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And, the beast reminded me, that wasn’t the first time I’d witnessed hints of how wrong I was about her. She’d taken Casimir and Dex together, even while the former fucked the latter. She’d let Niko bind her with his vines—a moment that should have been my first hint she wasn’t the gentle innocent I’d mistaken her for.
No, she was more than I ever could have dreamed.
But that didn’t mean she would want this. Want me to chase her, dominate her, rut her and knot her, just like the mate I dreamed she could be. I’d driven her away long before I learned I was wrong about her. I’d been cold and cruel, and I’d ruined everything before it had a chance to begin.
Her presence flared to life on the earth again, light and delicate and still moving so quickly.
I shoved my anguish back. She was on the ground once more and that was all that mattered. I was Erenlian enough for my blood to help bring her back to herself, same as it had on the cliff outside the Jeweled Coven’s hideout. So I’d shift back before she could see me this way, I’d feed her my blood, and I’d save her from this madness.
I’d hide every bit of this monstrousness from her, and in that way too, I’d still be her protector.
No matter what it cost me.
Drawing on more speed, I fought to run faster. She’d come back down near a cave about a mile from here, which was good. Safer, just in case the magic shielding her from the sun could not sustain itself this far away from the others. It was untested, after all, and the idea that she might burn before I could reach her…
I skidded to a stop thirty feet from the cave, my claws digging into the dirt and weeds beneath me. Bushes and young trees hid me, but past gaps between the branches, I could see the cave opening.
Nothing inside it moved.
And nothing outside did either.
I eyed the bloodied carcass of a deer lying by the cave entrance. She’d taken it down hard and fast, making short work of the kill, and my beast side admired the swift ferocity. The deer’s throat was gone, and blood soaked the dirt beneath it. Deep cuts lined its flank that I didn’t need to guess the origin of.
After all, I had claws too.
But everything the Jeweled Coven claimed about vampires meant deer blood would likely accomplish little when it came to stopping this madness.
She still would need my help.
I glanced around, but there were no traces of the Voidborn here. No one else either.
It would do.
I took a breath, summoning up the magic to shift, but my beast side resisted, holding me in this form. That part of me didn’t want to change into an Erenlian again. It wanted to claim her now, just like this.
Apparently, madness was contagious.
Gritting my teeth, I tried to fight the beast back, and the barest whisper of a frustrated growl slipped from my elongated jaw as that side of me protested again.
Making a sound was a mistake.
In an instant, my sense of Gwyneira vanished from the earth. A black streak of smoke and shadow shot from the cave. I had no time to move.
She slammed into me.
It was like being hit with a battering ram.
Before I could do a thing, my legs were out from under me. The earth tried to soften my fall but it couldn’t adjust quickly enough, and air rushed from my lungs as my back crashed into the ground.
Lightning fast, she shifted back to her human-like form. Her eyes were insane; her expression feral. She wouldn’t know this was me, not when I looked like the beast.
But even if she had known, it might not have mattered. Nothing of Gwyneira was in her beautiful dark eyes or the snarl on her luscious red lips. She was only a hungry animal, one I might die trying to stop.
Because even though my blood could bring her back to herself, in this state, I had no guarantee she’d return to sanity before she bled me dry.
She screeched, thrashing in my grip, flashing into shadow and then back into human form again.
So be it.
