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Because it would mean leaving her.
“I’m fine.” I shoved the words out. “Sorry to worry you.”
Silence followed for a heartbeat. “Can I ask you something?”
Gods, no.
“Is there anything we should know about you?”
My breath stopped. Carefully, I looked back at him. “What?”
“It’s just…” Niko frowned. “Whenever I’m around you lately, nature keeps saying something is… off.”
Blood rushed in my ears. My skin felt too tight and hot and cold, all at the same time. This was it. The moment I knew might come, and of course it was Niko who asked. Stupid, fucking nature would know I wasn’t anything remotely natural. It’d make sure he knew that.
I could tell him the truth.
It was hard not to scoff in disgust at the insane thought. Right. And then I could see the horror on his face, and on all my friends’ faces when he told them too.
I could lose control.
“Roan?” That wary concern grew stronger in his eyes.
“No.” I forced the lie from my clenched throat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His brow drew down. “Then why?—”
A shout came from beyond the castle, thin and reedy over the distance but unmistakable, and my head snapped toward the sound. On its heels, more cries arose, and by the time I reached the sliver of a window that was all the room possessed, an orange glow was flaring to life near the city walls.
“What is it?” Niko asked.
“We’re under attack.”
I whirled and headed for the door. Niko retreated fast when I yanked it open, everything in me snarling to get to Gwyneira and destroy whatever thought it could take my mate from me.
Something in my head tried to argue she wasn’t mine. Something tried to say we needed to be careful. Those men were our friends. And if we burst in there and found her naked with them, their cocks buried in her, we needed to not kill them for daring to touch?—
I staggered to a stop, my mind reeling. I was the one arguing that, dammit. I was. I?—
Her door opened. The scent of sex clung to her, and my vision blurred, the edges of everything before me suddenly becoming tinged by flames. My fingers curled, my nails digging their sharp points into my palms.
“Roan?” Gwyneira started toward me, concern on her face.
I stumbled backward, and it took every last shred of my willpower to make myself turn aside.
“Are you okay, man?” Clay asked, his voice far away down a tunnel of screaming, of darkness, of death. Other voices came—Lars, Dex, Niko—but I couldn’t make out their words. Byron swam briefly into focus, and then Ozias too, both of them now standing in the hallway but also drowning in the fire all around.
Fire… so much fire… I was losing this fight.
I was winning.
I was…
A screech tore the air, and my eyes snapped toward the sound. Something was barreling toward the narrow window at the end of the corridor. For a heartbeat, I thought it was a large bird, but it had arms attached to its wings. Breasts and clawed hands and a woman’s face, and when she screamed, it was like a wild animal trying to tear through my ears straight into my brain. She hit the slit of a window, her arm thrashing in the opening in an effort to reach us. Her talons ripped at the air, and when she peered through the gap, her eyes glowed red like a burning flower from hell.
A crash came from the princess’s room. Clay swore and grabbed for the door handle. I caught a glimpse of another winged woman with dark gray feathers and bright pink eyes. She shredded the bedding beneath her claws as she raced at us, and then Clay yanked the door closed.
Dark talons pierced the wood from the opposite side, and furious cries rose.
