*Zara*
It felt as if my heart stopped beating when Noah announced that our baby was now in the clutches of an evil sorcerer. My chest felt tight and empty. I doubled over against the bed, my breaths coming out in harsh pants.
Noah kept a firm arm around , his free hand rubbing my back soothingly. “Zara, you need to calm down and breathe normally,” he pleaded, panic lacing the edges of his stern tone.
I tried to listen to him, knowing that my having a breakdown wasn’t going to help bring Briella back. Helplessness seized , and I shook violently.
Noah cursed before looking around the room. He grabbed the thick quilt I had been sleeping with and completely swaddled in it before wrapping his huge arms around . He crushed to his chest, murmuring in my ear.
“It’s going to be alright, Zara,” he said fiercely. “We’re going to find her. We’re going to be alright. I’m here now.”
Very slowly, my breathing began to even out. I clung to Noah as if he were a life support. In a lot of ways, he was. If he hadn’t co, I would have likely continued to spiral downward in my despair.
I finally stopped shaking, but my breathing hadn’t quite gone back to normal. “Noah, I–”
“Shh,” he hushed harshly, his arms tightening around . “Don’t speak yet, Zara. Focus on your breathing.”
I gritted my teeth and obeyed, counting my breaths in ti with Noah’s wildly beating heart. He was worried about . If we were in a much different predicant, I would have lted at how sweet he was.
I couldn’t even be truly happy that I was finally reunited with my mate. I was relieved that he was alive and well and hadn’t died in the war, but I couldn’t stop thinking and worrying about Briella.
“Noah,” I tried again.
“Are you alright?” he interrupted, pulling away slightly so he could look down at with a strict expression. “If you start breathing like that again, I will put all of my body weight on top of you.” There was no humor in his voice, so I believed him.
I sucked in a breath but shook my head. “I’m fine now,” I said, which sounded strange to my ears because I felt anything but fine. I bit my lip hard before looking up at him. “I just had a terrible nightmare.”
“Oh, love,” Noah said tenderly, his hand going up to my cheek. “I’m sorry. I promise it was just a dream. We’re going to find Briella.”
“No, it wasn’t just a dream,” I argued fervently. “Malphas was in it.”
Noah’s entire face darkened, his jaw clenching. He had just spent all this ti calming down, but it looked like he was about to go off the rails now. “What happened in your dream?” he asked finally, his voice thick with tension.
“It was awful, Noah,” I cried, clenching my teeth hard so they wouldn’t chatter. Noah stiffened like he wanted to wrap up in a blanket again but knew he had to let get this out. “There was so much darkness and fire. He, Malphas, told that I had to give Briella up as a sacrifice.”
“Like hell you do,” Noah bood, already growing angry, even though I hardly told him anything yet.
“He had Briella,” I continued, hating the way my heart rate spiked as I rembered the horrifying nightmare. “He was holding her in his arms and cradling her. He said it was his right to keep her.”
“How could he co to that ridiculous conclusion?” Noah wanted to know, his teeth clenched.
I was nervous to tell him the next part, even though I had no mory of actually betraying Malphas. I had never seen him before in my life. “He told I had betrayed him long ago, in another lifeti.”
Noah looked appropriately disturbed, gazing at as if I was speaking another language. It made want to start crying all over again. His expression looked just as lost as I felt.
I was shaking again. “He was so scary, Noah,” I said. “He had these ugly horns and dark red skin that made him look sinister. And each ti he chuckled at ...” I couldn’t finish, my whole body beginning to shudder.
Noah pulled against his chest again. “He won’t touch you,” he vowed. “I swear to you, Zara. I won’t let him touch you, and he’ll pay dearly for taking Briella from us.”
My heart lurched at his promise, but I knew he couldn’t truly an it. “Don’t say that,” I pleaded with him. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but Malphas made it very clear that if I wanted to get Briella back, I would need to return to him.”
Noah laughed without humor. “What are you saying, Zara? You can’t return to him if you were never with him to begin with. You’ve never seen him in person before, even if he has sohow haunted your dreams.”
“He knows ,” I told Noah in a hollow voice. I knew that I must have sounded crazy, but he needed to hear this. “Maybe not in my current lifeti, but in the past, I did sothing to betray him, and now he wants revenge. He’s going to use our daughter to get it.”
“No, Zara,” Noah said fiercely. “We’re not going to let him hold sothing over you, even if he’s right about your past life. That isn’t who you are now.”
Tears pricked the back of my eyes as I rembered Malphas’ cruel touch. “He touched in the dream,” I choked out. “He said I was his bride and needed to return to him.”
Noah growled low in his throat and gripped tighter, his hold protective. “Never,” he told firmly. “You’re mine, Zara. I won’t let him touch you. You are not his bride. You are not his anything. Don’t be afraid. I won’t let him anywhere near you.”
Fear gripped , despite Noah’s reassurances. “Noah, I might have to return to him to save Briella.”
“No, Zara,” Noah said so fiercely that I reeled back slightly. “He cannot hold whatever this is against you. We don’t even know if he is telling the truth. I won’t let you sacrifice yourself. I promise you that we will rescue our daughter from that bastard at any cost.”
I relaxed slightly, knowing that Noah was right. There was no way to know for certain if Malphas was being truthful in the dream.
Except, perhaps there was.
“Perhaps the best action we can take now is to try to contact your aunt, Sasha,” I said, thinking the words as I said them aloud.
Noah’s eyebrows furrowed with confusion. “Aunt Sasha?” he echoed. It was clear he didn’t understand how contacting her could help the current situation.
I was desperate for insight into the shadowy mystical forces that threatened us. We didn’t know where Briella was. Maybe we could find the answer this way. “Rember what Eva told us?” I asked Noah rhetorically. “If we need to reach her, we can do so through your aunt.”
“Eva?” Noah repeated, sounding like a broken record. This wasn’t like him at all. Was it possible that he was even more stressed out than I was? He normally understood my thinking much quicker than this.
“I think it’s finally ti for to learn about the sigils on my back,” I said in a slow, grave voice.
Understanding spread across Noah’s face, and his eyes darkened as he processed the aning behind my words.
“But how will that lead us to Malphas?” Noah asked.
My lips tightened. “He’s sohow contacting through my dreams,” I said, although I wasn’t completely sure what I was saying. “Maybe it won’t lead us to him, but I think finally seeing those traumatic visions could help us understand Malphas and why he wants .”
Noah wasn’t happy about it, judging from his grave expression, but he nodded seriously, seeming to agree that it was the best course of action we could take.
We sent a ssage to Sasha. After a few long, restless days, she finally got back to us.
“Eva has received your ssage. Due to the urgency of the situation, she has agreed to et with you on a mysterious island across the ocean,” Sasha told us, her grim voice coming through the phone’s receiver with an echo-like quality. “I will send you the coordinates soon. The best of luck to both of you.”
“Thank you, Aunt Sasha,” Noah said with deep gratitude.
We hung up the phone and then looked into each other’s eyes. Noah’s dark blue orbs were filled with anxiety but determination as well. He gazed down at with an unfathomable amount of love despite his warring emotions.
I knew the emotion in my eyes was a perfect reflection of his.
We received the coordinates less than an hour later. As soon as we had them in hand, we departed for the island.
Noah squeezed my hand as we boarded the jet that would take us to the island. Caleb and several other Drogomor warriors were joining us for the mission.
Noah was all business once we were joined by the n. I marveled briefly at the way he commanded them. They bent to his will, to his power.
Despite everything, I felt my face grow warm.
Noah and I buckled into our seats. When he moved to look over at , his face twisted in concern. His hand ca up to my forehead tenderly. “Zara, are you feeling alright? You look a little flushed.”
I smiled slightly at his concern, wondering if that was the first true smile I had offered in a while. “I’m fine,” I assured him. “Just a little anxious. I need Briella back in my arms.”
Noah nodded in grim understanding. Although he was putting on a brave facade, I knew he was just as if not more worried than I was. Briella was his little angel, the light of his world.
The journey to the island was long. I attempted to sleep once or twice but quickly gave up when it felt like my heart was trying to burst from my ribcage. Worry gnawed at my gut and caused to fidget in my seat throughout the ride.
We were probably about fifteen hours into the flight before my eyes finally started to droop shut. As soon as my eyes were closed and I was starting to drift toward delicious unconscious, Noah grasped my shoulder.
“Zara, wake up. We’re here.”
I rubbed at what had to be extrely dark circles under my eyes before obediently turning to look out the window that Noah was gesturing toward.
The world below us took my breath away. Lush jungle spanned as far as the eye could see, filled with exotic plants and vibrant colors. The sun was just beginning to set, casting a gorgeous glow over the otherworldly land.
Noah squeezed my hand and tugged out of my seat so we could disembark. I stumbled slightly, fatigued from the long trip. Noah kept a firm arm around and cast a concerned glance my way, but he didn’t say anything.
When we stepped off of the jet, I was again srized by the gorgeous world we had fallen into. We found ourselves at a beautiful island resort with modern fixtures and palm trees sprinkled throughout.
Noah thanked our pilot before pulling along toward the pretty resort. I glanced briefly at his hard expression and was quickly and rudely reminded that we weren’t there to enjoy the beautiful resort. My stomach dropped, and I had to swallow back my tears.
A vacation was the furthest thing from what we were here for.
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