Page 42 of Buried Secret 295

Chapter thirty-two

She is perfect inboth her human and beast forms. I don’t even think she knows what’s happening. All of her instincts are fighting each other right in front of me. I see her being torn about what to do. Part of her wants to go to Gage, while the other demands she go to me. The animal wins this battle. The pull and draw of a mate is too powerful to ignore or suppress.

It should bother me that she wanted to go to Gage. So, why doesn’t it? Is it because I consider him part of my pack? I should feel some jealousy there. Hellhounds are possessive, and when it comes to their mate, it’s said that we are irrational. I have always looked forward, but also dreaded my mate because of it.

She is confused. I am not confused about what is happening between us. However, I am confused about the relationship between her and her animal. They are not in sync with each other. This is odd and doesn’t sit right with me, since mostshifters were one with their creature part of themselves. It’s a process to get there, but now we are one. I’ve seen nothing like her. She is larger than any wolf and looks like the night sky. Pitch black at one angle, yet her fur looks silver when she turns.

A Midnight Beast. I have a book that mentions them. It almost makes them seem like something from legend. When I was younger, I became obsessed with historic shifting beasts. A Hellhound had not been seen in over a hundred years. I needed to know whether there were others and how they all came about.

Salem growls at me like she knows my mind has wandered. My beast and I let out a snort of a laugh. In this form, it sounds somewhat menacing if you don’t know better. She has had me chase and play for what feels like hours. I honestly cannot tell you the last time my animal has been out this long. Nobody around us has been worthy of our time anymore. She is more than deserving.

She collapses next to the isolation cabin that was our hangout for the first year at Black Rose, but it seems like it changed. Did they put some money into updating it? It almost looks like someone lives here. There are fairy lights on the outside and a small sitting area. Did they do this to all of them? Since smelling Salem, I haven’t wanted to shift, let alone go into the woods. It’s a space we didn’t want to enter without her.

A naked Salem is now napping in the grass, looking so content. I shift back into my human form and walk towards her. Her odd-colored eyes peer up at me, and she smiles. “There is a key in the toad’s mouth. Then, we have to use my thumb…” she murmurs sleepily. “…I just need a few minutes.”

I am tired, but she seems exhausted. Maybe she hasn’t been sleeping? She has been gone all this week, according to Atticus. It feels like she is almost talking in riddles. I look around the area to ensure nobody is around before walking around to the entrance. Sure enough, there are three frogs in the landscaping.See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. I touch the speak no evil one, and it must be magicked because the key slips out of its mouth between its little frog hands. “Um, thanks?” I unlock the door before returning the key to the frog. This day keeps getting odder.

I return to a sleeping Salem and scoop her up into my arms. She cuddles her head into my chest. She doesn’t open her eyes to look at me. “You said that I need your thumb?” I’m unsure what to do, but I am happy to do it. I try to appear confident, like a mate should, but I don’t enjoy the confusion.

Salem’s eyes open and blink up at me. Her vision seems almost unfocused. “I wasn’t supposed to go to sleep. Don’t leave me.” Her hands clutch me tighter as she looks up, slightly panicked.

“I won’t leave you now that I have you.” Her face relaxes, and she touches the door, causing it to open. Her head goes to the side when it does, and her eyes close again.

I kiss the top of her head, carry her inside, and shut the door with my foot. As I look around, I realize two things. Salem lives in the isolation cabin, and exhaustion has also overtaken me. I shake my head because, what the hell, I was fine a few minutes ago. Something is happening; I can’t decide whether it’s malicious. My eyes looked along the freshly painted and clean walls; it was probably the first time they had any care. I think even when they built these shitty isolation places, they looked old and almost haunted by any signs of life. Salem put life into it, took something that was overlooked and nobody ever cared or wanted, and turned it into a home.

Nobody would live in one of these by choice, but she took it and made it her own. I need to ask her so many questions. Instead, I place her down on the bed before I place the covers over her naked form. My limbs are becoming heavy as I lay next to her on top of the covers before pulling her close. Everythingabout her soothes us, my beast and I. Sleep is beginning to overtake me as I try my hardest to stay awake.

I look around, trying to figure out where I am. It’s so dark that you can’t see anything in front of you. A deep voice comes from within the darkness. It seems like it is coming from nowhere, yet everywhere.

“You finally make an appearance. Do you think so little of me?" He makes a tsking sound. "You should know that I am on your side. Why else would I have given you your life back only to kill you? You should be thankful that I am so accommodating. Because of this, I allowed one of your mates to tag along.” Even though nobody is around, you can feel eyes assessing you—watching you. “You have yet to claim this one.” His tone turns bored. “Pity. I suggest you remedy that. Though I hardly gave you the time, I had to take you when I had the chance. You have been avoiding this meeting for quite some time. If we are going to be working together, I need you to be more… accessible.” He laughs menacingly, which causes the hair to rise on the back of my neck.

I wish they would speak to us rather than around us. However, from my position, it doesn't feel like I am meant to be an active participant. Not that I will voice the complaint, as I seem to float weightlessly in the air. I turn my head, trying to locate Salem. She has to be the reason for all of this. As I think about her, my body feels like a fish that has become hooked and pulled by an invisible force toward her. I open my arms, determined to wrap them around her. I don’t want to be away from her. Just because this voice doesn’t seem like a threat doesn’t mean he isn’t.

Salem also opens her arms, and we both slow down as we get inches away from each other. We embrace like lovers, our arms gripping each other like a lifeline. We stare at each other,eye to eye. The voice seems to wait until we are together before continuing.

“You seem to have appealed to the others. Not all, as I explained before. We have enemies. However, the ones uniting behind you, we have decided to bless you all. After all, with everything that you are, what is a little bit more? You will always fight for the lesser, the ones others choose to forget. They sweep the ones they wish to forget under the rug and pretend they never existed in the first place. After all, that is easier than doing the right thing. Why draw anyone’s eye to something they deem unimportant? The ones that pretend to be important–you can see through them. The ones that deem themselves as the most powerful. More will come to light when you find all your pieces and become whole. Sleep more and remember five with you in the center.”

Salem and I shoot up out of bed at the same time. We lock eyes on each other, our breath seeming to come out in gasps. “Can you explain to me what in the fuck that was?” My voice came out harsher than I intended. Fear isn’t something that I am used to feeling.

“That…” She purses her lips, and her eyes look up slightly like they are searching her brain for answers. “…Yeah, I got nothing for what exactly that is. Dad believes that he might be a god. We met when he felt my death before bringing me back to life.”

My eyes widen, and my heart rate speeds up. The need to reach out and hold her is great. My hands reach out and grip her, pulling her to me. “You died?” My fingers run along her body, assessing for injuries. I trace over a large scar along her shoulder, feeling all the indentions from where a beast's teeth ripped along her skin. I can’t stop myself from looking for more—one under her ribs, across her arms, right hip, and thigh.

Salem lets me explore her body, saying nothing. The scars seem to do the talking right now. When I look back up ather face, her eyes seem soft. She looks lost in thought, but is watching me closely. I stop, my fingers hovering above a scar along her forearm. Are my touches reminding her of how she got them? Am I hurting her as she reflects on how she got them all? “I’m sorry…”

Salem shoots up as I pull away. Her arms went to my shoulders, stopping me from moving. “Hey, no. It’s okay.” She reaches for my hand, taking it and placing it over her left breast. Not in a sexual way, but to feel her heart beating. “You feel that?” I can only nod my head as I put my forehead to hers. “Concentrate on that. I am alive.”

All I can think about is how she died and how I could have never met my perfect match. Everything else could be damned. I don’t care if I am one of five as long as I get to be one. I am going to make it my mission to make sure her heart continues to keep beating. Salem is mine to protect, and I don’t care if I have to kill a god to make sure she is safe.

Chapter thirty-three

Knox and I stayin bed. I lie against him as he listens, as I tell him everything. Opening up is something I never thought I would do with another person. There is something about him that makes me feel like I need to. The words flow easily off my tongue; I thought there would be hesitation, but there is none as I tell him things I thought would be difficult. I don’t know if it’s the mate bond that makes it so easy. Perhaps it’s the fact that a god pulled us both into a dream reality, and he didn’t run for the hills screaming. If anything, it seems like I had his attention.

Nothing is off the table as I talk about life in prison—everything from the experiments and fighting to how I found the imperfection in my cell, which led to 203, and how we kept each other going. Without 203, I wouldn’t be here. We spoke about me dying and coming back and about meeting Constantine.Knox only listens and asks follow-up questions before allowing me to continue with my story.

When it’s finished, we lie here looking at each other. He watches me while I watch him. Knox is handsome, yet not how I usually think of handsome. He looks dangerous. A wildness about him makes you almost question how unpredictable he might be. When I look at him, I see how he leans toward violence and anger. Yet, he asks intelligent questions, and his touch is delicate. His dark eyebrows highlight his dark red eyes, which seem to have a lighter ring of orange smoke clouding around his pupil. The dark beard that is neatly trimmed makes him look even more rugged and dangerous. My hands want to keep exploring him.

We lay in bed naked, and I feel exposed in a way that I never have felt before. It feels like he can see my soul. Yet, I feel at peace. He feels he will be my rock and protector and hold me together if I break. He will be my protector while I am vulnerable. I roll him onto his back before sitting up and leaning over him slightly. “How do you feel about all of this?” Part of me feels terrible because nobody would probably want to sign up for this.

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