Page 28 of A Trial By Blood

I blinked. Blinked again.

The voice called my name again, momentarily pulling me from the quicksand.

I didn’t know how much time passed, but Luna now stood in front of me.

“Ronan?” My sister rested her hand on my arm and squeezed. “You have to put Rose down. She’s still not well. Let her family take care of her.”

My sight cleared, and I looked around the room. Rose’s family was there, all wide-eyed, watching me. Luna’s mate, Gunner, stood beside her, along with Rocco, one of his brothers, watching me as well. I looked down at Rose. Luna was right, but I couldn’t do it.

I met Gunner’s worried gaze. “You need to take her from me. I can’t…let her go,” I forced out and turned to Rocco. “And you’ll need to force me out of here or I’ll try and take her back.”

Rocco inclined his head. They moved as one. Gunner scooped Rose from me and handed her to Arthur. As soon as she was gone from my arms, the monster in me exploded. I went after her, but Rocco hooked me around the gut, Gunner, Warrick, and Ren, grabbed at me, Draven and Bram as well when I fought harder as they were forced to physically subdue and remove me from the room.

I roared and lashed out. I needed to stop, but I couldn’t. Red covered my vision again. I was losing my mind as emotions slammed into me, one after the other. I wasn’t sure how I would survive this.

Not without shattering into a million pieces.

CHAPTER 9

Rose

A roar of agony reached into my subconscious and dragged me back to the surface. I opened my eyes. The room was in chaos. My family was here. And Ronan’s sister, Luna, and so were some of the knights, and they were dragging Ronan across the room.

His violet eyes locked on mine, and he roared again as he tried to pull free but was towed to the door.

“Ronan!” My voice burst from me, loud, stronger than it had ever been.

Then he was gone, dragged through the door. His snarls and roars could be heard all the way down the stairs and only stopped when the knights had taken him away.

What little energy I’d had, I’d used up calling for him. I struggled to stay awake, to find out what was happening, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

* * *

I ran through the forest, tripping over branches, stumbling through a creek, and scrambling up a bank on the other side. I glanced over my shoulder. Death was gaining on me fast, and he was furious.

“Witch,” he said, low, deadly. “We had a deal.”

“No, please. I’m not ready.” I dug my fingers into soft soil and dragged myself up the bank.

He stopped where he was and slammed his staff down, making the earth shake. “This isn’t over.”

My eyes flew open with a gasp.

“Rose?” Mom filled my vision. “She’s awake! Oh, thank the goddess, she’s back.” She cupped my face. “My sweet girl,” she said and smiled as tears ran down her face. “You’re back.”

Magnolia ran into the room as I shifted under the covers, trying to gather the strength to move. I waited for the pain to hit, the weakness to overtake me, but there was none.

I sat up easily. “What the…” I looked down at myself and blinked. Then blinked again. I was looking down at someone else, I had to be. My gaze shot up to Mags, to my mother. “What?” Nope, I still couldn’t find the words.

Mags grinned wide, and Mom’s smile was soft, her eyes bright with joy. “You’ve been asleep for a full week. Your body needed time to heal.”

Could this be real?

I shoved back the covers and carefully lowered my feet to the floor, still expecting my legs to collapse beneath me, but they felt as strong as the rest of me.

Still, I cautiously crossed the room and opened the bathroom door. I stood in front of the mirror, and my gasp echoed around the tiled room.

That wasn’t me.