Page 21 of Loving Nightmares
“I don’t know a lot about my magic,” Nia admitted, “most of it’s instinct. But when we’re hurt, we take longer to heal if our magic is drained, which is what’s happening with Arabella. I couldn’t give her a lot, but it will help a little.”
“I’m sure it will help,” I said evenly. “Thank you, Nia.”
The girl stepped away, offering us an awkward smile. “When she wakes up, can you tell her that the others want to see her? We love Isla, but the boys shifted out of their wolf forms and they want to meet her officially.”
“We’ll tell her,” Damian assured, and the girl was gone as fast as she’d arrived.
Blackwell shook his head, stepping fully into the room before letting out a long exhale. “We have a problem.”
“How much of a problem?”
“Large scale, semi-time sensitive,” Blackwell said as he handed me a tablet, Ashur joining us. It was open to a human news website showing a picture of a walled community with military forces outside of it.
“All throughout the country, these small nightmare communities are surrounded by MAM forces—clearly a coordinated effort on War’s part.”
“But they haven’t attacked yet?” I frowned.
“I think he planned to attack here first,” Damian said, apparently having already pondered this for a while. “Or maybe he planned to use this to keep us distracted from a larger effort he had planned.”
“That sounds right,” I agreed. I didn’t know much about War—even during my time, we hadn’t run in the same circles—but every decision he made seemed calculated.
“The news article doesn’t seem in favor of MAM,” I said, scanning through it.
“They aren’t, but they also aren’t pro-nightmare. They’re more neutral than most.” Blackwell frowned. “Then again, I don’t know much about the human news stations. Everything I know is from what Arabella has told me.”
Saying her name brought my attention back to the woman in question. Her eyes fluttered slightly as she turned her head but continued sleeping. The youngsis metawas right—she would be up soon.
“We need to tell her everything,” I said as I moved to the other side of the bed, kneeling down and intertwining her hand with mine. I skated my lips over it and nearly willed her to wake up. The others continued to talk about the article as Ashur looked over it further, but I was listening to everything that was Arabella.
Her pulse.
The beating of her heart.
Her even breathing.
I could hear the rush of blood through her veins and the slight twitch of her muscles as she began to shift beneath the covers. She would wake up soon, and I would get the pleasure of seeing those unique eyes open to me.
Until that happened, though, I would be right here waiting.
9
ARABELLA
The first thingI absolutely knew as I came to consciousness was that Amun was in bed with me. His familiar scent was wrapping around me like his magic, in a possessive and claiming way, and his voice was in my ear as he softly recited something in Coptic. I couldn’t focus enough to understand what exactly he was saying, but it was soothing to my ears and I could feel the emotion saturating his voice.
“Precious,” Amun said softly, “are you waking up?”
Not quite awake enough for words yet, I let out a soft sound of agreement, listening to the rest of the room to see if any of my other mates were present. I didn’t think they were, and I worried that maybe the danger wasn’t over, that War was still a problem and that was why they weren’t here—but our bond didn’t feel full of tension, at least not enough to make me think they were in trouble. Instead the soft lull of the connection to all of them ran under the one between Amun and me, which was particularly vibrant because of his proximity.
“Take your time,” he whispered, tucking a piece of wild, wavy hair behind my ear and kissing the shell of it. My toes curled at the sweet gesture, and it convinced me to try to open my eyes,which felt heavy like the rest of my body. I wasn’t sore, just…hazy?
I felt relatively good outside of that, though.
“Where is everyone?” I asked, finally blinking my eyes open. I was facing a wall with Amun behind me, his arm secured around my waist.
“That is something you may want to be fully awake for,” he rumbled.
Wellthatwoke me up fast. I turned into him—mind you, far slower than normal—and searched his gorgeous, vibrant eyes. “What do you mean? Is the institute still in trouble? Did it not work?”
