AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I could taste blood on my tongue, my grip on its mind slipping as the anger it had been feeling doubled. There was no saving it now. It was going to kill everything in its path.
I couldn’t save it, but I could help save everyone else. I wrapped my hands around its mind and squeezed, watching as it roared and staggered left and right as it charged at me.
“Obey me!” I said through clenched teeth, and it stopped, its head shaking wildly. Then I called out to my mates. “Now! Do it now! You have to kill it!”
My eyes began to blur, my body buckling under the weight of what I was doing, and I fell to my knees. Rumir got to his feet and held his hand out, calling one of his swords to him. Then, leaping into the air without the aid of his wings, his thundering roar that of a dragon, blood-curdling and filled with power, he severed the beast's head with one stroke, cracking the earth in the process.
I fell to the ground, gasping for air as the bond between the florkin and me broke. Just before it died, I whispered that I was sorry, saddened that I couldn’t save it.
Something had been very wrong with this poor beast.
I gagged, bile rising to my throat, but I held it in.
I leaned back, my body drained of energy, and Lucian appeared by my side, his face twisted with fury. My lips parted to speak, but instead, I lunched forward, vomiting blood. Then the world suddenly went dark.
* * *
Natalie
“Isaid I'm fine,” I told Rehema, who was still fussing over me, even though she’d healed me a few moments ago.
“That was reckless! You could have died!”
"But I didn't. I helped. Tonight, none of the wolves could shift, so they were basically powerless. But I've spent my whole existence like that. I lived my life without backing down, and I won't live my afterlife any differently. I had to help."
Rehema sighed, some of her anger dissipating, and Rumir snapped his wing back into place.
He turned to me, his eyes still glowing, and I frowned. I felt terrible about what had happened. Because of me, he’d lost focus and had taken his eyes off the florkin. But as I started to speak, to apologize, he growled at me.
“Why didn’t you listen to me?”
I sighed, eyeing his wing. I felt bad that I’d been the reason he got hurt, but I didn't appreciate him speaking to me that way. “I’m sorry about your wing, Rumir. But I couldn’t sit by and do nothing.”
“Forget my wing! You could have died! Don’t you understand that?”
I got to my feet, growling. "Don’t yell at me. I'm your mate, not your child. I make my own choices."
“Don’t you get it?” he yelled as his second sword flew to his hand. He shoved it into his back, and I tried not to flinch with how painful that looked. "You could have died mind-linking with that beast! What would you have done then? Your soul would have been erased!”
“I wasn’t thinking that. Sure, I could have died. But so could have countless others! I was in its mind—it was consumed by bloodlust. What if it had managed to get to the city?”
“I don’t care! You were reckless!”
“Enough!” I screamed. A few wolves were still present, and I didn't appreciate him embarrassing me like this. “I won’t tolerate you speaking to me this way, Rumir. Calm down.”
“This isn’t the time, Rumir," Lucian said, but Rumir just growled at him, baring his fangs.
“Don’t fucking speak to me! I told you to take her to the safety. You're not fit to be her mate. If she had died, it would have been your fault!"
Lucian's face went blank, his eyes unblinking, and the air grew cold. I blinked, not believing what I was seeing. Ice was forming on his skin, right up to his eyes.
What the hell…?
He stood up slowly, his eyes changing to black. “Say that again,” he said, a cloud of fog escaping his lips. “Go ahead.”
Rumir stepped forward, his throat turning red as flames built up inside him, and I hurried to get between them and put a stop to this nonsense. One fight had already been won tonight. I didn't want to have to end another.
Rehema had healed my body, but my powers were utterly spent.
