The tall demon glares down at me as if waiting for something. But what, I couldn’t tell.
A thick, deep-purple horn sits on his head like a mohawk. His skin is a similar shade but much lighter. His muscular build and eyes are black-rimmed tell me he isn’t any underling.
No, this is a higher demon, and one you did not want to mess with. Malik never mentioned he was a higher demon, but it had to be him. He said we were the only ones down here.
Maybe I could get through to him before he does something he might regret.
I still can’t move, trapped by these damn metal bands. The strange darkness is gone, leaving nothing but confusion and exhaustion behind.
“Malik? Are you in there?” I ask. But he doesn’t move an inch or speak.
“Malik. It’s Kiarra?” I try again to see if I can break through to him, to remember me, but his dead stare tells me nothing.
He tilts his head, narrowing his eyes on me as if I’m now his newest threat. He takes a step closer, a snarl on his face and glint of violence in his eyes.
My stomach drops just as he reaches out to me.
“MALIK!” I shout. Something inside me expands and settles when I do. It’s like a switch is flipped as I focus on the demon.
“Stop.” My voice doesn’t sound the same. It’s deeper, more controlled, and commanding.
Malik’s demon stops as if frozen to the spot.
My heart races in my chest as adrenaline pumps through me. The energy slithers above the surface, as if also awaiting my command.
I pull it up and the sliver of power grows. But even with this new ability, I am still trapped and don’t know how to use it to escape.
Malik is still in the same spot. The door behind him is bent in half, giving me an idea. Focusing on Malik, I concentrate on the energy running through me and grab hold of it.
“Release me,” I tell him.
Instantly, he takes a step forward, grabbing one strap with both hands and pulls.
Instead of questioning it, I allow hope to spread in my chest just as the metal strap starts to bend.
A deep growl echoes as he pulls harder, the metal a lot thicker than the one on the door. The ban stretches slightly, but just as it’s about to reach its limits and snap, Malik’s demon stops as if shocked.
What the…
He begins to shake like he’s being electrocuted. His whole body convulses in place. His purple eyes roll to the back of his head as he lets go of the straps and drops to the ground, out of my sight.
A couple of moments later, I hear a groan.
“Damn,” a familiar voice says. “What the…” The voice was definitely the same one as my neighbor.
“Malik?”
Malik stumbles up, his eyes widening when he sees me. He’s not as tall as his demon side, but still towers over me. His lilac skin is now a golden brown, and dark hair now replaces his purple mohawk horn, while soft brown eyes are in place of his purple ones.
“Kiarra?” He quickly glances behind him before turning back to me and the bands, frowning the more he stares.
“Are you going to help me out or just continue to stare?” I ask him. Confused as to why he’s stalling.
Malik glances over his shoulder again. “The guards will have called in back up by now.”
It hits me, understanding why he paused. Trying to get me out would stall his getaway.
“You should get out of here then, while you can,” I tell him. I’d figure a way out myself.
Malik releases a harsh breath. “Not an option.”
I frown, not understanding him. The door behind him was bent open, and he isn’t strapped down to anything stopping him from leaving.
“But you’re free… aren’t you?” I ask him, wondering if King had also tied him to this place like he had me in the hotel.
He shakes his head. “I can’t leave… even if I want to. It’s better I stay here,” he says like he believes every word.
“But—”
Thumps and shouts sound out, getting closer. “Looks like the guards have arrived.” Malik rolls his eyes just as they surround us.
“You know the drill.” A guard sneers just as Malik places his hands behind his head. It surprises me that he gives in so easily and that he’s not even trying to fight back.
The guard making all the demands nods his head to the others. They grab Malik, shoving him against the wall while tying his hands behind his back.
I feel the air charge as energy shifts. Malik growls out in pain.
The ties must have some sort of spell attached to them.
The leader of the group finds amusement in Malik’s pain before he turns his attention to me.
“Ah, we haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting, Ms. Valdis.” He steps closer.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Malik’s body stiffen. His gaze whips to mine. “Valdis? You’re King’s—”
The guard chuckles, cutting Malik off. He raises a brow, giving Malik a smug look. “Oh, you didn’t know? This one belongs to King.”
“I belong to no-one,” I tell him and Malik.
The guard’s cruel grin grows. “We both know that’s not true.”
Malik snarls, his eyes losing any warmth to them. “Take me back to my fucking cell.”
Malik doesn’t spare me a second glance as the guards take him back.
It’s not long before I hear the machine turn on, and the guards return. The smug guard from before appears in front of me.
Glancing at the strap, he looks over his shoulder. “Make sure you get someone down to fix her straps.”
A grunt of a confirmation is all I hear before a pair of boots gets farther away from me.
The smug guard smiles down at me, his smile anything but kind. “It’s time you find out where you belong on the food chain in here.”
The machine turns on, slicing across my body in sharp jolts. It assaults my body over and over until I can’t take it anymore. The guard’s chuckle follows me into the darkness.
A vast blackness bleeds out around me, suffocating me with the absence of even the smallest shards of shadows or light. I’m standing but can’t see or hear anything around me. It’s as if I’m blind. I reach up to feel my eyes to confirm that they are, in fact, open.
Sighing, I drop my hands, feeling stupid. My memories remind me that I was here before. Dreaming of a never-ending, ever consuming pitch-dark.
Why do I keep dreaming of this place?
This time I’m not as panicked, but the fear of being stuck here sits at the back of my mind.
I reach my hands out in front of me and begin to walk. The farther I get, the more I realize that moving is pointless. I end up nowhere fast.
It’s dark wherever I look, and no matter where I move or how long, it stays that way.
I plop down on my knees, trying to think of something else I can do. I mean, this is my dream. Technically, I should be able to control it.
Closing my eyes, I focus on being anywhere else but here. Someplace with light. I picture the sun, the way the light reflects off every surface chasing the dark away.
My body begins to feel lighter, as if slowly moving by itself.
“Kiaaarrraaa,” a deep voice growls.
I jump, getting to my feet at the eerily familiar voice that has somehow found its way into my strange dream. Whipping around, I look for the source but still can’t see anything beyond the endless dark night.
“Who’s there?” This was a dream. Just some fucked up dream my self-conscious came up with to further mess with me. But then, how did that voice follow me in here?
“Releassse meeee.” Again, it asks me to do something I can’t do for myself.
“Who are you?”
“Freeee,” it says, like I can just wave a wand and make us both disappear from here.
“If I could get myself out of here, I would.”
Something rubs up against my senses. Like a puff of smoke that slithers, it slides around me, watching and waiting.
The smoke winds around me, pressing in on me, becoming tighter and tighter.
Dread creeps in, overshadowing the fact that this is a dream. The strain around my muscles and chest feels too real to think straight.
The smoke grows, coiling around my whole body now, constricting any air from getting in.
I try to push it away but more replaces it, the invisible binds encasing me whole.
My body turns cold, my body and mind drowning in fear. This can’t be real. It’s just a dream. I repeat it over and over, but nothing changes as the coils grow upward and over my head.
My last thought are the guys and each of their faces. It takes seconds before the dark envelops me whole.
In the blink of an eye, I’m somewhere else. Somewhere with light.
I release a harsh breath. That last… dream… was fucked up. Seems even in my dreams I can’t escape death.
I’m now standing in a room, but there’s fog everywhere…
No… not fog, shadows.
They float around me like figures made of smoke. I move away from them, not wanting the same thing to happen in my last dream.
As if sensing my apprehension, they move back, clearing the space around me before completely disappearing and giving me a better idea of the room I’m in.
My stomach drops, recognizing the same room from before. The one with them in it.
Mumbles of voices grow clearer as I move toward them like a beacon.
I stop just before they come into view. A warmth builds inside my chest as I look at each of them. All still the way I remembered them.
My guys. My mates.
Kai leans against the kitchen counter, his arms crossed as he frowns at something Rion just said.
Although I can make out their voices, their words are mumbled as if I’m hearing the end of an echo.
They can’t hear me or see me, either.
This time is different, though. I’m here, but I’m not. It’s as if I’m in the world that sits right beside theirs. An invisible film keeping us parted as I watch on.
Rion is wearing his worried look, nodding at Kai’s reply.
Axel shakes his head, his angry attitude displayed on every inch of his body. Jax and Luka are standing close to one another. Neither one looking any better than the other.
Why did my dream have to make them look so worried and stressed all the time? Why couldn’t they just be happy?
Kai says something that makes Axel whip his head to him. Axel stomps across the room and upends the furniture. Kai looks exhausted as he closes his eyes briefly.
The more I look at them, the more I see how hopeless they all look. The light in each of their eyes is nearly depleted, leaving nothing but emptiness.
Even though it’s just a dream, I want to reach out to them and comfort them. To hold them and not let go.
With just the thought, they all freeze. Glancing around, they talk to one another. It’s still too muddled to hear. They start searching around, looking for something.
Luka is the only one not moving around. Instead, he’s focusing on the spot where I stand.
Moving slowly, he walks toward me, each step making my heartbeat that much faster.
Just before he reaches me, he stops. His hand reaching out but going right through me. Closing his eyes, he brings his hand to his chest.
I mirror him, closing my own eyes and placing my hand on my heart. Imagining the five strands that once used to sit there.
I remember the feeling when we bonded. The lightness and pure joy that filled me up. I wish I could feel it once more.
“Kiarra?” Luka’s tentative voice is clear as day.
I open my eyes and find Luka looking right at me, searching my face. But… how?
“Focus on us. On the bond and will yourself to us,” Luka says, but I don’t understand.
He reaches a hand up as if to touch my face, but lets it hover right in front of it. “You’re not fully here yet. Push yourself onto this plane. Please.”
Plane?
I glance around the silent room. The guys all stare in my direction.
“Kiarra? Please. Try. Feel the connection right here”—he thumps his chest—“and let it guide you to us.”
“But you’re not real,” I tell him.
Luka gives me a sad look. “We’re here. This isn’t a dream, and we’ll be back together soon; but right now, I need you to focus.”
I shake my head, stepping back just as Luka reaches out to grab me. His hand goes straight through me as a panicked look overtakes his face.
Holding his hands up, I see a tremor work through them, but his focus remains on me.
“Kiarra. Please. Please. Just try. Even if you think it’s not real, just try. Please.”
Something in my chest tightens, watching the devastation grow across his face. And even though this is just a dream, I’d give anything to take away that away.
Reaching inward, I imagine the bond once more. Of the different colors and feelings each evokes inside me.
Once I have them together, wrapped around my own strand, I reach out and grab them, pulling them closer to me.
A lightness encases my chest, spreading outward.
I stumble a step as the ground moves beneath me. My hands reach out to catch myself, but instead, someone catches me.
