Seraphina’s POV
The morning air was crisp and carried the scent of approaching autumn as I loaded my overnight bag into the back of my modest sedan. The drive to the northern territories would take most of the day, but this trip couldn’t be postponed any longer.
"I still don’t like this," Damien’s deep voice rumbled behind , his arms wrapping around my waist as he pulled back against the solid wall of his chest. Even through my jacket, I could feel the heat radiating from his body.
"You worry too much," I teased, leaning into his embrace and tilting my head back to et those devastatingly blue eyes. "Besides, I’m practically superhuman now, rember? I can heal people with my bare hands. A little road trip should be nothing.” I assured him, turning in his arms to press a soft kiss to his lips.
Adrian ca bouncing out of the apartnt building, his backpack slung over his shoulders and his silver-blue eyes bright with excitent for his day at school.
"Mommy, are you really going away?" he asked, his small hand finding mine as he looked up at with those impossibly beautiful eyes.
I knelt down to his level, smoothing his dark curls with gentle fingers. "Just for a few days, sweetheart. Ophelia and Damien are going to take care of you while I’m gone. You’ll have so much fun together, you might not even miss ."
"I’ll always miss you." Adrian said solemnly, throwing his small arms around my neck with the fierce intensity that only children could manage.
I hugged Adrian tighter, breathing in his familiar little-boy scent of soap and sunshine. "You be good for Damien, okay? Listen to what he tells you, and rember that I’ll be back before you know it."
"I’ll be super good," Adrian promised, pressing a sloppy kiss to my cheek. "And I’ll take care of Damien too, ’cause he gets sad when you’re not here."
Both Damien and I went very still at Adrian’s matter-of-fact observation. Out of the mouths of babes.
"Adrian’s right," Damien said quietly, his hand settling on the small of my back with gentle possessiveness. "I do get sad when you’re not here. So co back to us quickly, okay?"
"I promise," I whispered.
An hour later, I was on the highway heading north, the city skyline of Silver Moon Harbor shrinking in my rearview mirror. The first few hours of driving were pleasant enough—rolling hills covered in autumn foliage, small towns that looked like postcards, the occasional glimpse of distant mountains.
But as the day wore on and I traveled deeper into the northern territories, the landscape began to change. The cheerful farms and quaint villages gave way to dense forests and rocky outcroppings. Towns beca sparse, then nonexistent. The roads grew narrower and more winding, and cell phone service beca spotty at best.
The GPS on my phone had lost signal twenty miles back, leaving to navigate by the increasingly unreliable road signs. According to the last marker I’d seen, I should be approaching the town of Pine Ridge within the next few miles, where I’d planned to stop for the night at a small inn.
Instead, I found myself on what seed like an endless stretch of empty asphalt cutting through a tunnel of evergreen trees. The temperature was dropping as darkness fell, and I cranked up the heater while trying to ignore the way my hands had begun to shake on the steering wheel.
That’s when I saw the lights in my rearview mirror.
At first, I felt a rush of relief. Another car ant civilization, other people, the possibility of help if my ancient sedan decided to give up the ghost in the middle of nowhere.
The vehicle behind was gaining fast, much too fast for the winding mountain road. As it closed the distance, I could see it was a large truck with high-mounted headlights that flooded my car with harsh white light, making it impossible to see anything else in my mirrors.
I slowed down and moved as far to the right as possible, expecting the truck to pass. Instead, it pulled up directly behind , so close I could hear the rumble of its oversized engine over my own.
My heart began to pound as the truck’s lights flashed in my mirrors, nearly blinding . The driver laid on the horn, a long, aggressive blast that echoed through the forest like a battle cry.
"What the hell?" I whispered, pressing harder on the accelerator. But my little sedan was no match for whatever monster truck was pursuing , and within monts I could feel the vehicle bumping against my rear bumper.
The truck ramd again, harder this ti, sending my car lurching forward and nearly into the trees on the right side of the road. I fought to keep control of the wheel, my knuckles white with strain as I tried to maintain my course on the increasingly treacherous road.
The truck hit a third ti, and this impact sent my car skidding sideways across the asphalt. I felt the wheels catch on sothing—a pothole, a piece of debris, I couldn’t tell what—and suddenly the world was spinning.
Everything happened in slow motion and at lightning speed simultaneously. The car rolled once, twice, the sound of crashing tal and shattering glass filling my ears as the world turned upside down. I felt the seatbelt cutting into my chest, felt my head slam against sothing hard, felt the taste of blood fill my mouth.
Then everything went black.
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