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Holding up his hand, he bared the ash mark that mirrored mine on his left palm. The mark of Quelis leadership with its sun, fire, and bison horns. “I carry the chief seal, same as you carry the Spirit Master brand over your heart.” His gaze went to the swell of my breasts beneath my deerskin as if he could see through my pelt and the triangle with its trapped fire within, burned into my flesh and still freshly sore. “You aren’t just bound by our blood bind, Runa, but by every bind there is. By fire, by clan, and by succession. There’s no way free, and because of that, I will wait. I will wait until the day you realise that you belong to us, to me, to the fire’s decree, and maybe then you will do your duty as my mate.”
Stepping into me with a slight shuffle and wince from his wounded leg, he reached for my cheek.
I went to parry backward, but he was too fast. His large, strong hand slid around my nape, pulling me into him. I crashed against his chest, my palms slapping against his bare skin, my fingers right over his ash-snake’s fangs.
I shoved him, but it made no difference.
His other hand came up and captured my jaw.
His mouth closed over mine.
I froze.
Memories of his unwanted touch and terror as he held me down at blade point crested through me. My stomach roiled; icy sweat broke out over my skin.
I fought.
His lips parted.
I fought harder.
The tip of his tongue tried to breach the sanctity of my mouth.
I went to bite—
“Darro, don’t! Don’t go in there—” Solin’s command ripped through the day, just before the sides of the lupic exploded wide, and Darro appeared etched in sunlight. He stood tall and imposing, bare feet spread, wolf pelt baring his body, his muscular stomach pulsing with power and rage.
His gaze swept the shadowy world of Solin’s home, landing on me in Aktor’s arms.
Our eyes locked.
His jaw clenched into stone.
For a moment, the world paused.
The sunshine brightened.
The tension heightened.
And then, a detonation of jet-black shadows tore through the lupic, wrapped a hundred tendrils over every inch of Aktor from his throat, wrists, waist, and ankles, and snatched him violently away from me.
Aktor cried out as he soared through the air and landed against the bison hide protecting Solin’s home, stretching the skin and making the sapling framework groan beneath structural suffering.
I gasped as I felt the crush of my arm against the hide, even though it wasn’t my arm that felt it. I felt the burn as Aktor slid down the wall and collapsed into a pile of body parts, destroying a shelf full of wooden bowls, woven boxes, and stoppered jars.
I tried to prepare myself for the echoes of Aktor’s pain.
To brace against the agony that he would feel, but I wasn’t ready.
I bent forward, slapping a hand on my hip and knee as pain flared. My elbow screamed with yet another bruise, and I struggled to suck in a breath, winded from the fall.
Darro didn’t look at me.
Too full of rage and struggling with the urge to kill, he glowered at Aktor on the ground.
Grunting, Aktor shifted where he’d fallen. Solin’s prized possessions went scattering as he scrambled and cursed something in fierce Firenese, glaring at Darro.
I sucked in a breath as my lungs remembered how to work, wrenching Darro’s attention to me.
I stiffened as my tear-filled eyes met his. Just like last night in the grasslands when he’d kissed me, his eyes were molten silver. No black. No smoke. Just a sterling silvery gleam.
“You did it again, you savage!” Aktor growled from the other side of the lupic as he tried to right himself while protecting his bandaged leg. “How does it feel to keep hurting the very female you’re trying to protect?” He laughed. “You still don’t get it, you ignorant beast—”
Aktor choked as a shadow wrapped around his mouth, shutting him up mid-threat. Another coil of shades lashed out, binding around his wrists and yanking his hands together as if they were a rope strapping him tight.
But that was all the shadows did.
They didn’t deliver pain.
They merely restrained and gagged.
Aktor fought against them.
I felt the pressure of his imprisonment, the icy teeth of blackened shadows refusing to let him go. I shivered beneath the unyielding mastery of the one wielding them.
Dismissing Aktor with a curt snarl, Darro marched to me and cupped my cheek. His cool hand replaced Aktor’s touch with his own. And, unlike when Aktor had touched me and my flesh crawled with repulsion, now my body purred. My blood instantly warmed as if the sun shone directly onto my bones, gracing my mortal colouring with light.
Stepping into me, Darro’s forehead kissed mine. My golden gleam dappled his wolf pelt and bare chest, etching his muscles, stress, and pain. “I’m so, so sorry, Runa. I’m sorry for hurting you. For leaving. For not running away with you when we had the chance.”
