Page 38 of Her Blood Revenge

‘Of course.’

‘Thanks, Leo. Best you go.’

‘Sure. Let me know if you need anything else.’

The door closes.

The Dream Walker slumps on the bed as the room falls silent. The tension is so thick it’s almost suffocating.

The brunette? Who is the brunette they took? And who is the blonde they left behind?

‘He fucked her with the moon dagger,’ he hisses. ‘Our girl. Our fucking girl. He dares!’

‘He’ll get what’s coming, Shaw. Next time, we’ll take more than his hand from him. That’s a promise,’ the Shadow Master says. ‘We got her back. That’s the main thing.’

‘She never should have run in the first fucking place.’

I don’t have the strength to listen. My hands cover my ears as I face the other way, and I curl up, trying not to cry.

I watch him walkaround to the other side of the bed. The Dream Walker kneels and looks down at me.

He wags his finger, beckoning me out.

I shake my head.

With a heavy sigh, he lies down on the floor and squeezes in underneath, lying beside me. His frame is so broad that he has to lie on his back with his head tilted in my direction just to fit.

He doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t try and drag me out or pull my hands away. He just looks at me as I cover my ears. He’s still in the same clothes he was in when I bit him. His shirt is heavily stained with blood. The man doesn’t even blink as he slowly breathes and stares into my soul. His jaw is tense, and nothing about him says calm or forgiving.

‘I didn’t mean to bite you like that,’ I tell him. ‘I don’t know what happened. It wasn’t me. I had no control.’

His response is simply a deep and calming breath.

‘And I wasn’t running from you. I… I was… I don’t even know. I don’t even remember running.’

He slowly blinks.

‘It was my fault. I ran, and he got me. I shouldn’t have-’

He pulls my hands away from my ears and grips my fingers in his. ‘Ashe. Listen to me.’

‘Don’t,’ I whisper. ‘Don’t call me Ashe.’

‘Thatisyour name.’

‘That’s the name they called me,’ I tell him.

‘They?’

I swallow the urge to cry and nod. ‘My father who tortured a trigger into me. Beat me. Humiliated me. Drugged me with wine so I would be pliant and obedient. It’s what Cole calls me.’ My voice shakes, and my legs press together as Iremember the dagger he pushed inside me. ‘It’s what my coven called me as they tied me up and cut me.’ I’m about to come apart. ‘Don’t call me that name. They gave me that name, and I want nothing from them. Just don’t call me that name. Anything but that name.’

‘Okay. Okay. Just take a breath and try to calm down.’

He shuffles closer, resting his forehead on mine as I repeat that sentence.

‘Don’t call me that name. Don’t call me that name.’

‘Breathe,’ he says, pressing my palm into the dirt beneath us. ‘Feel the earth magic around you and let it help.’

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