Page 21 of My Hexed Honeymoon

But it doesn’t. Diego centers and grounds me, just like the vampires claimed he would.

A hint of irritation attempts to rise—I didn’t want them to be right—but then the hand Diego had planted on my hip skirts around, my heated desire pooling low in my belly.

From there he gets a little bolder, fingertips grazing the waistband of my shorts, a few inches higher than where I desperately need them.

Because now all I can concentrate on is the intensifying throb between my thighs.

It’s not even like he’s trying to seduce me, but my body didn’t get the memo, and it’s about to get carried away.

Let’s start ripping at the seam of reality. It’s not like anything could go wrong.

I do what I explained to Diego earlier, letting my vision go hazy so I can pry apart the effervescent framework that’s its own living, breathing thing.

The threads respond instantly, each fiber suddenly coming into sharp focus, their lifeforce glow amplified.

This time when I reach out, the threads don’t shy away or disappear. They start unraveling one by one, unzipping a hole in this world to reveal another.

An extra fine strand in the middle floats toward me and beckons, as if it’s been waiting and can’t take it anymore.

My center of gravity shifts as Diego lowers his mouth to the pulse point at the base of my throat, right where it connects to my shoulder.

Then he gives the spot a languid lick.

Heat spirals through me, my magic rushing up in a way I’ve never experienced before, and suddenly the entire forest fades to the background.

I’m no longer standing next to a stream; my feet are planted on dusty gray ground, instead.

“You’re doing it,” Diego murmurs, low in my ear, his voice so close and yet so echoey and far at the same time.

I draw in a trembling breath and glance around, but it’s as if someone’s blotted out the sun. Shadowy tree branches reach toward a starless midnight sky, and I tell myself the figures that seem to melt in and out of relief are merely a trick of the light.

Except there doesn’t seem to be any light.

“No arrows to point my way? A smoking caterpillar, perhaps?” I ask, my voice muffled and not entirely sounding like mine. “Absolem?”

Weird.

I swear the void hushes me, hissing in anger.

Something moves.

Not fast, not slow. Just there and then somewhere else.

Slithering through the dark. Watching and waiting.

I hear the scream before I feel it being ripped from my throat, as if discovering fear’s come for me before I even know I’m afraid.

Wait, what?

My thoughts don’t make sense, and my body’s not reacting like usual.

Eyes blink at me, two analyzing slits of white. Then a mouthful of teeth opens wide as the shadow with eyes charges.

I go to scream, but I’m already screaming.

And just like that, I’m yanked out of the darkness and returned to a forest in eastern Massachusetts.

Diego’s arms are already around me, lowering me gently to the ground. He crouches beside me, his eyes searching mine. “What did you see?”

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