Make sure you read book number one in this series (Blood Between Us) before moving onto Destiny Between Us :)

It was strange—like waking from a dream I couldn’t remember, like surfacing from deep water with no memory of how I’d drowned.

My body felt weightless, yet impossibly heavy, as if it had been stitched back together with thread too fragile to hold. My mind was sluggish, lost between sleep and something darker, something colder.

But then a warmth bloomed against my skin. A gentle touch against my cheek, a voice murmuring soft words—words I couldn’t quite grasp, but they wrapped around me like a lifeline, pulling me toward life.

“She’s moving!” The voice cut through the haze, sharp and urgent. It took effort—too much effort—but I forced my eyes open.

The dim yellow light stung, sending a sharp pain through my skull. The world was strange, shifting, unfamiliar. And then— Bright green eyes. They locked onto mine, so close, so intense, so impossibly alive. And for a moment, I thought I had died all over again.

The Man stared back at me, his hood removed, and his face fully revealed. He had thick grey hair, and a grey that was roughly ten centimetres long. His face wasn’t sharp, but it wasn’t round either. His green eyes looked slightly unnerving against his rugged appearance, nervous expression, and pale skin.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak.

Instead, all I could do was look up at this man hovering over me. The one that had caused me so much pain and agony after he’d been announced dead a several months ago.

I managed to choke out a single word through my shock, and watched as the rest of the Circle drew in collective gasps. “Dad,” I whispered, a silent tear leaking from the corner of my eye and dripping onto the cold stone floor.

“Kaitlin,” he whispered back, answering the questioning tone my words had come as.

It took at least ten minutes before I could speak again – maybe because I’d just been revived from the dead, I’d had a strange dream-like meeting with a dead Luca and Yasmine who’d told me to go back to the real world, to survive and keep going because it wasn’t my time yet, or the fact that my father who’d been murdered many months ago was now ushering for me to sit up and lay against the wall.

But initially, I didn’t feel the loved one would think you’d experience after finding out your father isn’t actually dead. I felt angry. I felt annoyed. I felt frustrated.

I wanted to kick and scream and shout, maybe even fly into the air just to fall again. Anything but sit still. Maybe eat a whole tub of mint-chocolate-chip ice-cream whilst cuddling the fluffiest dog I could find. Anything opposite to the sharp pain I felt in my gut. But most of all, I wanted answers.

My questions came out in a fast, unsteady flow, mocking the own thoughts swirling in my brain. “Where were you? I thought you were dead. How are you not dead? How are you alive? Was The Man really you the entire time, or are you an imposter? Why didn’t you tell me—”

“Kaitlin,” he soothed, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “I promise to tell you everything very soon, but right now you need rest.”

“No!” How would I get them to understand? I’d gone so many months having so many questions, but this one seemed like the most important. If it wasn’t answered, I would surely burst. “You’re dead,” I spat at The Man – my father’s – face. “And now you’re not. You can’t expect me to wait. I deserve answers.”

“You deserve answers,” he repeated, keeping his voice calm and steady. “But you need to rest first. You just died, Kaitlin, and your body still isn’t fully functioning. If you overwork it now you risk causing a heart failure. I didn’t bring you back just to lose you again.”

“And I didn’t lose you and spend my last six months grieving just so you could whip off a hood and reveal I’ve been with you for so many weeks and expect me to be calm about it.” Tears began to spill before I was even aware of their forming. “Please, Dad.”

“And I’m so, so sorry, Kay. I love you so much, and there are reasons beyond what I’m allowed to say as to why I had to keep such a cruel secret from you. Nevertheless, you’ve been through so much in the past few hours, and you need rest. Please. For my sake.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but he held up a finger. “I know I don’t deserve your patience, or your understanding, and I’m already in your dept for causing you and your mother such an immense pain. I knew you thought I was dead, and I’ll tell you the truth in a matter of time. I know it might be difficult to do right now, but please trust me. It’s time to rest.”

My mouth instinctively opened again to argue back, but I held the words tentatively on my tongue. He was right. Whatever pain he’d cause my mother and I – and my throat felt dry just at the thought of my mother, now beginning to remember what had happened prior to my ‘murder’ – must have been a thousand times worse for him. “Okay,” I whispered, my voice barely audible over everyone’s murmuring and discussion.

After all, it was the first time the Circle Of Secrets found out The Man’s true identity, too.

Helena was the first to step out of the group, being one of the only people who’d managed to keep her shock at bay. Her eyes where filled with tears, but it didn’t seem to be of anger or apprehension or surprise. It was of sadness. She held out a hand before tightly gripping onto my own, pulling me to my feet.

At first, I was wobbly, and I had to clutch her shoulder for support. I looked around at everyone’s stares, almost embarrassed in myself, but after several minutes I managed to find my balance. She grabbed my hand and led me through the door, through the maze of tunnels and doors, until we finally reached her room.

Leading me inside, she shut the door before looking dead in the me in the eyes and pulling me into a tight hug. “Kaitlin,” she said gently, her voice cracking. “I was so scared. I thought you were dead.”

“I’m sorry,” I replied. Realistically I knew it wasn’t my fault – I hadn’t decided I was going to scare everyone and get murdered by my boyfriend, but what else was I supposed to say? However, as if she could read my mind and realised it wasn’t really something I wanted to think about, she changed the subject.

“You look sick.” She observed. “How are you feeling?”

“I—” The words where there, scrambled in my brain, but they stayed locked there. They were sitting on the edge of my lips, but they turned sour on my tongue before I could say anything. “Weird…” I managed to splutter, forcing out the first word that entered my head. She nodded, as if she understood what I meant by that.

It was frustrating though, because I was feeling much more complicated things than just weird. Hurt, betrayed, angry, confused, shocked, excited, and a million other things in which there are no words to describe.

I’d just found out my dead father is alive, and that I’d just died, but for some reason all the emotions I knew I should be feeling seemed to be stuck outside the bubble of numbness and weirdness. I was feeling so much it was almost as if I felt nothing.

All I wanted was to sleep, and maybe eat some ice cream.

“Sleep,” said Helena, as if she’d read my thoughts. “It’s like The Man – your father – said. The best thing you can do is rest; you need to recover.”

Once again, I didn’t speak, instead slowly nodding my head. I went to turn and head to my room, my hand reaching out for the doorknob, but she shook her head and sat me back down. “You can stay here, so I can keep an eye on you.”

I didn’t think twice, and the moment my head hit the soft, comfortable pillow, I drifted into an easy sleep despite my growing anxiety.