Tree Of Souls (Transfusion Saga #6) - Stephanie Hudson Page 0,70

hear whispering sweet words of seduction in my ear as I slept in his arms. I wanted his teasing, his comfort, and his strength. I wanted his dark promises of pleasure and the stern command of his dominant sexual tendencies. But I also wanted his laughter to be the answer to my jokes and the sound of his amused responses to the silly things I said. Gods, but even his growls of anger and frustration were on the list of sounds I missed.

But most of all I missed the way he loved me…even if it was for a short time and wasn’t real, I still missed it.

I missed it all.

And by the end of it all, twenty-six days since first running, I ended my journey on the last night at the very back of the ship, looking out to sea with a glass in hand. With what I hoped was the last of my tears streaming down my face, knowing that I had done it…

I had really run from the only man that I’d ever loved. All because he could never fully love me back. Maybe the Fates had got it all wrong or maybe it was just me that had? Maybe there was no such thing for me as a Chosen One or maybe it was just all bullshit and the fucking Fates didn’t mean anything.

Which was why I had lifted my glass, toasted the moon, and said,

“Fuck the Fates and fuck love…I’m done.”

Then I downed the rest of my champagne, calmly placed my glass on the deck and walked away with what felt like the whole world at my back.

That was the first night I went to bed and didn’t cry into the mirror before it. My tears had finally stopped. Because now, the moment I walked off this ship I had a plan.

And like all the ones before it, this time I knew nothing was going to get in my way.

The real journey had just begun.

Lucius

Chapter 18

Map of Thieves

“Amelia!” I bolted upright with her name being once more cursed from my lips as I called out for her in my sleep. Then I reacted as I did every time I woke after yet another fucking dream of her, I bent my knees, hung my head, and dragged both hands through my hair in frustration as I hissed a curse in at least ten different languages. Then I looked up at the room that no longer felt like my own, but more like a fucking shrine to the girl. All her stuff remained around me, untouched and waiting for what felt like the ghost of her to come back and walk into the stack of empty shoes in my closet.

I was back at Blood Rock, for there had been no reason for me to stay at Afterlife any longer. Not when I finally discovered what cruise liner she had boarded, and that the ship’s destination had been Europe. Genoa to be exact and unfortunately it came to light why she had chosen such travel.

Because even after I had discovered that Pip had been right, it had taken far too long to find the fucking ship she had taken. This was thanks to PortMiami holding the title, ‘cruise capital of the world’ for a reason, seeing as it was classed as the busiest cruise/passenger port in the world. And with over 5.5 million cruise passengers passing through the port a year, even in the space of a week, well it was a fuck load of people and cruise companies to check through. And by the time she was finally found, it had been too late… by one fucking day!

One fucking day and I had lost her again, knowing nothing more than she had arrived in the MSC Cruise Terminal at Genoa after stepping off the ship named the MSC Seaside.

So naturally, I had flown to Italy and the search began all over again and just like all the other times, it had gone cold almost as quickly as it had begun. Which meant that after a week of nothing, I returned to Germany, hoping that her passport would be flagged should she try and leave the Schengen area. Airports and all ports had also been flagged, so it was believed that she had either disappeared in Italy somewhere or she had bought herself a car and was determined to settle somewhere in Europe.

My first thought had been that she was trying to get back to the UK. But after