Page 9 of Hounded: Ashes to Ashes

“Phoenix lore dates to ancient times. You could be hundreds of years old. Been through scores of reincarnations…”

Considering how often I felt like my life began five months ago, it was hard to fathom.

“But I look good for my age,” I quipped.

“Damn good.” Her smile was fleeting. “It just might be too much for your mind to contain. Does that make sense?”

Yes and no, but I thought I got the gist of it. Some people had selective hearing; I had selective memory. Or a very short-term one. Regardless, it made me wonder.

“What if I only remembered a bit?” I asked. “The important parts. Like a highlight reel.”

She shifted to sit on the rug with her hands in her lap. “What are the important parts?”

I held her gaze. “You know.”

The man who haunted my sleepless thoughts. The person the voice in my head insisted was my mate. My soul knew him even if I didn’t.

And that felt pretty damn important.

Sullydidknow, though, and she didn’t ask anything else before glancing over her shoulder toward the living area and the arcane library housed there.

“I’m not sure I can make it that specific,” she said, then frowned. “To even attempt it, we would need something of Loren’s, and he isn’t here.”

I waited for another suggestion, an even worse idea, but only quiet ensued. The bubble of hope had swelled till it burst. Buildup. Letdown. Again.

A lump formed in my throat, and I struggled to swallow past it. Struggled to breathe with exhaustion setting in and despair so profound it felt all-consuming.

Loren was sad. Because of me. Because of this. Because we were doomed from the start. He knew it, and I was rapidly arriving at the same conclusion.

I curled my shoulders inward and wrapped the sweater around myself until it was as snug as a straitjacket. With the worn sleeve cuffs wadded in my fists, realization dawned.

“This!”

Sully jumped as I shrugged free of the garment and held it out.

“This is his.” I gave the sweater a shake. “Can you use it?”

She pinched a the fabric between her fingers and rolled it back and forth. “Hair or blood would be better,” she said. “More stable. But I can try.”

I shoved to standing, then dipped my head in a nod that nearly staggered me before I made it upright.

Sully caught my arm to steady me, and I fixed her with wide-eyed expectation.

“Now?” I asked.

Her lips twisted as she hugged the sweater to her chest. “Youneed to be stable, too. It didn’t go well last time…”

Still gripping my forearm, Sully allowed herself to be dragged along as I barreled out of the bathroom and into the living area. I made it to the nearest book lying open on the floor and stooped to pick it up, then thrust it at her.

“Now, Sully.”

Indy

Brooklyn,New York

Three years earlier

The orange glow of sunset streamed through the trailer’s windows and across the canvas propped on my art desk.The Rocky Horror Picture Showwas playing on the TV, and Loren stood in the middle of the living room floor. He had one arm hugged around his chest and the other dropped so he could cup a hand over his cock and balls.

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