Page 91 of The Hunt of Night

“Please don’t hate me,” I murmur, tentatively scooping her up in my arms the best I can. She winces, a strangled cry bursting from her lips as I try my best to cradle her injured arm against my chest.

“Hate you?” she whispers in confusion, pinching her eyebrows. I offer her a soft smile as I stand, one hand around her back, the other under her thighs.

“Just rest. I’ve got you. I’m going to take you somewhere safe,” I promise, and before I can change my mind and risk her safety once more, I shift, darting toward the sky with my wings fully spread.

A gasp slips from her lips, and before I break us through the clouds, I look down at her, seeing her eye to eye for the first time with my animal at the forefront of my mind.

“You’re a dragon,” she whimpers. Before I can confirm or deny it, her eyes roll to the back of her head, and she passes out, taking up the smallest space against my scaled chest.

37

ADRIANNA

My tongue is heavy in my mouth, a hazy flurry worming its way over my limbs as I try to move. I manage to twitch my fingers first, and the little movement comes with a wave of relief as my toes do the same.

What the fuck is going on with me?

The moment I think about it, the last memories I have come rushing back to the forefront of my mind.

My mother.

Kenner.

Kryll.

Dragon.

All the pain and anger that came before Kryll spread his stunning white wings and flew into the air with me falls away. He was…stunning, magical, everything.

I can spend more time appreciating him later. Right now, I need to focus. Prying my eyelids open is harder than I would like, but after a few tries, I manage to open them enough to squint. My gaze instantly dips to my arm, the one Kenner ripped into, and I startle at the sight of it. Unharmed.

Why the fuck would he attack me like that if they want me to bind myself with the guys? Why would he not just try to snatchme away and trap me in a room like last time? Probably because last time didn’t work out all that well for them. Maybe if I’m injured, they think they have a better chance of controlling me.

Fuck.

Basking in the relief of my arm no longer looking and feeling like a mangled mess, I take in my surroundings. Nothing seems familiar. White drapes hang a few feet away from where I’m lying, the bed beneath me is soft and warm as I snuggle in deeper. Two silhouettes stand on the other side. Whoever they are, they’re deep in conversation, but their voices are nothing more than a whisper to my ears, so I don’t recognize them.

What surprises me the most is that there’s no looming vampire ready to tell me he told me so.

Where the hell am I?

Pressing a hand to my head, my limbs easing with each passing moment, I take a deep breath, exhaling slowly as I try to calm the confusion running through my body. Kryll will keep me safe. Unless something happened to him, too? But that wouldn’t explain my healed arm. I hope.

“You’re awake.”

The voice comes from my right, startling the hell out of me as I whip my gaze in their direction, earning myself a groan as I pull a muscle.

Fuck.

“Nora,” I breathe, squeezing my neck where it aches as I take stock of my sister.

“Hey,” she mutters, wetting her lips as she offers a wave. It quickly comes to mind that the last time we spoke, we didn’t part on the best of terms, and my heart aches. But more importantly than that, I need to understand.

“Nora, what are you doing here?”

She quirks a familiar brow at me. “Technically,youarehere,” she states, leaving me to gape at her in surprise.

Don’t hate me.That’s what Kryll said, and this is what he must have meant.

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