Mystically Bound (Frostbite, Book Three) by Stacey Kennedy

exist. His body pressing into me seemed lighter, so I
hurried along and hoped my explanation would be enough for him to
understand. “Dane and the others.”
    Kipp’s eyes widened before he started to blur
in front of me. “It’s happened.” I stared at him and could barely
hear him say, “Trust no one.”
    “ What?” I shouted. The same tingles I
experienced when I entered the Netherworld whipped through my body
like a loud roar in my ears, and pulled me farther and farther away
from him. “Why?”
    His expression became frantic and even though
I could tell he screamed at me, it only sounded like a dull
whisper. “Dane was the one…”
    Right then, a blast of cold energy swept
across me, removing any of the heat Kipp had built and iciness
struck me to my very core. With an earsplitting cry, the only touch
I wanted to stay with forever…vanished.

Chapter Eleven
     
     
    “No,” I screamed, shooting up in bed.
    Gretchen lurched off the mattress and
clutched at her chest. I drew in loud deep breaths, settling my
hammering heart, too. The lamp next to me on the nightstand table
cast a warm glow through the room and the bedspread was no longer
covering me. In fact, at a quick glance, the sheets were completely
kicked off the bed—clearly, my sleep had been restless. “I need to
go back.”
    She sighed, since I had clearly scared the
bejesus out of her, and then she returned to the bed. “You were in
REM sleep for almost an hour.” She shook her head, taking up my
trembling hand in hers. “I couldn’t chance letting you be there any
longer.”
    My lip quivered as the reality of what I had
experienced settled in and the emotional break I expected hit me in
full force. My entire body quaked and I yanked my hands away,
grasping them on my lap. I shut my eyes and inhaled, swearing I
could still feel Kipp, sore in all the right places.
    Dropping my face into my hands, I sobbed. “Oh
god, Gretchen, I touched him.” With my eyes closed, surrounded by
darkness, I could almost feel the brush of his lips against my
skin, the way his body was joined with mine, and even how roughly
he had taken me. His touch seemed imprinted on my body and I
mourned the loss of connection.
    Gretchen waited until my weeping quieted to
light tears before she asked, “You found Kipp, then?”
    I lowered my hands and could barely see her
through my blurry eyes. “I think he found me.”
    A frown marred her face at my pain, even if
she said, “I’m so glad it worked.”
    I wiped my tears, pulled myself together and
relished in my achy body. It’d been so long since I had real
sex , I savored how my body hurt now. Even if it pleased me to
no end that it worked, too, and more so, that I remembered my
experience. “But it wasn’t enough time. I needed more answers.”
    She tilted her head and the soft light lit up
the side of her face, revealing her sad eyes. “You were out for a
while, Tess. How much more time did you need?”
    Now, with the reality of what had happened
and what I should’ve been doing, I wanted to smack myself. Instead
of talking and getting the answers I so desperately sought, the
need to feel Kipp consumed me and I wasted valuable time. “We…we
were…”
    Gretchen’s eyebrows rose, a knowing look
crossing her face, and she finally grinned. “Well, I suppose that’s
one thing you could do when you found him.” She patted my leg, her
eyes warming. “So, you could touch him that much, huh?”
    I nodded, wiping at the remainder of the
tears flooding my cheeks. “It was overwhelming.”
    “I imagine it would’ve been,” she murmured
softly, shifting on the bed and pulling her legs up underneath her.
“Did he tell you anything at all?”
    Sucking in a huge breath, I sent the sadness
away for now and slid my strength back into place. If I allowed
myself to have the breakdown I knew was coming, I suspected I might
hide out under the blankets for a couple days, not something I
could do now. I thought back and