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Gasping like he could actually breathe again, he slowly stood. A knife of pain took his feet from him, and he fell like a hammer. Writhing on the floor of his prison cell, he fought to hold onto his sanity. Pain like this could drive a male mad.
“You are not real,” he shouted out into the darkness. “You cannot hurt me.” Leonid groaned aloud as his head was assaulted with the burning pain again.
“YOU ARE NOT REAL!”
Leonid lay on the floor panting. His arms and legs were askew like they had been broken, which was impossible. He was a Vampyre, he became unbreakable many hundreds of years ago. His head though, he could never lose his head. Struggling to righten himself, he forced himself into a standing position.
It was gone.
Leonid was completely disoriented. He had been more or less in the same spot for a few days, ensuring he knew where the possible exit was. Now he did not know up from down.
Had that been its intention? To confuse him? Leonid rubbed his face. He would be very grateful for a sip of blood. That assault on his mind and body had taken its toll. Used up his reserves much to his consternation. Taken his energy.Blood. That is what he craved. Human blood? It was slightly watery, lacked any real punch. Akrhyn blood was the best. He himself preferred the Lycan’s blood for you could taste the wildness in it. Their wolf added a richness to their blood that no other Akrhyn could have.
Leonid gulped. He was thirsty. So thirsty. He needed blood. Lycan blood. He thought of the Lycans he knew. He considered Tove. Hers would be a fine taste like a good vintage cognac. His mind flashed to the shaggy-haired alpha.Marcus. Marcus was where the delicacies of a Lycan’s blood would be found. He could almost taste the richness.
Leonid struck his head sharply against the wall. When he realised he had been chewing through his own lip, he knew the presence had not quite left him yet.
“You will not get me,” he told the quiet of the room. “I will not fall for your tricks and your mind games.” He pulled his hair back from his face. “I fed before you caught me. I have years left in me, enemy of mine. Years.”
He waited in the quiet, all of his senses scouring the room, trying to find his interloper.Where did you go?he wondered.
Pain struck once more, and Leonid screamed as he once again fell. The pain was overwhelming. He heard himself screaming out loud as clearly as he heard himself screaming inside that it was not real. For the first time since 1543, Leonid Novikov lost consciousness.
* * *
Tegan looked up at her brother. He was half-heartedly testing the weight of a kali stick. “Are you okay?” she asked him gently.
“Of course.” Michael gave her a tight smile. “Just finding the right one.”
“Of course,” Tegan repeated back to him.
“Hey,” a voice said hesitantly.
They both turned to see the four Sentinels in training who had previously guarded Zahra. “Are you still training us?” Gable asked as he looked between the two siblings. “Because we were thinking we need to be Sentinels sooner rather than later.”
“So eager to die?” Michael asked them with a look of reproach. Four faces fell as they looked at their feet. “Did you not see the funeral pyre?” he snapped at them.
“We did.” Briony nodded as she wiped her eyes. “My cousin was on it.”
Michael flushed and looked guilty. “Sorry, Bri.”
“This is why we need to train. We lost time guarding Zahra. We should have been here,” Jax said with ferocity. “We thought we were being smart, but all we were doing was wasting time.”
Michael’s face had been getting darker the longer Jax spoke, and Tegan stepped forward hastily. “You were doing exactly what you were supposed to with Zahra. Had you been more ready to fight over the last few days, perhaps your bodies would be on the pyre instead of here, ready to avenge their loss.” Four heads nodded. “You cannot expect to be the best overnight,” she continued gently.
“Sorry, guys,” Michael said gruffly. “My head’s a bit…” He made a swirling motion with his finger. Four tentative smiles were given. “Of course you can train. Can you give me today to sort myself out?” Michael rubbed his neck with a wry smile. “Before I lose my head with you again.”
“Not funny,” Tegan murmured as the four candidates agreed and left the room. Michael looked at her and shrugged. “You need to not let it change who you are.”
“I almost died.”
“Almost,” Tegan reminded him. “You did not though, did you?” She met his look steadily and then raised her hands in question. “Did you?”
“No,” Michael forced out.
“Then focus on the positives. Stop wallowing, or the next time you may lose the head you’re already grieving.”
“You’re heartless,” Michael told her with a grin. “Honestly, nobody else would call me on this shit.”
