Violet jolted upright with a loud gasp, like a drowning victim breaking the surface for air. Her chest was heaving, while her eyes were still wide and unfocused with panic.
Beside her, Asher, Alaric and Roman—who had apparently slipped out of her nightgown and shifted back into his human form sometime during the night — also woke.
There were shouts of her name, but Violet was too busy feeling her neck, which throbbed with a sore, burning ache. The boys' eyes were now fixed on her too, their gazes dark with dread.
She didn't wait. Violet jumped off the bed, rounded the corner, and stormed straight into Asher's bathroom. Violet froze the second she saw her reflection on the mirror and the breath left her lungs.
Holy shit.
Large, angry bruises bloomed across her neck, raw proof of the pain she felt.
It might have been a dream, but the consequences were brutally real.
Had Asher not severed the connection in time, she would've died. For real.
