Page 74 of Virgin Lust

“What’s wrong? What’s happening?”

I splayed my fingers across Shepherd’s chest. “Don’t ask.Just listen.”

My soulmate placed his hand over mine, holding us together gently as his mouth pressed into a straight line. He wanted to understand and know what I knew. God, he was so perfect. Tears wanted to spill again. Not for the human’s sake, but for mine and his.

Shepherd was patient, so giving and accepting. I needed to be honest to him about what he was to me. He had to know I cared for him, not simply because fate put us together. With everything happening, I couldn’t hold it off anymore.

“I have something to tell you.”

He tightened his grip. In a deep and steady voice, Shepherd asked, “What’s that, Princess?”

I noticed how his figure was split between darkness and light. The soul reaper in him probably craved and demanded more from me, but Shepherd kept with my pace. I truly wanted to discover Shepherd in every way he wanted to love me.

Please let me get that chance.

We couldn’t be at the end. Not yet. I refused to believe it. There were rules. But the entity that set everything in motion never played by them. Harvest was probably responsible for the monsters. The Devil couldn’t unleash his demons until he walked through the realms.Or could he?

“After,” I promised. “But first, seek your answer within yourself. Look for the places that are disrupted in the human world.”

“How?”

“Like I said, listen. Close your eyes.”

Shepherd did as I asked, and I waited. His eyelids fluttered rapidly. I held my breath, knowing his mind showed him the horrid beings that woke me. He stumbled back before gawking at me.

“What are they?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen such creatures before.”

“They’ve risen out of the ground because of the end coming?”

“What if it’s already here?” I whispered.

He pulled me toward him. “Stop. My little immortal loses her power for several seconds, and it’s already the end? I don’t think so. Nothing is over, Prudence, until it is over. I’m not losing you.Ever.”

Love expanded my chest and lit up my soul. Shepherd had the ability to lift me up and glue me back together at the same time.

I took his hand. “Let’s go.”

“Not without us.” Dirk interrupted. The three gremlins stood together at the doorway. “We sensed your distress, my lady. With what is happening in the human world, we cannot let you both go alone.”

Twenty-Three

Prudence

Oh, Hades… What wasit?

As soon as we arrived, I lookedtowardthe beastly creature. Jaws slackened; my hand went to my chest as I held my breath and listened to the screams.So many. So loud.Bile rose in my throat. I’d never seen something so grotesque. If the diseases and unnatural weather patterns weren’t enough on the human realm, that creature would haunt them even after death.Like my vision,only half of its body was above ground.On top ofits headweretwo blazing horns.Instead ofeyes,he hadempty black socketsand amissing nose. When theabominationshrieked, I saw his giganticmouthhad no teeth either, but oh, did he have flames bellowing out. Even his body was one giant inferno.

When I stepped forward, August’s hand shot out.

“Don’t get too close,” August ordered, his arm blocking me from stepping forward with Shepherd. It had been a while since I’d seen August. He hadn’t been coming to the castle and, in that moment, he didn’t look like my greedy brother. He had an unkempt beard and blood covered his torn white shirt. It was so unlike August, a Reaper who believed in always putting his best foot forward.

My eyes bulged. “What happened?”

“It’s healed,” my brother sighed, lifting his shirt. “Why do you look so scared, Prudence?” When I stayed silent, his jaw tightened. “It’s been happening to you, too?”

I knew he referred to our powers disappearing. “Yes.” I croaked.

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