Page 56 of Run Like the Devil

Well, Gorrin did at least. Hale guided Gorrin with his voice while Tyrus worked to dress Loch, covering up all her lovely skin. No doubt if Loch knew I could see her like that, she’d be embarrassed. It made it feel as though I’d glimpsed something not meant for me.

It increased that discomfort inside of me, the feeling that I would forever be on the outside looking in.Stranger, it made me want to touch her. My fingers itched to run across her skin, to find each mark there, to…

I wasn’t sure any further than that, the desire new and strange and uncomfortable.

I picked up a long, dead branch from the ground. If I could reach that through, it could serve as a guide for them to make their way out of the darkness.

Or not… The moment I attempted to put the branch through the shadow edge, the branch turned to dust, as if disintegrated by the barrier.

Inside, Gorrin had managed his way to the others, and Loch had finished dressing. It meant all I needed was to find a way out for them.

I grabbed a rock and tried to toss it in, but it met the same fate as the tree branch had.

Still, Gorrin had passed through it. That meant it only allowed living matter through? Or perhaps only sentient beings? I would have tossed one of the birds that woke me early in the morning through to test if any living matter worked or not, but seeing as they weren’t here, I didn’t have that option. I would have killed two birds with one shadow that way…

Which left me with one last option.

I went to the edge of the shadow, took a deep breath, then reached through it with just my hand.

A tingle told me I interacted with the shadow, but nothing of me turned to dust.

That was a good sign, right?

Still, my arm wasn’t that long, and I feared that if I placed the majority of my body through, I’d find myself trapped there as well.

Which left me with just one choice, one that irritated the dark places inside me, the fears that the Path magnified inside me.

I pulled my hand back through, relieved to find it still in one piece.

“I’m going to reach for you, Loch,” I called into the darkness. “Grab onto me and I’ll pull you back through. Make sure you’re all holding on to Loch as well.”

All my fears about Loch accepting me, about what I really was, I somehow was forced to face them sooner than I’d planned.

Here goes nothing…

Chapter Thirteen

Loch

It was crazy just how terrifying waiting in the darkness really was. While Yazmor said he’d reach for me, I had no idea when it was happening or from where. I could do nothing but just wait, just trust in him.

And amazingly, I did trust him. Normally, I’d have done more myself, would have wandered forward, tried to meet him. Something inside me refused to move, though. Instead, I found myself frozen in place, one of my hands held out in front of me while the other intertwined with Tyrus’. As far as I knew, Tyrus also grasped Hale who then held on to Gorrin, like some weird, super violent kindergarten line.

I jumped when something brushed my hand, especially because it didn’t feel like skin. It was smooth, hard and far firmer than anything covered in flesh should be.

And I don’t mean in the way people describe cocks as being hard like stone. That was just ego-stroking for men. No, this felt like polished wood, but it moved, with something wrapping around my hand before I could yank away.

“It’s just me.” Yazmor’s voice in the darkness should have reassured me, but boy did it not.

My brain went back to what I’d seen in the Forgotten Caves, to what he actually looked like. Had he taken that form? Why?

Because he could reach farther? I recalled just how long the limbs of the creatures from his world had been.

Even if I wanted to pull away, he didn’t give me the option. It was probably for the best.

Instead, he tugged me forward, guiding me through the blackness, not hard or fast enough to make me stumble but unwavering. That primitive part of me wanted to run away. It knew that Yazmor was a predator, the type I was in no way equipped to deal with. It wanted to yank free from his grasp and rush into the darkness, no matter how foolish that would be. Even if that part of me took over, I didn’t have the option, not with the way Yazmor grasped my wrist so firmly.

I closed my eyes, giving in because I didn’t really have another choice. I tightened my grasp on Tyrus’ hand as if that were my one lifeline.

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