Page 84 of Forever Touched

You’re not Star, you’re not Star. . .

The hoop started to lower, and I desperately tried to clear my thoughts. To focus. I couldn’t let them see me without my mask. Myshield. I needed to be the confident, alluring witch that everyone came here to see.

But when the hoop stopped and the fog began to clear, I still wasn’t her. Light blinded me, and I had nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

They could see me. The real me. They could seeAdalyn.

The crowd below froze at the sight of me, and I froze as well, utterly terrified. Everything I’d been taught, everything I’d done to survive this place, completely fled my mind. I was prey dangled before bloodthirsty predators, exposed and scared witless.

The music started again, my cue to dance. But as the crowd continued to gape at me expectantly, a dull roar filled my ears. My breath came in short spurts, my heart thundering out of control.

Realizing what was happening, I ordered myself to breathe. To calm down. Darkness crowded my vision anyway.

You’re having a panic attack, baby girl,I dimly heard a voice say.You need to breathe. Adalyn? Adalyn!

The room precariously tilted. My hold on the hoop slipped.

As I started to fall, everything went black.

26

ADALYN

I fell like a rock toward the unforgiving ground, the darkness lifting just enough for me to realize that I was screwed. The silk I normally wound around my leg to slow my descent was nowhere to be found. The crowd parted, believing the fall was an act. A part of my routine. I braced for the pain, wondering if this was how I would die. Broken by the place that had shattered my innocence, this time beyond repair.

It would be a terribly tragic ending.

I tried to will magic to my fingertips, one last pathetic attempt to save myself, but it wouldn’t obey me. I was helpless.Hopeless. Utterly alone in a dangerous world bent on destroying me.

But just as I was about to hit the ground, dark shadows embraced me. Shielded me.Savedme from my terrible fate.

In a blur, the shadows swept me away from the crowd. Familiar strong arms held me close, and I instinctively clung to them, tohimas he carried me away from the crowd at vampire speed. Several startled gasps followed in our wake, Everett’s movements too fast for the humans to track. If we were lucky, they’d simply think I pulled off a miraculous disappearing act.

I didn’t know where he was taking me, but I didn’t care at the moment. All I cared about was being in his arms. In his presence. The only place that made me feel safe. The longer he held me, the more I felt like myself again. Like Adalyn.

Within seconds, Everett closed us inside a room. A storage closet,by the smell of it. The space was pitch black, but I didn’t ask him to turn on a light. I didn’t need it. He was here with me, and that’s all that mattered.

When he carefully set me on my feet and ran his hands down my arms as if to check for injury, I held still. I couldn’t see him, but I could feel him. He was upset. Angry.Afraid.

“You fell. Youfell, Adalyn. Do you have any idea what it would do to me if you died? Do you have any idea howterrifiedI was?”

I didn’t respond, too overwhelmed by the fear pumping through our bond. He continued to run his hands over me, his touch firm yet achingly gentle. Tears came unbidden to my eyes.

“I thought I could let you do this, but I can’t,” he said, his voice noticeably trembling.

“Everett,” I whispered.

“No,” he fiercely said, reaching up to cup my face. “I have to protect you. Every cell in my body isdemandingI take you away from this place. It’s going to kill you, Adalyn. This place willkillyou.”

“Everett,” I tried again. “I can’t leave. YouknowI can’t. I have to see this through.”

He pressed his forehead to mine, the movement shifting our masks. As his scent surrounded me, I gripped his forearms and closed my eyes.

“I hate this,” he breathed, skating his thumb across my bottom lip. “Every molecule of my being hates that you’re in this place.”

“I hate it too,” I whispered back.

As our breath mingled, he kissed me. Softly at first, then with more urgency, clearly needing comfort as much as I did. I stood on tiptoe and kissed him back, knowing that this beautiful moment would have to end all too soon. He backed me against the door, and a thrill went through me as our bodies perfectly aligned.

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