Masquerade (Heven and Hell #1)(74)
Author: Cambria Hebert

“She’s dreaming,” the woman answered.

Sam let out a frustrated sound. I felt hands in my hair and on my face. “Wake up, Heven. Please.”

I opened my eyes. Sam’s face was so close I actually flinched. He didn’t move but his eyes flared gold and stared into mine.

“You’re alive?” I asked, hope welling up inside me. I prayed that my mind wasn’t playing a cruel trick on me.

“Either that or we’re both dead.”

A small smile splayed across his lips, and I squealed coming up off the ground so fast he fell backward with me landing on top of him. “You’re alive!” The relief was so great that I laughed.

He laughed too and wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me until I couldn’t breathe. “You have no idea what I went through…you died in my arms. Oh God, Heven. You’re alive. Oh God, you’re alive.”

His hold on me was iron clad but there was a fine tremor in his muscles. I could imagine what he went through because seeing him lying motionless and cold on the floor was a sight I never wanted to see again. Those few moments had been the worst of my life. “I couldn’t stand to see you that way…so cold…so still. I wanted to die alongside of you.” Tears leaked out of my eyes to stream down my cheeks.

He buried his face in my neck and inhaled, his hold iron clad. I left him that way until my lungs began to burn, and I truly had to have oxygen. I wiggled, and he eased his hold while I gulped for air. “Sorry,” he murmured, pulling back and taking my face between his palms. “Don’t ever die again.”

“You either,” I whispered, more tears falling. He wiped them away with his thumbs and paused.

“Are you okay?” he asked, tilting my face and studying me. Something passed behind his eyes, and it looked like shocked disbelief. It was the same way I was feeling.

“I’m okay,” I whispered.

“Where are you hurt?” He ran his hands along my arms and shoulders, coming back to brush the hair away from my face and stare at me again. “Your head…so much blood…” his voice caught and his eyes glazed over in panic.

“Sam.” I caught his hands and pressed a kiss to the inside of his palm. “I’m not hurt. Not anymore.”

He groaned and pulled me into him again. I fit against him so perfectly and he felt so right that I knew I never would have been able to live without him. I loved him so much that I could feel the connection between us, pulling me closer. God, I love you. The words pounded through my head over and over almost like a mantra. I couldn’t stop thinking and feeling them.

Sam held me tighter still, his face buried in my hair. I love you…

My head snapped up at the same time his did and we looked at each other, both our eyes widening in surprise. “Did you say that out loud?” I whispered.

“No. Did you?”

I shook my head.

“I heard you.”

“I heard you, too.”

His eyes held mine and he stared at me hard. I love you, Heven. His lips did not move yet I heard the words as if he’d spoken them. He was watching me for a reaction, something to let him know what he suspected.

I love you, Sam.

He jerked like I hit him, his eyes closing for a second only to reopen and stare at me, shocked. I thought this was just a legend.

A legend?

His eyes flared again because I heard his thought and answered. “Mindbond,” he said, mostly to himself.

I had no clue what that was or what it meant, but whatever it was seemed to be a big deal. But right now we had bigger problems. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know.” He frowned, and in one fluid motion stood, pulling me with him. “What’s going on, Airis?”

I completely forgot about the woman in white. “You know her?”

“Allow me to explain,” she graciously answered.

Sam settled an arm across my shoulders.

“You are safe here,” Airis said.

I believed her. I did feel safe here. Besides, if she wanted to harm us she would have just left us dead.

“Where exactly is here?” I asked. And how the heck did I die and then come back to life?

“The InBetween.”

“The what?” I asked, and Sam stiffened. He had heard of this place?

Yes.

I jerked when he answered my thought with his own.

“It’s a place where people who have died come before passing over completely to Heaven.”

“Or Hell,” Sam finished Airis’ explanation.

“Why are we here?” I asked.

“Because you died.”

“We’re still dead then?”

“You were. But you passed the test.”

“What test?”

“Sam gave up his life for yours. He made the ultimate sacrifice for you, proving his loyalty – his love. Your clear distress and utter certainty that you would not go on without him proved your love for him

You wouldn’t live without me? Sam’s thought speared into my brain, and this time I didn’t react.

Never!

My response seemed to anger him and he glared at Airis. “You killed her to see if I would give up my life for her? You killed her for a stupid test!”

“I had nothing to do with her accident. She died because of China’s decisions.”

I shuddered at the memory of China’s soulless, red eyes.

Sam made a sound in his throat. “How do we get out of here?”

“I can send you back.”

“Do it,” he said, not unkindly.

I wondered how much time had elapsed since we got here.

“Not just yet,” Airis began. “When I spared both of your lives you acquired a debt. I need to explain this.”

“You want me to pay back a debt because you spared my life when I didn’t ask for it?” Sam vibrated with confusion.

I began to worry. I was thankful that we were both alive, and I was beyond grateful to this woman…but I didn’t like the idea that we were now indebted to her. What would she want from us? I pulled away, but he anchored his arm around me harder. I felt trapped…

Calm down, Hev.

I can’t breathe.

Yes, you can. He removed his arm from around me to rub slow circles over my back.

In. Out. In. Out.

Air found its way into my lungs to the tune of his voice, and the panic ebbed.

That’s my girl.

I kind of like hearing you when no one else can.

He smiled.

“You did ask me to spare her life, did you not?”