Page 30 of Beneath the Starlight and Storms

A warm shiver slides down my back and his smile turns carnal. With one last heated look, he releases my hand and turns to make his way to the door.

The haze across my mind quickly disappears as he moves further away from me. But it also reminds me of something he said earlier.

“You said there weretworeasons. But you only mentioned one?” I ask.

The first reason was that he was the only one able to do what he did with the bracelet and also be able to find me a permanent solution. But he never mentioned what the second was.

Before reaching the door, he turns around to me, a look of delight slashed across his face that makes my stomach knot.

“When I add my energy to any item, a small… bond is formed between us,” he tells me.

A bond?What does that have to do with me?

My confusion must show on my face as his smile grows.

“Meaning once you have that little bracelet on, there’s nowhere you can run or hide that I won’t be able to find you.”

My back goes ramrod straight as I realize what he means.

I can’t take the bracelet off. He may not know why, but he knows I desperately need it and will choose it over my pride or stubbornness.

“Should you escape. Iwilleventually track you down,” he says with a dark laugh before turning back to the door.

He pauses with his hand on the handle before twisting around to look at me.

“Besides that, in twenty-four hours the bracelet will be useless to you. And unless I charge it before those hours are up, it will be drained of all its magic, becoming as ordinary as a piece of jewelry.”

My stomach drops as he finally reveals the true catch.

Flames burn through my chest as I give him a withering look. “You—”

“I guess you better get used to having me around.” Hook gives me a wicked smirk. “Looks like I’m theonlyone that can help you now.” Opening the door, he walks out of the office, chuckling to himself while I curse him from this Realm to the next.

CHAPTER9

A slashof pain echoes throughout my body as the blade comes down once more. I scramble back in the darkness, but it coils around me dragging me forward. My gasped scream falls on deaf ears as rough hands hold me down.

I scream until my throat is raw, until fire burns throughout it.

But no one comes to save me… They never do.

The blade swings down, this time hitting its target. A piercing slash of flames claw down my back followed by a shooting pain that takes my breath away.

And that’s when I hear a crack…

I bolt upwards, gasping for air as the remnants of the nightmare tries to suffocate me.

Power slithers beneath my skin, begging to be released. To come forth and rain destruction around me.

Taking a deep breath, I push it down. Just as I always have. I will it to stay beneath the surface. Beneath the broken shards and slither of darkness.

Nothing is worth the destruction of using it.Nothing.

It rumbles before answering but listens to my command as always.

Glancing around, it takes me a minute to realize where I am. The bed is soft beneath me, the room warm.

But it’s that warmth that prevents me from feeling the fresh air filling my lungs. Instead, the air turns suffocating, slowly strangling me. My eyes look for something to distract myself with but all I find are the shadows as they slide along the walls and ceiling, dragging me back into my nightmare once more.

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