It was over too fast, I thought as I dropped his lifeless body to the ground and shifted, stumbling to the edge of the cliff.
Throwing my head back, I howled with grief, the pain so stark it tore out of me with enough force to make my chest burn.
“Ren!” I roared, my throat straining from the force of my cry before I heard a chuckle, and Cole shoved me to the side.
“Jesus, Caleb, slow your roll, man. If you want to act so bad, maybe you could wait till Ren’s healed and then go try your luck in Hollywood. You’d give Diane Keaton and run for her money”. He muttered, falling to his knees and peering over. “She didn’t fall all the way down, man. Look.” He said softly, laughing when I blinked and peered over the edge, my heart stuttering when I saw her.
Lying on a ledge.
“Oh, God.” I groaned, almost collapsing sideways with relief while males all around chuckled, and Trey started to wail dramatically, mimicking my moment of pain.
“You’re never gonna live this down,” Walker muttered, falling beside me while he wheezed and peered at Ren as well, his eyes softening.
“I don’t need to live anything down. All I need is her. Alive.” I whispered, relief making my blood rush so hard I felt light-headed. “Ren is life.”
“Caleb. That’s sappy as hell. Is this what we can expect?” Trey laughed, already coordinating ropes and pulleys so we could lower down and grab my mate.
“Likely. Did you see him wail?” Cole asked, snorting when I snarled and threw them both dirty looks.
“I was grieving. I thought my mate was gone!” I yelled defensively when Walker laughed.
“I’m telling her when she wakes up. Oh boy, she’s going to love this.” Trey mused, his eyes sparkling with unshed tears as we all settled and got to work.
I hoped so.
Because I loved Ren Chase.
The crazy, stubborn, impossible female who had woken me from my nightmares and given me a dream when she burst into my life.
Chapter 28 Ren
My eyes opened slowly, and I moaned as a throb lit off in my temples. It took a minute, but clarity hit me, and I understood that something bad had happened.
“Oh, Lord. Why me?’ I huffed as my eyes took everything in.
I wasn't a bad person and tried not to hurt others. Why was this happening to me? Was this hell?
You know, it doesn’t feel hot. Of course, hell could be temperate and livable. Stranger things have happened.
“Oh God, I died before I watched the new season of Stranger things!” I yelled, horror filling me because now I wouldn’t know if Hopper lived.
The inhumanity!
“Serendipity. You are crazy.” I heard my eyes blinking open fast and landing on Grammy where she was sitting on a white bench, in a white…
“Are we in the Harry Potter train station where Dumbledore had that epic and very uninformative last talk with Harry?” I gasped, rolling my eyes because, of course, I’d end up here in the afterlife.
All I needed now was to find Voldemort’s weird, creepy little fetus-looking chunk of flesh cowering under the bench, and as soon as I had the thought, I thought of my wolf.
“Useless mutt. I swear to God, if I could, I’d exorcise you right out of me.”
I am not a demon.
“No, it’s worse. You’re a sniveling coward.” I hissed, pushing to my feet to walk toward Grammy.
She smiled as I neared, and while I wanted to cry, part of me was so convinced I was probably in hell I still expected something bad to go down.
“Oh honey.” she snickered, patting my hand when I bent down to check under the bench and sighed with disappointment.