Wicked Destiny - By Tiffany Stevens Page 0,83

to maintain. I dropped Viktor’s lifeless body and fell to my knees next to him. The Darkness still crawled within me and I had to get it out. So I looked to the sky and begged, “Please, guide me, for I have lost my way.” I flung my arms out and screamed, and then I slammed my palms down to the ground, beckoning for the pits of Hell to take it back. It sent a shockwave through the clearing and knocked everyone off their feet, sending them flying back.

I opened my eyes. My breathing was too out of control and my heart felt like it was about to come through my chest. I glanced behind me to see if everyone was OK. When I saw movement from everyone, relief washed through me and I collapsed. I laid there looking up at the sky and mentally saying thank you, because I couldn’t bring myself to move an inch. I was so tired, but I couldn’t close my eyes yet. I felt someone cradling me and smoothing my hair out of my face, caressing my cheek.

It was Declan.

He was saying something, but there was this loud ringing in my ears that prevented me from hearing anything. I saw Dale holding Mindy in his arms, comforting her as she cried, and Jared standing there next to them with his hand in his hair as if he was ready to pull it all out. Then there was Gabby. I was so grateful for her being here and helping Declan. If I didn’t make it, he was going to need someone to pull him through.

I was glad Shay wasn’t here to witness this. At least she was spared.

And then everything went black…

Epilogue

It’s been a month since the episode in the clearing. After I passed out Declan brought me back to my place. He felt that being back home might have sped up the process of me pulling through. It didn’t, of course. He explained that after the second day and he wondered if he should actually take me to the hospital just in case something was medically wrong. So by the third day he’d crawled in next to me in my bed and had held my hand as he fell asleep. That’s when we had our first dream date since all the chaos. I told him I had been waiting on him and that he was so late.

After a couple of exercises, I finally opened my eyes to find a teary-eyed Shay and one stressed out Declan. I wasn’t even able to get a word out before Shay’s arms were locked around my neck. Even though it wasn’t a great time to joke, I told her, “If you don’t loosen your grip, I’m going to pass out again.” She released me quick and Declan planted a long, single kiss on my forehead while he continued to smooth my hair. Looking at him, I mouthed the words, “Thank you.” That night I think we ordered pizza four times. I felt like I hadn’t eaten in weeks, well, a week actually. So there was lost time to make up for.

Shay stayed with me for about a week more. She was paranoid to leave me alone, I guess, but after a week up under each other, we needed our space. Besides, I was never alone. Declan was with me now. I insisted we live together and he willingly complied. He wouldn’t let me go back to work, though, until this week. I didn’t complain. If I could make a living just lying in bed with Declan, I would. Technically, I could, but we needed to keep things interesting. Jared would stop by and bring me all the printouts and stuff that needed a signature. He could’ve emailed it, but I knew he wanted to see me too. As it turned out, everything I saw with Shay, Jared, and Mindy that day with Simon was just an illusion. Go figure.

Today is the first day officially back at the club as the owner. Everyone knew now and it was time for me to have a better approach. So I walked to work today. It was Wednesday afternoon and I brought with me all the papers that Jared dropped off. I needed to talk with him about ordering our supplies. I heard footsteps behind me and I whipped around only to find Simon standing there.

“What do you want?” I asked as I slowly kept backing up. I was ready to sprint,