Page 133 of Devoted

His other hand came up to rest on my chest, tapping lightly. Then, he repeated his elongated breathing.

Breathe.

On autopilot, I mimicked the pattern he was doing. In. Hold. Out.

The tingling began to subside.

“That’s it, baby.” The tunnel seemed shorter now, Zeke’s voice more audible. “Again.”

Another voice spoke from just behind me. “Sam, if you can hear me, tell me something you can see.”

Benji.I swallowed, trying to force some saliva into my mouth. “Zeke.”

The word was raspy, barely there, but Benji seemed to hear it. “Good. Now something you can hear.”

Taking a steadying breath, I forced myself to listen beyond my racing heart. “The alarm.”

“Shit,” Noah said. “Forgot that was still going.”

There was a rush of footsteps and the piercing noise fell silent.

“Everyone will be on their way back now.” That was one of the twins.

“We’re gonna be in so much fucking trouble.”

The twins.

One of whom hurt Zeke.

The terror slammed into me again as the vice around my chest retightened.

No, no, no.

I hadn’t realised I was saying that out loud until Zeke kissed my forehead. “It’s okay. You’re safe. We all are.”

Were we, though? They were still here…What if they…

“Get out,” Zeke hissed suddenly, rage filling every word. “Right the fuck now. I’ll deal with you both later.”

There was the sound of footsteps and then Zeke cupped my face. “They’re gone.”

It took a few more minutes of both Zeke and Benji grounding me before I was able to speak again. “I don’t understand what’s happening.”

Zeke smoothed my hair out of my eyes. “I know, this is a lot to take in.”

“But you were…dead.” It was so hard to say the word. “How? How is this possible?”

“Because we’re angels,” Zeke said calmly, his gaze holding me steady. “We’re not human, Sam. None of us can be killed. At least, not that easily.”

‘You’re hallucinating. This isn’t real.Pinch your hand. You’ll wake up then.’

I did just that, hissing at the zap of pain that went through my skin. Nope, that hadn’t worked. I tried again.

I went to do it a third time, but Zeke sat up with a frown. Grabbing my hand, he stopped me. “Sam, why are you doing that?”

I tried to pull my hand from his grip but he was holding me too firmly. Sighing in exasperation, I tried to explain. “Because I need to wake up.”

“But youareawake.”

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