Shattered Promises 02 - Fractured Souls by Jessica Sorensen (motivational books for students TXT) 📕

inside mine and I knot my fingers through his hair, pulling him closer. He puts a sliver of space between our lips, yet it’s only to utter, “The electricity makes it so much better.”

His weight pushes down on me again and I return my arm to the side of my head so he can wrap his fingers around my wrist and pin me down once more. Knowing what I’m doing, he briefly smiles against my lips before he kisses me with so much force it feels like my body blazes as brightly as a shimmering piece of silver in the sunlight.

We kiss until our bodies liquefy from the red-hot heat, until we’re verging on the point of ripping each other's clothes off. I’m just about to undo the button of his jeans when a scream rips through the air. I freeze. I know the sounds far too well.

Death Walkers.

Alex is on his feet before I can even register what’s happening, then grabbing ahold of my hand, he lifts me to my feet, his strength suddenly back.

“Where’s Laylen,” I say, glancing around at the dimly lit cave.

“I’m not sure.” He looks worried as he stuffs the gem into his pocket and rushes over to the trunk. He selects a small, silver-bladed pocketknife from the bottom, and then dashes over to the ladder, glancing up at the land above.

“Stay behind me at all times,” he commands, gripping the knife in one hand and the step of the ladder in the other.

I nod and follow him up the ladder, wishing I had a knife of my own so I could at least try to protect myself. I hate this feeling of being helpless yet I seem to experience it a lot.

I stay behind him as he told me to while he slides down the rocky hill and then winds through the bushes and trees. We can’t find Laylen anywhere and the farther we walk, the more worried I get that he might be in some serious trouble.

More clouds have rolled in and the sky is nearly black. I can hear the sound of thunder rumbling and the snap of lightening as it blazes across the sky. As we reach the heart of the trees, rain begins to trickle down from the sky and splatter on the leaves and dirt, making the ground a muddy mess. Shriek after shriek echoes through the forest, growing louder as we hike further.

Finally it becomes so deafening that it’s evident we’re close to one of them. Stopping behind a large tree, Alex sticks his hand out to hold me back, pressing the knife out in front of him.

“Gemma, if anything happens—”

“I know, I know. Run. Hide. Save myself,” I say because he’s always telling me this. Usually it’s because of the star, but now I wonder if his concern for me might be deeper.

His mouth quirks in amusement. “You and your sarcasm—” A shriek silences him.

Then we hear it. The voice. A very familiar one belonging to a traitorous, tricky, devious half-Faerie, half-Foreseer. Alex puts a finger up to his lips and then pushes me back behind him so I’m pressed up against the rough bark of the tree trunk.

“I can’t believe this,” Nicholas says. “I can’t believe she managed to drag all of us here with her.”

There’s a pause.

“Well, it would have been a lot better if she hadn’t dropped us in the middle of the lake,” Nicholas says, fuming.

There’s another long pause and then he starts cursing under his breath. Raindrops pour down on top of us, soaking our skin and clothes at the same time that it pitter-patters against the canopy of leaves and branches above our heads. I’m drenched and it’s smothering a lot of the noises, but I clearly hear a shriek on the other side of the tree.

With the knife to the side of him, Alex peeks around the corner of the tree trunk then quickly leans back and shakes his head.

Who is it? I mouth.

He shakes his head, and then rubs his hand across his face, attempting to erase the uneasiness in it.

“I know, but where are they?” Nicholas continues on.

Another shriek shakes the trees and ground around us, causing leaves to break from the branches. The temperature rapidly shifts and the raindrops turn to ice droplets that ping against our skin. Alex holds his arm above my head, shielding me from them, but many of them still hit me and welts begin to form all over my skin.

“Would you stop doing that!” Nicholas screams and I’m starting to question if he’s having a one-sided conversation.

Either that or he speaks Death Walker.

My eyes widen at the thought. Shit, does he? I aim a pressing look at Alex and mouth, Death Walkers.

He looks reluctant as he presses his lips together, refusing to answer me. The strangest fear starts to rouse inside me as I realize that we still haven’t found Laylen and that Alex looks like he’s going to be sick.

“Would you stop smelling the blood!” Nicholas cries as thunder booms and lightening snaps.

Blood! Oh, no, please, please don’t let it be Laylen. I start to run around the tree trunk and dive headfirst into the madness, not caring about anything but making sure that Laylen’s okay.

Alex snags me by the arm and drags me back to him. I fight to get away, but he cradles me against his frozen wet chest and I bury my face into it listening to his heart as I feel my own heart pleading to stop beating. Not Laylen. This can’t be happening. He means too much to me. So much and I need him.

“He tried to attack me first.” Nicholas snaps and it’s overlapped by the sound of the crisp raindrops. “It was self-defense. Besides, you would have frozen him to death anyway.”

There’s a pause and it becomes pretty clear that Nicholas can be verbal with the Death Walkers. The only other person I’ve seen do this is Stephan and it makes me wonder why?