Free Sundered by Shannon Mayer Page B

stacking to keep Nero busy. Washing up with the water I’d pulled out of the well earlier, I went inside as the summer sun began to set, catching a glimpse of myself in the hallway mirror. I paused and really looked at myself. A few short weeks ago my life had been about ease and getting pregnant and now, I looked like a . . . I didn’t even know what I looked like. I was deeply tanned, something I’d avoided the last few years, my hair had already lightened, the dark brunette getting a good dose of red highlights, and from the mirror it looked as if I’d lost fifteen or twenty pounds. My clothes hung off my frame, no longer fitting me, something I hadn’t noticed with all the chaos. Even my face had slimmed, my cheekbones becoming more prominent, the shape of my face more defined.
     
    I shook my head, what did it matter now? It wasn’t like we were going to have children or go on vacation somewhere warm where I could show off my body in a two-piece.
     
    Three glasses of water and leftovers from breakfast, cold oatmeal and a half of what was my attempt to make pancakes the day before was what made up my lunch. Yum-my. Exhausted, I dropped onto the couch; fell asleep in minutes. But, not before I made sure my knife was tucked into the cushion beside me, and Nero was curled up behind my knees.
     
    I dreamed about Sebastian, that we were on our long-awaited honeymoon. There was a beautiful blue ocean, clear to the bottom. Maybe the Caribbean or somewhere in Hawaii—I didn’t know and didn’t care, he wasn’t sick. I could see that even though he was down the beach from me, his skin was tanned and healthy, not a single yellow tinge on him.
     
    I looked down at myself in, hell yeah, a two-piece and a white gauzy sarong around my now-slim hips, the kind the super models wear on a beach shoot. I looked up and Sebastian was gone.
     
    “ Bastian?” I said, my voice eaten up by the waves and the sound of the crashing surf.
     
    “ I’m here, babe.” He was behind me, his arms circling around my waist.
     
    I leaned into him. “I thought you were gone.”
     
    He kissed my temple and let go of me, I spun in the wet sand but he was already down the beach, walking slowly, bending every now and then to pick up something from the sand. I laughed and ran towards him, sprinting to cover the short distance. But no matter how hard I ran, no matter that he was only walking, I couldn’t catch him.
     
    “ Sebastian, wait for me,” I yelled, out of breath and no longer feeling so sexy.
     
    He didn’t turn back, just kept on walking as if he couldn’t hear me, his broad back quickly disappearing into the distance.
     
    “ Sebastian!” I screamed, throwing myself out of the dream and off the couch, thumping hard on the wooden floorboards, Nero waking up with a snort.
     
    Footsteps pattered on the porch out front, multiple feet running. Shit, shit, shit. I gulped down a breath and slid to the window, peeking up over the sill. There were four of them and one of me. This was not good, not good at all.
     
     
     
     
     

12
     
     
     
    What felt like an eternity, yet was probably only ten seconds, passed as I tried to come up with a plan. The doors weren’t locked and the Nevermores didn’t seem to have the fine motor skills it would take to work the handle. But I had no doubt they would break glass trying to get at me.
     
    “ Thought you said there were people here.”
     
    The man’s voice startled me and I nearly popped up and waved at what I realized with great relief were humans, not Nevermores. A tingle in my stomach held me to the ground though, waiting, Nero let out a low growl and I clamped my hand over his nose. “Shhh,” I whispered.
     
    “ I saw the bitch in my binoculars, she’s here somewhere. The big guy left this morning.”
     
    A second man with a deeper tone spoke. “Come on, let’s get inside, that one at the front gate is staring at me, he’s creeping the bejeesus out of me.”
     
    “