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Terror rocked me on the spot. My whole existence meant nothing if the gargoyle only took over whoever killed him. Breaths wheezed when the glint of metal caught my attention from within the grass.
Without a thought, I collected my hair over an arm and picked up the weapon. I charged for Dustin, needing to finish this.
Throwing myself to my knees next to his writhing body covered in rock plates, I raised the dagger and jammed it toward his heart.
His hand flinched and seized my wrist, squeezing.
I yelled from the sharpness shooting up my arm. The weapon fell out of my grip, but I pulled against the restraint, wincing. My brain was on overdrive, my concentration shot.
The monster got up with the ease of a leaf being picked up by the wind.
Dustin’s brown eyes were all that remained of him in the face set in stone, the wide jawline, the fangs over the lower lip, the flat nose, the pointy ears. Behind him, wings spread outward like a shadow falling over the world, blocking out the sun, tossing me into darkness.
Fear shackled me, hammering into my head. My throat thickened as I faced a monster bursting with energy, and I was about to become his target practice.
Told you. Told you.
“Please, Dustin. It’s me. Don’t do this. Please, no.”
He snatched my hair and hauled me after him, taking me to the tower.
I thrashed and fought my captor, rage flooding me because nothing in my world would ever be right again.
* * *
I flippedopen my eyes to darkness outside and crawled out of bed, groaning. Salty blood filled my mouth from where I’d been thrown against a wall. A sharp pain shot through my back, and I winced. I shuddered from where the bastard had used a belt. He’d tossed me around like a rag doll, but I ‘d somehow gotten off lightly because my previous beatings had always left me injured for weeks. Maybe it was the gargoyle’s recent transformation making him weak. My actions got him trapped inside the gargoyle. Or was he dead? I didn’t even know where to begin undoing this… or if it was even possible. He was meant to run the moment he saw danger, but I never anticipated a curse on the gargoyle.
In quick succession, I ran a hand through my short hair, staring at the book on gargoyles on the table. Regret pulsed through me, and I clenched my fists. My stomach hurt remembering the tragic events. I’d failed Dustin and myself. Tears fell fast, and I sobbed into my hands, hating what I’d done. Hating my condemnation.
Touching my injuries, my fingers came back bloody.
I’d longed for freedom for so long, I’d become blindsided by the first opportunity to destroy the monster. Now the bear shifter had lost his life. Gage’s words filtered through my mind about Dustin being a monster in his own way, killing anyone for money, and the shifter had scared me. But it wasn’t my decision who lived or died. By allowing Dustin to die, I was no better than he—a killer. A stabbing ache tightened in my chest, and I hiccupped as another tore through me, hurting across my ribs as tears threaded down my cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Dustin. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
Agony burrowed deeper within me as reality crashed through me. Not only had I gotten Dustin transformed, but my future had vanished.
I hugged myself because I’d always believed one day I’d destroy the gargoyle and finally be free. I’d been foolish, an idiot. Now I’d never escape but remain imprisoned, forced to return to the tower every night.
Pushing myself to my feet, I stumbled to the table and lit a candle. The book I’d stolen sat at the other end of the table and I dragged it closer. I flipped to the pages about gargoyles and reread the whole section, finding no mention of a curse from defeating the monster. The torn pages must have spelled out the consequences of destroying a gargoyle, and yet I’d never given the missing information a second thought.
I wiped my eyes, picked up the candle, and hobbled to the bathroom.
I set the candle on a shelf beneath the mirror on the wall and stared at myself. Dried blood marred my cheek and forehead. A darkening bruise appeared under my left eye and the cut across my temple bled at the corner. My skin looked pasty, and even my short hair stuck in the air. I pushed it flat across my head.
A tear rolled down my cheek. Anger burned like lava inside me, churning, desperate for destruction, but I was useless. Everything I tried made the situation worse.
You look like you fell off a cliff and got into a fight with a prickly bush.
“Wow, you’re full of compliments.”
Just saying it as it is. You stuffed up last night.
“Maybe stop talking.” The silence engulfed me, closing in around me.
Something rubbed my leg, and I looked down at Gingernuts, staring up at me with huge eyes. Behind him was a long trail of golden hair like a never-ending cape. I reached down and picked him up, despite his wriggling.
“You know I’m going to hug you, so you might as well stop fighting.” I tickled his belly, and he broke into a purr. With him back down, I got to cleaning myself up and dressed.
