“You don’t have to worry about it anymore, sweetie.”
“But Mom—”
“No buts.” She cut me off and lifted her finger. “Let me do this for you. Let me take that target off your back. Let me protect you the only way I know how.”
I didn’t need her protection. I needed her to be my mom. “Please don’t do this. Don’t take away something I want to keep.”
She sighed as she crossed the room to the door, passing me without a glance, and rested her hand on the knob, keeping her focus there. “It’s already done.”
“Then undo it.”
Finally, she pulled her attention to me. Her hazel eyes, so much like mine yet full of sorrow, of regret as she considered my request, caused my breath to hitch. Finally, she smiled, almost sadly. “Are you sure this is what you really want?”
“I’m sure.”
“All right, then. I’ll let Albert know the prophecy stays with you. Now, get some sleep.”
“Where are you going?”
“Syd offered up a room at the infirmary for me until I find a place to live. Since it’s the weekend, you could house hunt with me, if you’d like.”
“House hunt?”
“Well, I can’t stay at a hospital indefinitely. I need someplace to call home.”
That meant she was back. Nothing else mattered. Not the reason she left. Not the reason she’d returned. None of that hit me as hard as the fact she planned to stay. “I’d like that. Thank you for coming back.”
She smiled awkwardly in a way that shot me back to being a kid, to a time when it only took a simple gesture like a crooked smile to make my day. “I’ve got big plans in store for us.”
“Such as?” I tried not to stiffen at the comment but couldn’t stop myself. I hated surprises of any kind, especially since the last one she’d dropped on me was her disappearing for six years.
“Just wait and see. Sleep tight, baby.” She left me alone to contemplate what sort of plans, big or otherwise, she had in store.
As much as I didn’t want to sleep and wake to the news that my mom had disappeared again—it’d take a long time for me to get over that fear—I could no longer function until I had a few hours of shut-eye.
I kicked off my shoes and took a quick shower to wash the warehouse off me, then collapsed onto my bed, finding sleep immediately.
I was in the void Bryan had described, running around, screaming for help, and not making a sound. People walked in all directions, narrowly missing bumping into each other. No one spoke. No one blinked. They just shuffled around aimlessly.
And then I stopped fighting it. I stopped running, stopped screaming, and slowly wandered around in the darkness for no reason. No purpose. No desire to do anything. I became one of the catatonic zombies.
I woke to the sound of my own scream.
Well, there went any chance of me getting another wink of sleep in the next, oh, say fifty years.
After getting ready to face the day by applying makeup and doing my hair to look a little more ginger spice and a little less ginger Medusa, I debated going to the infirmary to check on my mom to confirm she hadn’t disappeared on me again. A knock made my decision.
I fully expected Clay standing there when I opened the door, since we both lived in the same house, so when Leo greeted me, it took me a minute to adjust to the piercing blue eyes and crazy wisp of blond curls in contrast to Clay’s assaulting green eyes and equally crazy wild hair. He’d showered and removed the bandage covering the lump on this forehead. He was dressed casually in nice-fitting jeans and a loose shirt the same color as his eyes, since it was Saturday and we weren’t required to wear our uniforms on weekends. “What are you doing here?”
“Hey, babe.” He walked in, pausing long enough to kiss me hello. I pulled him back and really kissed him as he tried to walk away, grateful to have one of my guys here to greet me. I pressed my body to his, forcing us backward until the wall stopped us. My tongue swayed with his. He thrust his fingers into my hair, pulling it free from the band holding it in a high, messy bun, and swung me around so my back was against the wall.
The kiss changed from a gentle welcome to one of heated hunger. The past twenty-four hours had been hell. I felt it and knew he felt it too. Now we both needed a little release. He kicked the door closed and walked me backward to my bed, losing his shirt, relieving me of mine as well along the way.
We fell to the bed tangled in each other, kissing, teasing, neither coming up for air. He trailed his lips down my neck, through the valley between my breasts, taking a hard nipple in his mouth. I arched my back as chills peppered my skin. It sent jolts of erotic energy straight to my lady bits, drenching them.
“Can’t play favorites,” he muttered and switched sides, taking the other nipple into his warm mouth and teasing me with his tongue. “Bee wouldn’t like it.”
“Huh?” I asked in a daze. What his tongue was doing was nothing compared to what his hand was now doing. He slowly ran his fingers up my inner thigh and didn’t stop until he found my clit. I almost shot off the bed when he brushed across the sensitive nerves.
“Boo was getting all the attention. Bee was getting jealous.”
“Did you just name my boobs?”
He grinned up at me. When he winked, it was a good thing I was already off my feet. My knees would have given out. His soothing touch, cool and gentle, always did that to me. “That I did. You have
