Page 10

If I gave in, even for a moment, I’d know the truth. I wouldn’t be able to deny what that psychotic woman had planted in my head. I’d taste it. And the way my body leaned forward, fingers curled into stone, muscles coiled, I already knew the answer.

I wanted it. Bad.

A voice, soft and angelic, and wrong, laced through my mind: "Let him finish his last meal, Alex." Wrecked by my own dilemma and my body’s need, I bit down on my lip. I wasn’t used to the knives inside my mouth yet and because of it I had split the inside of it open. Blood pulsed instantly coating my teeth, splashing gasoline onto the fire already raging in my throat. A frenzy detonated in my veins. I couldn’t wait any longer.

Leaping twenty feet down, I landed ten yards from the beast.

A snarl ripped through me, announcing myself to the animal. The cougar spun, ready to defend its kill. For a split second, confusion flickered through the feline’s gaze. Then it answered with a vicious hiss, fangs bared.

It lunged. Thick paws slashed through the air.

Impulse and unearned confidence took over as my shoulder collided with its chest mid-leap. The impact sent its broad body flying back, skidding before it scrambled onto all fours. I was already behind it. I hauled the beast up beneath its belly, and my fangs tore into the thick fur of its neck. Its essence flooded my tongue. Metallic. Sweet beneath it.

But lacking. Like my body knew there could be more.

The cougar raked its claws across me once, twice, before its body finally buckled beneath mine. When the blood ran dry, I let the carcass collapse at my feet crumpled, final, and done. A rush of energy coursed through my body as Valentina’s boots met the earth. I might not have noticed her at all, her steps were that light, if not for her heady scent drifting through the air. When our gazes met, the violence simmering beneath my skin began to recede.

There was amusement in her expression, and something else beneath it I couldn’t quite name when she spoke. “Couldn’t wait, could you?” She approached slowly. “You’ll have to learn to control that urge before you start hunting humans. Though once we’re back in the kingdom, you won’t need to hunt at all.” Her gaze drifted from my face to the shreds of my blood-soaked shirt, her brow arching as a smirk tugged at her lips.

Following her attention, I found myself staring at each tear with a twisted mix of pride and dread. Fur and blood were packed beneath my nails, and the sight turned my stomach. The disgust came slow, but when it hit, it hit hard. I couldn’t imagine doing this to a person.

“I will,” I muttered. I meant it. I couldn’t allow myself to be this… savage. The ruined shirt felt too heavy against my stained skin, like evidence I couldn’t bear to wear. I dragged it over my head and stuffed the bloody cloth into my back pocket.

Valentina followed my every movement, her attention tracing the muscles flexing beneath my skin until it settled on my chest. Her gaze lingered on the streaks of red across the planes of my pecs, then drifted lower, skimming the hard lines of my abdomen.

A smirk threatened my lips as I watched her browns darken, liquefying right in front of me. “What are you looking at?”

She shook her head with a quiet laugh. “You look like you need a bib.” The sound slipped into me, leaving a whisper in my bones. Then her expression shifted, subtle but assessing. “How do you feel?” She stepped closer, eyes lifting back to mine.

Flexing my fingers at my sides I finally let myself acknowledge the heavy warmth settling deep in my gut. For a terrible, beautiful moment, a sense of wholeness brushed the edge of my soul. It was not a full reunion, but a reassurance that completion was possible. The realization struck hard, pressing against my ribs. “I’m great.” The honesty of it should’ve disturbed me, but the unease couldn’t pierce the glow spreading through my chest. And it really was a glow.

“Good,” she said lightly. “But you still need that bib.”

“Shut up,” I smirked.

Lopping up the hillside, we moved deeper into the forest. Valentina wanted us farther from the trails; I was lucky no one had seen the mess I’d made. Not that it mattered, there wasn’t another heartbeat within miles. Just hers. And the animals.

As we pushed on, that familiar cold pressed into my chest again, sharp and deliberate. It twisted through my center like the turn of a blade.

A warning.

The breeze whispered against my ear like a lover, teasing curls loose from my face. Every heartbeat, every breath struck sharp against my senses, staining the air with awareness. Nothing cut through me like Valentina at my side. Something threaded through my chest whenever she moved, a puzzle trying to solve itself.

She ran ahead without warning.

Valentina came upon an elk just beyond the rise. The creature was massive compared to her delicate frame, but she didn’t hesitate. She leapt onto its back with effortless grace, the force of her landing buckling its legs beneath her. It never had a chance to break free before her fangs sank into its neck.

I couldn’t even smell the blood.

Her lips sealed to its flesh as she drank, unhurried, precise, taking every last drop. When the elk yielded like dead weight, another wave of that quiet deadness rolled through my veins. The sky dimmed above us, sunlight fading into an eerie blue that bled through the trees, deepening the stillness.

“Are you almost finished?” I called out.

“Don’t rush me,” she muttered, turning on her heel just enough to flash a smile, making sure I heard her. Rolling my eye, already forming a reply, a rustle echoed through the trees. Dry branches cracked beneath heavy, padded feet. It was followed by howls that sounded like they belonged in hell, not the forest.

Before I could even speak, Valentina sprang onto my back from behind.

“I’m done, crybaby,” she whispered into my ear with a soft chuckle.