Page 46 of Legendary

I reached over and cut on the lamp at my bedside. The room was flooded in dim light, but it was all I needed to see Nicholas still sitting on his ass by the desk with the chair a few feet next to him. He used his index finger to rub at both his eyes, probably trying to adjust to the new lighting. I sat up and scooted back so that I was parallel to the headboard. He let out a yawn before he spoke again. “How long have you been awake?”

“Just now.”

He pushed up from the ground, taking the chair and tucking it back under the desk. He reached down and picked the pillow up off the floor, spinning it between his hands. “And your first thought when you realize someone is sleeping in the room with you is to throw a pillow at them?”

I shrugged. “Kind of feels like deja vu. Us, in a dark room, while you complain about pillows...” I trailed off wanting that mental image to create a home inside his mind.

He let out a shaky breath as he practically hovered over me. He stood at the side of the bed, staring down at the pillow in his hands. It was as if he was trying to erase the memory of my face shoved into one of those while he pounded into me from behind. He shook his head and tossed the pillow on the bed.

“What are you doing here anyway?” I asked, reaching forward, and grabbing the pillow to hug it to my chest.

“What do you mean?”

“You, sleeping in the chair?”

He looked over his shoulder and then back at me, rubbing the back of his neck. A nervous habit I’d come to notice. He looked so young and boyish with his still slightly sleepy expression. “I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

I played with the tiny, frayed pieces of the pillowcase. “Were you planning on sleeping there all night?”

“If I needed to, yes.”

I nodded more to myself than to him. I chewed on my bottom lip, curious as to how much he would tell me. “What happened?”

He moved towards the end of the bed and sat down. “You don’t remember?”

“Well, I wouldn’t be asking if I did,” I said, slightly annoyed.

He rubbed his chin, looking like he was carefully choosing his words. “Honestly, I don’t even know what happened. One minute we’re talking with Leah and Garrett, the next we’re fighting hellhounds and you’re…”

“Leah and Garrett.” I looked towards the door, a million questionsjolting through my mind.

“They’re fine. And so are Yuri and Jasmine. We all came back here and settled down. Axel, Reese, Elise, we’re all fine. I brought you to your room while Beetee went and tended to them.” Flashes of what happened started barreling into my mind, one after the other. None of it seemed to be in order, but I saw Yuri up against a tree and Axel getting his face mangled. Every memory raged and clawed against my head.

“Dani, hey, hey, woah. They’re shaken up, but that’s to be expected. We all were a little out of it.” He placed his hand on my leg, rubbing small circles with his thumb. A jolt went through me, nothing painful or alarming, but something warm and comforting. It was soothing and I didn’t want to stop it. It settled my mind. It didn’t surprise me one bit since I remembered his touch always being this way. Small flashes of light ran through my memory. Light came from his hands, not in an obvious way, but in a way that made me focus. There was no light coming from his hands now, but I still felt that jolt.

“You said we were fighting hellhounds and I what? What did I do?”

His lingering thumb stopped abruptly as if he was frozen in place for a minute. I knew what he was going to say wasn’t good, but I needed to hear it. I was never one to hide from my mistakes, even when I didn’t know I had made one in the first place.

He cleared his throat and hesitantly said, “A hellhound had gotten a hold of Yuri and we all thought you were saving him, which I guess you did, but then you just shifted. Your focus was on him, but likereallyon him. You tried to kill him.”

My eyes widened and I bunched the pillow up on either side with my fists. “I tried to kill their son and you tell me they’rejustshaken up.”

“Of course, they were angry and upset, but they didn’t try to rampage against you the minute we got back here if that’s what you’re thinking. Beetee didn’t want so much attention on everything so that’s why you’re here and not the recovery room.”

I threw the pillow down next to me and leaned my head back against the headboard. Everything inside of me was quiet right now. I tilted my head down to find him staring at me. “You look like you want to ask me something.”

“I’ll ask you the same question you asked me. What happened?”

“I can’t answer that if I don’t know. That was the whole point of me asking you.”

“Oh, no, you know. We aren’t in your head, Dani. I can only go off what I see, but I don’t know whatyousee. Even if you don’t have all the details, you know enough to give me something. Anything.”

I reached down for my thighs, squeezing them, needing to put pressure on something. “I don’t remember much okay; it’s all really fucking choppy. I mean I do…”

Blonde hair. Traitorous face.All good monsters do.

“Isabel.” I looked down at the comforter, trying to picture her face more clearly. She was like a mirage, like something meant to always be antagonizing me as a placeholder for Lilith. She really was a fucking pet.

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