Chapter 81: I Must Be Dreaming

Chapter 81: I Must Be Dreaming
Ebony Winters POV:

That's when I thought I heard something rushing down the corridor and right into the next room. Was I actually hearing something, or was it just something my mind was making up?

I was still lying there on top of my stomach, my hands bound up underneath me. It's not like they were tied or anything like that. It was just that I didn't have the strength to roll over again from how I was now lying there on the cool dirt on the ground.

Suddenly it was like I heard a whole bunch of sniffing all at once. What would cause that? It was almost like the sniffing you would hear if there were all the dogs in the area, but even then that didn't make sense either. How was I going to explain myself out of this one?

I couldn't tell what reality was and what was in my head anymore. I didn't know if I was actually hearing something or if I was just imagining that I heard it, because that's what I wanted to hear. There's no telling what was fact and of that, what was false.

"Over here!" I thought I heard someone shout.

Wait... I thought to myself. I know I can't feel anything. I'm dead! I just have to be dead. How else would everything go away?

With my eyes closed, I just let myself drift off into oblivion, or so I thought.

As I continued to float there with my eyes closed, I thought about my captors this time. Where did they go? How was I floating? Why couldn't I make anything out other than this free-floating feeling?

I wanted so much to roll over and get off my face, but I didn't have the strength to move. Everything hurt. My back even hurt, as did the position that I was in previously, hanging from a chain in the center of the room.

I was so cold at that point that I didn't know what to do. That's when I thought I felt warm all of a sudden, but that didn't make sense at all. There's no way that I could feel warmth when I was previously lying there against the cool dirt on the floor of this darkened space.

It was as if right then... That I couldn't feel anything at all. The pain was gone. My thoughts were even gone... But how? That didn't make any sense to me. I didn't understand a lot of things, but that alone didn't make any sense to me. How did I not feel any pain?

I want nothing more than to be away from here. Away from all the chaos of what I was previously dealing with as a forcing counter. After I've been violated so much, would Nic even want me at this point? What do I even want anymore?

Never before have I had such a string of bad luck. Well... if you didn't have bad luck, then I wouldn't consider having any.

No matter what, none of that explains the feeling of me floating through the air. I still felt warm when I was previously cold. I couldn't even tell if I was lying on my stomach anymore, as my arms were still bound up in my chest.

Wait... Before they were bound up under my stomach, so how can they be in my chest now?

Something about this wasn't sitting right with me, and I didn't quite understand.

That's when I thought I heard faint whispering. Where was it coming from? Who were the ones talking, and did they have anything to do with me? It didn't seem like it mattered, but still.

All of a sudden, it was like my face was on fire. I had to squint my eyes as it was like there was a bright light suddenly shining on my face. I even raised one of my hands to place it over my eyes whenever I realized I was no longer in that cavern system or cave network.

How did I get out? Was I being carried? Something wasn't making sense to me at this moment. I still couldn't feel much of anything, but even that didn't explain how I went from a completely dark cave to now having the sun shining on my face.

"Ebony..." I thought I heard somebody's familiar voice speak out to me at that moment.

I was just numb. I didn't feel anything, so because I couldn't feel anything, I didn't know if my own thoughts were real. I didn't know if I was actually hearing what I thought I heard.

"Ebony," I heard a familiar voice speak up again, but this time it was a bit louder.

I still didn't trust my own hearing. Anytime I tried to rely on something, it was like... It only caused more pain and torture.

"Ebony, my little mate, can you hear me?" I heard what I thought was Nic calling out to me right then, as I was now being laid down on something rather soft.

It was right then that I knew what I heard, but I didn't believe it. I had tried to reach him so many times before only... Only he didn't respond. He didn't answer me. Especially when it mattered most.

I could feel it as the pain started to swell from my chest this time. I still felt warm, but that didn't cover the amount of pain that I felt. The pain was more sad than anything. This time... The pain didn't dissipate as it had before.

"You..." I said, as if I were becoming more familiar with my current surroundings. It's not like I knew exactly where I was. "You... didn't come!"

I started to cry out loud, knowing that I wasn't indeed dead. I don't know how. I don't know when Nic showed up, but I do know that he did.

"I'm here..." Nic said. His tone was rather soft and encouraging, but I didn't feel encouraged about what had just happened. "I'm right here, my little mate. I tried to find you."

"What? You certainly took your sweet time about doing that," I said as I started to part my eyes so that I could look at my surroundings.

"I found you," I could hear Nic's words vibrate inside his chest as I was lying there in his arms. "I have you now."

I blinked several times as I tried to figure out more about my surroundings. I even looked at his bare chest and then looked up at him. I could tell that he was looking down at me, but I refused to look into his eyes. I didn't know what had happened. I didn't know what took so long.

'Is it really you?' I asked within my own mind.

Only then would I know it was actually Nic and not a trick of my thoughts.

'How could you question that?' I heard Nic's voice resound within my own head.

Suddenly, my eyes filled with tears as I closed them, and I buried my face against his stone-hard chest.

'What took you so long?' I questioned him, fighting back tears.