Page 114 of The World Undone

“Atlas,” Wade’s voice was low, laced with panic. “Atlas!”

When I turned around, Wade was clutching Bishop’s throat, trying to stem the blood from where the wolf had hitched a ride.

For a moment, I was disoriented by the similarities of this scene to the one I saw conjured in the drude’s nightmare.

Like Max’s had been, Bishop’s eyes were wide open.

Only Bishop’s eyes were empty.

Wade shook his head, eyes glazing over slightly as his jaw clenched in an attempt to swallow back his emotion.

My own throat tightened with grief.

Bishop was dead.

21

MAX

Claude tossed Darius’s body over his shoulder and carried him to shore, with far less care and tenderness than Nash employed with the woman in his arms.

“Claude?” Nash’s voice was harsh and deep.

The woman cradled in his arms was breathing, so not dead. And now that I was up close, I had a better look at her. Light skin, made more stark by the jet black of her hair, and a grayish tinge to her lips, though I had a feeling that had more to do with the chill than anything else.

Her nose, the curve of her mouth, the high cheekbones, the almost ethereal beauty…

“She’s related to you,” I said, looking up at Nash.

“How the fuck are you here?” Claude studied the man, his eyes darting between Nash and the woman he held. “Is that—” for maybe the first time since I met him, Claude looked lost for words, “I thought she was dead?”

Nash pulled the woman closer, his expression stiffening slightly. “Where are we?”

“I didn’t know you two could teleport,” I blurted out.

“We can’t,” they responded in unison.

Claude shrugged Darius off his shoulder until he dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

I bent down next to him, turning him face up so that I could get a good look at him.

“Seems you can,” I muttered, as I pressed my fingers to his pulse. I knew he wasn’t dead, but I needed to feel it for myself. I relaxed slightly as the steady thump tapped its slow, familiar rhythm.

“He’ll be fine.” Claude shook his head, considering. “He’ll wake up, anyway.” He shrugged, as if not sure. “I think.”

“Can someone please tell me where I am?” Nash’s jaw was tight, his nostrils flaring slightly as he studied us. “I’ve never been to this particular pocket of hell.” He turned to Claude. “And what the fuck are you two doing here?”

“You’re not in hell,” I said. Though I had no fucking clue how that happened.

Satisfied that Darius was alive, and that whatever he’d been battling was at least quieted down for now, I turned back to Ro and Charlie.

She was the immediate concern. I’d deal with the brooding vampires once I was certain Charlie and the baby were okay.

I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that Darius had attacked her. That he’d attacked me. What the hell was going on?

“What do you mean we’re not in hell? How? How is any of this possible?”

I felt Nash and Claude follow as I ran to her.

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