Page 8 of Night Fury
Her eyes narrowed. “Say that one more time and see what’s going to happen to you. You might be a vampire, but I can and will be more than happy to kick your ass.”
Luke couldn’t help but smile, even as she huffed. “You’re right, I’m sorry.” He sighed, leaning back in the chair. “On the plus side, Greg already chewed me out for being negative. Will that make you take pity on me?”
Dani pulled up a chair, turning the back of it to face him before she sat down, crossing her arms on the top. “Technically speaking, I have been taking pity on you, even though you’ve been ignoring me.”
“I have not—” He stopped at her glare and squeezed the bridge of his nose before softening more into the chair. “I’m sorry.”
Dani looked him over before sighing as well. “It’s okay. I understand, I do, and I know this isn’t something I can fix for you. I also know Mya was worse. With Erik, I mean.”
Luke gulped at the reminder of his cousin broken by the death of her mate. He had to clear his throat before he could speak. “I guess she was, but it’s hard to see a difference between her and I right now.” His gaze moved to the ceiling, studying the mosaic of lines and curves within the woodwork to try to silence his self-deprecating thoughts.
“There are differences,” she said, and he met her eyes. “You still have hope, and you haven’t given up. You’re angry. You have every right to be, and I know how easy it is to turn that anger onto yourself, but you still have hope. You might think that’s a weakness, but that’s the hardest part of it all. That hope is your strength, Luke.”
Luke stared at her, really stared at her for a moment. Then he stopped and thought about her circumstances. Daniella lost her mother when she was young, which had caused her to go into the foster system. That trauma was why she’d worked her ass off and hadn’t made time for the small things that made her happy. While a parental bond was not a mate bond, the grief felt was the same, and even though Daniella was hundreds of years younger than himself and his family, at times she seemed to be wiser than all of them put together.
Dani squeezed his wrist with her hand. “I know you’ll find Johanna and that the two of you will be a wonderful, beautiful couple. I don’t need anyone to tell me that. I know because I believe in you. You helped me turn my life around, Luke, and I wouldn’t have found the joy and love I have now without you.”
Her eyes began to water, and Luke bit his lip to stop from succumbing to tears as well.
“You will get her back, Luke. I swear it. I’ll help you get your mate, and once you have her, I’ll help you keep her. I promise. Even if I have to scream your praises from the top of every rooftop to convince her. You’re not alone. If you can’t believe in yourself, believe in me. I won’t let you down.”
Luke wrapped his arms around her, and they sunk into the embrace as he tilted his head back to keep his tears at bay. Finally, when he could speak, he whispered to her, “I believe in you. Even if I can’t believe in myself, I’ll always believe in you.”
CHAPTER 5
It hurt. Everything hurt. Every single piece of her felt as though it was both on fire and numb at the same time. Her legs barely moved on their own.
That she had made it this far was purely due to her will power. Johanna couldn’t open her eyes to navigate. The only thing guiding her was the touch of the rough cavern wall. She’d lost the strength to stand away from it, and now allowed it to cut into her skin as she dragged herself forward, inch by inch. The protection of her clothing was gone, either from when Zachariah had torn it from her, her fight to break free, or taken by the wall itself. Each jagged curve of rock pressed into her skin, and the more she fought against the blackness calling to her, the more she allowed the wall to cut into her. The pain kept her awake, kept her alive, for now. But for how long was the question.
Zachariah knew. Somehow, he had found out that she had leaked information. Johanna didn’t think he was one hundred percent certain, but he suspected her, and that was enough to damage her body beyond repair. After all, how many times had he done it before?
A rock pressed against her wrist, causing her to hiss. She bit her lip, forgetting it too was busted, and winced as pain shot through her again. Still, she continued to move, but how much longer could she go on?
Why was she moving again?
Why wasn’t she giving up?
She paused for a moment as a face came into her mind. Ah, him. That’s why. Luke.HerLuke.
Some deity probably laughed at her claim over her mate. A man who deserved and could do much better than her. He wouldn’t have wanted her even back when she was whole, back when her skin was not covered in cuts and stab wounds, serrated and hanging away from her body, back when she had not been tainted by Luke’s very own enemy, when her mind, her very body, had not been stolen from her.
But still, Luke was hers, and in her dreams he wanted her. He was who she pictured when Zachariah abused her. It was Luke’s arms she’d grown accustomed to as her safe place. It was him she envisioned when she entered the sanctuary of her mind, the one place that Zachariah couldn’t reach, the place that her consciousness escaped to when he poisoned her. In Johanna’s mind she could run her fingers through Luke’s soft ash brown hair and she could stare into his green-gray eyes, the same eyes that made the whole world melt away until there was nothing left. If Luke saw her now, her once golden hair matted in blood, dirt, mud, and shit, her skin covered in the same suet, those eyes would harden. He’d be disgusted, as disgusted as she was with herself. Still, even though it would hurt, she wanted to gaze into those eyes one more time.
Johanna had done everything she could to help him, to protect him. She had even masked their mating bond until she’d seen him in the cave, until she had to feel him, had to connect with him just for a moment, even if it was the first and last time. She’d given up on being saved from Zachariah and had thought she’d accepted her fate to die at his hands. But even though that may be her destiny, she refused to let anyone else follow the same path. She’d saved people when she could, helped them escape, and controlled Zachariah’s own vampire allies to allow their departure, so when he condemned someone, it would be them.
Perhaps that’s why she never blamed the gods. Johanna was just like the villains who held her captive. She judged them and decided their lives were worth nothing. They were just as responsible for every injury, every scream she and the others endured. If those bastards died, Johanna’s heart hurt for the lives they could have had, but the warrior in her soul—the one she had grown to be, the one who promised to outsmart her enemy at every turn— said “Good riddance.” That’s how far she’d fallen.
She had to stop herself from laughing at the irony of her circumstances. Johanna had been willing to die until the moment Zachariah tried to kill her. Then she wanted to live. Now, at this very moment, she wanted to breathe, to be free. But that wouldn’t come for her. No. She was just as evil as they were, taking another’s life and finding joy in their deaths.
She had become the very monster she strove to protect against.
Johanna sunk to her knees, her legs no longer working. Blood seeped out of her scrapes and cuts, but poured from the stab wound to her side, the one that she knew would kill her.
She rested her head back against the wall and cried silently, until finally she couldn’t hear, couldn’t feel, couldn’t taste. She simply was. And in that moment, just one more time, she saw his face.
Goodbye, Luke. I’m sorry I never got to truly know you. I’m sorry I couldn’t be the mate you deserved. But I hope, at least, with my death, you’ll be free.
And then she slipped away into nothing but the cold, dark black.
