Page 22 of My Hexed Honeymoon

My heart thunders in my chest like I’ve run miles. Sweat slicks my skin. “Trees. Shadows. Eyes watching. Darkness for miles and miles.”

“Any signs of the Blood Loom?”

I shake my head as my lungs continue to heave with ragged breaths—I can’t catch up on oxygen, no matter how much I inhale. “There’s something else,” I manage, and panic digs in its icy claws. “Old magic.”

A few more seconds of blinking and rubbing at my eyes, and the darkness eclipsing my vision finally gives way to daylight. The darkness that remains clinging to my soul, however, isn’t fazed by the sunlight in the slightest.

Now I know why they call it the Hollow.

Wrapping my arms around myself fails to repress my shiver, and my eyes seek out Diego’s, only to find his so steady on me already.

“Whatever it is, it wants me to know it’s watching me,” I rasp, my internal temperature dropping even lower, the hot and cold fluctuations hell on my nervous system. “Kicking me out like that was a warning. It’s telling me that whatever I’m trying to take, it’s not going to let go without a fight.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The compound doesn’t getmany peaceful nights anymore. Between vampire threats, a hex that took away our regenerative properties, and a total change-up in leadership, the past couple of months have been so thick with tension that I’m half-expecting someone to snap.

It’ll probably be me, given my recent luck.

We didn’t get much celebrating done at the wedding, either, our chance to let loose interrupted. Which is why, a week later, Conall and Kerrigan decided to throw together a casual weenie roast in one of the nearby clearings.

Grilled meat, bottles of beer passed around, and a roaring bonfire. There are packages of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers on the table, many a parent telling their pups they’ll have to eat their dinner before getting their sticky dessert.

Lights with fat bulbs are strung between trees—given our supernatural sight renders them useless or too bright, I’m guessing that was Kerrigan’s addition. Point is, the entire scene radiates a chill vibe that lowers my blood pressure and makes it feel like we’re just a bunch of friendly neighbors, out enjoying a perfect summer evening.

I spent the last two hours dealing with pack matters and a meeting that couldn’t have been an email, but goddamn did it go on and on and make me wish I could send everyone an email. One that said: I make the rules, and I don’t want to hear any whining about it.

I sent a text to Natalia, letting her know the meeting was running long. I added that I could send someone to escort her to the party, or I could come collect her myself a little later, but she hadn’t replied.

Maybe that was just as well.

I make a slow lap around the perimeter, exchanging pleasantries and ensuring there’s nothing out of order before drifting closer to the fire. There’s happy chatter and laughter and an underlying hum of contentment I haven’t felt in too damn long.

I spot Kerrigan tossing her head back in laughter while Conall tries to defend himself from whatever teasing she’s laid on him. It hits me then, how easily they fit. How different things could be if my life had taken a different path.

When I volunteered to play groom so Conall could be with his soul mate, I meant it. Seeing them now, I’d do it again and again, no matter how many forks in the road it cost me.

But as much as I claimed to never want marriage and a family that could eventually be ripped away from me, their love is also a reminder of what I’ve given up.

Yeah, but would you really give up Natalia?

A voice roars from deep within, furious at the mere idea. Even though it’s against my own brain, I do my best to argue that this was supposed to be a different reality, in an alternate timeline.

The bond we forged at the wedding ceremony won’t let me even consider it, though.

Yep. That’s all it is. Nothing to do with how incredible she felt in my arms.

Or that whenever we attempted to break down all the walls the Hollow threw up, it felt like an entirely different world. One where we still sniped at each other the entire hike, but

standing linked together on that precipice of a mountain top, we felt like aTeam.Like thatus against the worldshit I’ve heard so much about but always failed to buy.

Until I saw it happen to my best friend.

Tyrese nods at my approach.

Nissa cradles her belly at his side, probably only weeks from giving birth now, and that little life—along with theirs and the entire pack’s—rests on my shoulders.

“Glad to see you could make it,” Tyrese says. He drapes an arm around his wife’s shoulders. “I figured you’d be busy with the witch in the honeymoon suite.”

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