! Are you okay?” Vik pulled me into his arms and kissed me hard. Then he passed me to Declan, who kissed me with desperation. Eli had his arms open for me when he was done, and I jumped into them.

“I have no idea what just happened, but that dream was so real. You three abandoned me. I was alone and then some masked guys came and took me.” I explained, not wanting to get into the details of it. Eli pulled me close and kissed me. His warm arms held me tightly and I finally felt safe again. “I knew you wouldn’t leave me.”

“Never.” He assured me. Dec and Vik echoed his sentiment. At this point, I realized that every one of my guys was wearing nothing more than a pair of boxer briefs. I had scared them if they didn’t even get dressed. They were usually so modest around each other.

“You know, a girl could get used to having three mostly naked men around all the time.” I teased. Declan stood up and gyrated his hips at me. Eli bounced me on his lap, rubbing his growing erection on my behind. I turned to Vik, and he just shrugged and shook his head.

“You’re impossible. A moment ago, you were unconscious and now you’re horny. I can’t keep up.” Then he laughed and leaned over for a kiss.

“I’m sorry for scaring you all. I don’t really know what happened. I’m fine now, I promise. I think I want to take a shower. Alone. Then you can all fill me in on what you’ve been keeping from me.” I slid off Eli’s lap and walked to the door, not caring that I just realized I’d been naked this whole time myself. Without stopping at the door, I went to my room and grabbed a sweater and jeans, along with a bra and panty set, tossed it all on the bed, and walked into the bathroom.

The water was hot, stinging my skin. I needed it to wash away the memory of that dream. It felt like so much more than just a dream. Was I seeing what was going to happen? Or was my mind just playing tricks on me because I’m feeling paranoid? I would have to ask the guys about vampire gifts. Could seeing the future be one? Part of me refused to believe it was possible. Another part of me knew that at this point, anything was possible.

I grabbed the clean washcloth hanging in the shower and dumped my favorite soap on it. I scrubbed my skin until I worried that my skin would come off. Then I dropped the rag and started washing my hair. Once scrubbed clean, I slathered on conditioner and combed it through while I daydreamed. What if I could see the future? How would the guys handle that? I wondered about different scenarios until I realized that the water would turn cold soon. I quickly rinsed my hair then turned the water off. I wrapped my hair up in one towel and dried myself off with another. Part of me wished that I’d had one of the guys come shower with me. Eli was good at washing me and drying me. Declan always enjoyed being bossed around by me. I think it would have been more satisfying if Vik had done it. He isn’t the sweet type, so he doesn’t usually do things like that for me. It might be fun to talk him into it, though. I made a mental note to do just that as I got dressed and combed my hair.

I was shocked that the three of them hadn’t tried to come in while I was showering. Those three must be up to something. And I was about to find out just what it was. Or else.

Chapter 44

Eli

“I think we should just tell her everything and let her have a say in how we handle it all.” I defended my stance once again. Vik was against telling Delilah anything, and for some strange reason, Declan decided to agree with him.

“She can’t handle it all,” Vik growled, stepping up to get in my face.

“Delilah can handle anything. But she doesn’t need to worry about it all.” Dec said quietly. He was anticipating her walking in at any moment. I hoped that she did. I wanted her to know what we were fighting about. At least this fight was mostly civilized. I wasn’t going to throw punches to get my way.

“Excuse me. I think I should decide what I can handle. Thank you very much.” Delilah stated calmly. I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face. That was my girl.

“Exactly. So, let’s fill her in. It’s her life on the line here. We shouldn’t get to make her decisions.” I spoke with renewed enthusiasm since Delilah had entered the room.

Declan sighed. “Fine. I’ll change my vote. We can tell her everything.”

“You guys were voting on whether or not you’d tell me what’s going on? How dare you!” Delilah’s face got red, and I took a couple of steps backward. She was small but scary. I held up my hands in surrender.

“Don’t be mad at Eli. He’s been dying to tell you everything since we got here. We talked about it, and Vik convinced me that it might be too much for you. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you to make this choice.” Dec kissed her cheek, braving her wrath to get close enough.

“I refuse to apologize for looking out for your best interests. If you’re mad at me, so be it.” Vik said, then walked to his room and slammed the door. I guessed that he would pout for a while, then Delilah would smooth things over again.

“That’s fine; we don’t need him for you to tell me what you’ve learned.” Delilah sat down on the couch and gestured for Dec and me to join her. He sat on one side, and I sat on the other. I could hear Vik grumbling in his room.

Delilah listened carefully as Dec and I filled her in on everything. I explained the web searches and hacking; then he explained Kayden and the hunters. We told her about meeting with him outside and his offer to help. We even told her about Vik setting up lookalikes to pop up randomly so people wouldn’t wonder where we were. She nodded along and asked questions when she needed clarification. By the time we were done, Vik had opened the door and leaned on the frame.

“I thought you were against me knowing things.” She accused, glaring at him.

He nodded. “I am. I think stress is what caused that nightmare, and I think it’s only going to get worse if you know exactly what’s going on.” He looked as pissed at her as she did at him. I never imagined being concerned for my friend’s safety because he made a girl mad. There was something almost feral about the way Delilah was looking at him, though.

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we? Is there anything that you guys left out?” She directed the first question to Vik and the second to Dec and me. I shook my head, and Dec did too. I thought we’d told her everything. She seemed satisfied with that answer. With one more heated look at Vik, she stormed off into the kitchen. I heard the fridge open and slam. We were nearly out of supplies again. I knew that the blood bags were running out. I had contacted Scott, but he was having trouble filling our order this time. Apparently, he’d garnered some attention with our last supply request.

“Are we almost out of everything?” Delilah called from the kitchen. I grimaced. She wasn’t going to like this news.

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