Counting Sheep

Chapter 22

Hi everybody!!!! I am back and with a new chapter! I am so excited for a NEW CHAPTER for you! This chapter is dedicated to a dear friend of mine! It is her birthday! She always changes her username because she is cute like that ;) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! @m00nlightroses I hope you have a BEAUTIFUL day and this chapter is for you. I hope that you enjoy it! I am not sure if it is still your birthday where you live, but it is still May 6th here. Anyways, I hope you ALL enjoy it! Hopefully, I will be able to update soon! I am working on editing and fixing up Miniera because I am going to be hopefully getting it published so I just need to fix it up, but Counting Sheep is also another number one priority! I love you all!! XOXO -Hannah <3

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CHAPTER 22: Julian handed Layla her shirt, his muscles moving and flexing as he looked around, gesturing for her to stay quiet.  Layla's whole body was ice cold and she felt as though if she moved her limbs would break and shatter as though frozen.

She gripped onto his arm.

"Julian!" She hissed in a furious whisper before pausing to take in a shuddering breath. "I'm scared."

He looked at her over his shoulder before turning to fully face her once again, hands coming up to cradle her jaw in his big, rough hands.

"Breathe, Layla. I will protect you, but we need to make sure that whoever did this is gone, okay?"

She stared at him, lips quivering at the panic that whirled a life inside of her. He leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers, not breaking the gaze for a single second. "Do you trust me?" He asked, breath ghosting across her lips.

Her lips, which were still swollen from his passionate kisses.

"With my life." Layla responded. Julian swallowed hard, eyes ablaze with blue fire, before crushing his lips against hers in a quick, fiery kiss that made her knees weak. She wanted to wrap her arms around his neck. To push her body against his and finish what they had started, but she knew that now wasn't the time.

With a low growl, he pulled away from her. "Quiet." He whispered, holding a finger to her lips. Nodding, she watched as he quietly moved across the cabin to the kitchen. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the muscles that flexed in his back, his hulking shoulders dipped and moving as he lowered his head and pulled open a drawer to grab a gun.

How had she not seen that?

The fear that was boiling like molten lava in her veins was only intensifying and as Julian moved to go down the hallway, she quickly scurried up behind him, her hands stabled on the wall of his shoulders.

She felt him tense and knew that he was angry that she had come with him. She dug her fingernails in slightly to show him that she was not going anywhere unless she was pulled away kicking and screaming.

Giving his head a slight shake, he tried to focus on his surroundings for any danger. Something that he had not only learned over the years, but had been instilled in his mind—into his very being.

As he did so, he felt the soft shudder of Layla behind him as she shook with silent terror. It made him want to pull her into his arms and shield her from everything that could possibly harm her. It also was distracting him.

The cabin was silent, almost too silent.

There was the sound of wind whispering against the walls of the cabin, the soft 'drip', 'drip', 'drip' of the red liquid in which the words had been written falling down the walls in long, sluggish rivulets to pool on the floor boards in drops of gleaming red, like rubies.