Page 41 of Rebirth

And now I want.

The urge to go to her is so strong, I force myself to step backward. Farther into the darkness. Farther into oblivion.

I cannot go to her like this.

I cannot go to her at all.

And most of all…I cannot be near her.

Because the part that calls her might not be the He’rox she’s safe with but the one that wants to consume her whole.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

SOPHIE

I wake with a start.

Surrounded by darkness, it takes me a moment to remember where I am.

A smooth breath releases from my lungs as I ease up on my elbows just as fear shoots through me so quickly, my heart stops.

Right in front of me, a flash of white in the shadows, is He’rox.

He leans closer and I hear him inhale, nostrils filling as he leans closer. There’s a deep rattle in his throat, so distinctly inhuman that just hearing it stops me from moving.

Panic fills my veins as I freeze, eyes wide, sleep forgotten as I try to make out his face from the darkness that swallows us.

I don’t move. I don’t breathe. I search the darkness, trying to make out his eyes. And by some light of the stars, I see them as he leans closer.

Blue. Ice-cold blue and not the cavernous black orbs that they’d bled to earlier.

My heart thumps so hard, I cannot breathe.

“He’ro—?”

A claw closes over my mouth, smooth velvety skin sliding against mine and my words die against the contact. My eyes widen as I stare at him, heart slamming into my chest as I remain frozen.

And just like before in the cave, I rely on the one thing my father had taught me to always rely on. My instincts. That part of me that never leads me astray. That gut feeling that always gets things right.

And right now, it’s telling me I shouldn’t move. That I shouldn’t scream or try to run. That I should remain as I am.

So I hold my breath, even though my heart’s beating so hard it may crash through my ribs to fall on the cave floor as it tries to escape this body that remains still and is doing the exact thing my brain’s telling me not to do.

Because my brain’s telling me this is dangerous. Insane. Stupid.

But then, that’s when I hear it.

At first, I can’t make out what it is and I frown, head turning toward the sound. For it isn’t coming from He’rox, and it isn’t coming from me. It’s coming from out there. In the darkness, the forest beyond.

Something is approaching.

The sound comes again, faint but growing louder. A clicking, crackling sound, like twigs snapping underfoot. And it’s getting closer.

People?

My heart thumps hard in my chest.

No. If it were people, why would He’rox be reacting this way? This is something else.

---