I could hear his breath, it was more eventhan mine, practiced, calm. Mine? It tore out of my throat like awild animal trying to escape my body before it coulddie.
I ran desperately through the trees, butit was getting darker, and the trees were now so cram packedtogether that the canopy was impenetrable.
I threw myself against branches, and theycut my skin, tearing across my arms, hands, and cheeks.
I was slowing down. My body couldn't takeany more.
God, no!
He was right behind me now.Right behindme.
I screamed, words incomprehensible – voicenothing more than raw, pitching, primal sound.
I felt something behind me, and he reachedout a hand. He clasped it around my wrist, and he pulled mearound.
The move was so sudden, it cut mymomentum, and I swung hard to the left, arm smashing into a trunkbeside me.
I heard a crunch as something gave way inmy shoulder.
The pain was nothing whatsoever compared tothe fear as he loomed above me.
There was barely any light in this denseforest, but as I shifted to the left, as he drew something out ofhis pocket, his face tilted towards a thin line of illuminationthat made it through the dense canopy above.
I saw his face. Saw his eyes, his nose,his jaw, saw his slack lips pressed into an easy smile.
Then I saw the knife in his hands.
He let my wrist go. Before I could doubleback, draw up a foot, and kick him, he clutched a hand around mythroat. He twisted me around, dug a knee into the small of my back,and pushed me forward just as he used his arm to reveal the longline of my throat.
There was nothing I could do. The feargave way to one last final burst of adrenaline-fueleddesperation.
Then the guy leaned in to slit mythroat.
…
I woke up screaming. Which was a bad idea– as I'd slipped into the waterof the bath.
Before I could drown, two strong armsreached in, wrapped around me, and pulled me out.
My mind was frozen. It couldn't spin, itcouldn't move – it was stuck on the fact that my throat had justbeen slit.
I wasn’t usually a frantic kind of girl.Even if something truly bad happened to me, I tended to hold mycomposure. Pixies aside, at least. But right now, I becamehysterical.
I thrashed at the arms that held me, triedto jerk back, tried to look for a weapon. Or at least, until Iheard hisunmistakable voice by my ear.“It's fine. It was a vision. You're not dead. It's fine. I'mhere.”
I'm here.
I'm here.
His words were like lights leadingme out of thedarkness.
Slowly, achingly slowly, I stoppedthrashing, my body started to still, my arms fell limp, and Imanaged to suck in a much-needed breath. Though I choked from thewater still lodged in my throat, I opened my eyes.
There I was, wrapped in Max's tightembrace.
Naked.
I had been in a bath, afterall.
I was usually a private kind of girl.There wasa time and place for gettingnaked, and it sure as hell wasn't now.
But at the moment I didn't care. Icouldn't process the fact that I should be embarrassed. All I coulddo was wrap my shuddering, shaking arms around Max as I tried toconvince myself that my throat had not been slit.
“It was a vision. You saw the murderer,didn't you? It was probably not a good idea to access your skillswhile you were bathing,” he added, voice controlled.
“You're the one who told me towash,” I managed, whichwas quite a feat considering how addled I was. Butapparently, my brain could never pass up theopportunity to react toMax.
He didn't push me back, not for a longtime. When it became obvious that I wasn’t going to lose mybalance, fall back, and bang my head on the taps, he took adiscreet, careful step away. And, surprisingly, he kept his eyes onme. Or maybe it wasn't surprising – I was as flat as a brick wall.Sure, I had a great stomach, and I was super slim, but there wasnothing going on up top, if you knowwhat I mean.
Nonetheless, Max never let his eyes slip.He reached around, grabbed a towel, and furled it around my shoulders.
As soon as the soft fabric touched myskin, I huddled against it, grasping it as tightly as my stiffwhite fingers could.
“Dress. I’ll stand right outside thedoor.” With that, heturned, those camel-colored leather boots sloshing through the water that absolutelycovered the bathroom.
It was a complete mess. There were suds upthe walls, water in the sink. Hell, somehow I'd even managed to getsome on the windowsill.
Still shaking, but not about to fall over,I managed to make my way out of the bath. And I stood thereshivering on the bath mat.
… What had just happened?
What the hell had just happened?
I’d been running through a forest, thensome guy had—
“Don't think about it, yet. Just getdressed. I'll tell you what happened,” Max promised.
He’d tell me what happened, ha?
I let that promise distract me as I driedand dressed. I didn't do a thing with my sopping wet hair, just letit trail over my sweatshirt. Now was not the time forneatness.
Eventually, I mustered the courage toreach forward, twist the door handle, and open it.
There he was, leaning against the wall,head tilted my way. His expression? Well, I couldn’t quite make itout. Was it concern? Anger?Some messy combination of the two?
Maybe I should have blushed at the factthat minutes before this guy had plucked me naked out of the bath.I didn’t. I reached up a hand and protectively clutched it over mythroat.
I swore I could still feel the knife goingin.
“It was nothing but a vision,”he said as he pushed off thewall. Then, for the first time ever, he dropped his arms. He didn’tcross them defensively – he let them rest by his sides. Sure, themove was kind of awkward, and I could tell his arms would farprefer to be tightly wrapped around his chest. And yet, it seemedthere was nothing for the fairy to be defensive over at themoment.
Concerned? Sure. Because that really wasconcern flickering in his gaze. I could see it now I wascloser.
I kept a hand pressed over my throat,pushing my fingers against the skin, almost as if I couldn’tbelieve that
