Free Destiny: A Hunter's Novel, Book 3 by Felicite Lilly

just let me go.”
    “Fergus I will do anything. Let me in the circle to help her!” Az was looking over my head, his eyes blazing a red color I hadn’t seen in a long time. I closed my eyes. I knew my Granddad wouldn’t let him in.
    I was shaking violently, my body, no doubt, in shock. I was going to die alone in a spelled circle while my friends and family looked on. I gave up on opening my eyes and allowed my tears to spatter the grass underneath my head. I threw up a moment later. The pain had moved so deep, I wanted to get a sword and cut it out.
    I felt arms wrap around me. While I swam through a sea of dark dismal pain, warmth surrounded me. Familiar warmth. I continued shaking but I could hear Az in my ear as he held me on his lap whispering.
    “I love you Laney, you frustrating woman. Just hold on. Hold on, hold on…” He kept chanting it over and over.
    The amount of pain must’ve been giving me auditory hallucinations because I swore Az told me he loved me. But that wasn’t possible.
    I screamed again as the pain ate my chest and spine. With one last pierce of pain, I could feel the darkness leave me. The last pull of the book and then the feeling was gone. I looked up from where I laid on Az’s chest, trembling but less violently and utterly exhausted.
    “How’d you make it in?”
    “Nothing could keep me away from you.”
    And with those lovely words that I was sure I imagined, I blacked out. Shaking, but warm.

~X~
    “You’re so busy changing the world, Just one smile can change all of mine, We share the same soul.”
    - Jack Johnson , Angel
    I had no idea how long I’d been out for. I wanted to open my eyes, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The first thing I noticed, as I was coming around, was the absence. I could no longer feel the book and it felt like a missing limb. I hadn’t realized what kind of hold it had on me until it was completely exorcised from my system.
    My Granddad was right, I should’ve been more careful. I had always felt possessive of the book, but it got progressively worse the more I touched the book. And I was touching the book, pretty much constantly, for three days straight. It consumed my every thought. I had even dreamed about it, and at the time that hadn’t seemed weird – because I was being controlled. The darkness had gotten in and didn’t want to let go. I could understand more now about how my Father had felt being possessed by the Black Shadow.
    I heard movement next to me. I finally gathered the strength, and courage, to open my eyes. The first thing I saw was the wall of the room. The next thing I saw was a chair next to the bed that had a man’s clothes all over it. There was a pair of worn jeans, with a hole in the butt. I knew those jeans. I flopped onto my back and looked at the ceiling.
    “Thank God. I didn’t think you were going to wake up.” Az was lying in the bed next to me.
    “Did you just say Thank God ?” I croaked and laughed. When had he started praying to God?
    Az smiled hugely and I saw love in his eyes. I licked my lips and felt stitches.
    “Fergus insisted on sewing up your lip. You bit clean through it, almost bit your lower lip clean off. I told him you’d heal fine, we argued about it but he won.”
    The skin was already smooth on the inside. I wondered if I’d even have a scar.
    “What happened to the book?”
    I only asked because I couldn’t feel it anymore and was still concerned about whose hands it fell into. Az froze in shock, like he was about to have to put me through all that pain again.
    “No, I just want to make sure that it’s not going to prey on someone else.”
    Az looked visibly relieved with my explanation.
    “We all know to touch it with the gloves on. Your Grandfather has locked it up though and hasn’t let anyone near it. Spelled the vault so no one can access the book, let alone the vault.”
    Az moved his hand cautiously toward my face. He slowly brought his hand down and moved the hair