AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The underworld creature was staring at me, as if it could see straight into my soul despite the black smudges where its eyesshould have been. Its horned skull leered over me, wreathed in darkness, and every muscle in my body drew taut. Iciness flooded my veins, nothing like the power I felt from my magic.
This was like an absence. A warmth and life-stealing void. My bones turned leaden, and my mouth tasted of ash as my lungs seized. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Even my tears froze on my lashes.
The creature leaned closer, its cold breath ruffling my hair and causing my body to spasm with shivers. Pain. Terror. Despair. I was overwhelmed and lost in the darkness, trapped forever in this hopeless place.
And the creature whispered in my head:
Quiet and powerless. Little Snowflake, you will never be free.
I choked on my scream, because I couldn’t force any sound out at all when there was no breathe in my lungs.
When I blinked, the darkness and the demon were gone, but the horror remained. I was in the dungeons again, listening to the restless pacing of unseen creatures, their claws running along stone. Whimpers and moans echoed in the damp air. Ahead, the only flickering torches in the whole space bathed a single cell in orange light. Within, Preston and Nerissa were laughing as they carved into Garrick’s flesh. Chained to the ceiling as he was, he could do nothing but scream and flail as they mangled his body into something bloody, nightmarish, unrecognizable.
I screamed. I beat against the bars of the cell. I reached for magic that wouldn’t come. But nothing I did stopped the cruel siblings; nothing could save the wolf shifter I cared for.
Garrick’s gold eyes flashed open one last time, even though his body had stilled, and I had been certain he was dead. His voice was guttural.You should have run, Starlight.
My throat was raw from my screams as I jolted awake. Tears wet my cheeks and my legs were tangled in the bed clothes.
“You’re safe.” Arms enveloped me, helping to calm my racing heart. “Starlight, it’s all right. It was only a nightmare. I’m here.”
More tears traced a path down my jaw. My chest was so tight that it took a concentrated effort to steady my shallow breaths into deeper, more fortifying drags of air. I let myself relax against Garrick’s chest, relishing the wall of solid muscle and the rhythm of his heartbeat and the way they grounded me. In his arms, I was safe.
But...
Renewed fear froze my insides.
“Garrick,” I managed, wiping at my cheeks. “You’renot safe.” I nearly sobbed again as the images from my dream seared my memory.
“It was a dream, Starlight,” Garrick insisted, running his fingers through my hair.
I closed my eyes, trying to soak in this moment and reassure myself. He was here. Alive. Holding me. He cared.
Warmth filled me as he pulled me closer, tucking me against him as one hand held my waist securely and the other traced lazy patterns down the back of my neck. Each touch sent trails of fire down my skin. Was this the comforting touch of a friend? Of a man loyal to the death to the woman he believed was his rightful queen?
Or was he feeling what I did with our nearness? Every brush of his breath against my neck had me resisting the urge to shiver, and each caress from his fingers made me feel emboldened in a way I never had before. Suddenly, I was thinking of twisting in his arms, of facing him and pressing my lips to his. I was lost in a daydream, wondering what he would taste like. Wondering what it would feel like to be pressed against him.
What had seemed so scandalous before now only carried with it a sense of security and belonging. I knew Garrick wouldn’t touch me inappropriately; he had always been a gentleman, and our proximity comforted me.
But...
He was stilltouchingme.
“Garrick,” I said again, more urgently. I wrenched away so abruptly that his hand fell from my waist. Chill air licked at my skin as I sat up, away from Garrick’s warmth. “You can’t be here. You can’t—” My voice cracked as I turned to him.
He was already sitting up, and my stomach leapt when I realized he’d removed his shirt to sleep. Though the embers had almost completely burnt out in the hours since I’d fallen asleep, there was just enough golden light to burnish his skin, accentuating the outlines of countless muscles. Cheeks heating, I dragged my eyes up to his face.
“I thought you were going to hurt yourself,” Garrick murmured, his face solemn.
Fresh tears burned my eyes. “But they’ll hurt you for touching me.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw as he swiped a hand through his hair, standing some of the white-blond strands on end. One fell across his forehead, and I had to curl my fingers into my palm to keep myself from reaching out and brushing it out of his face. “More likely, they would harm you to make me suffer,” he said, his eyes dark with loathing. He swallowed, his throat working. “They’ve wanted me to serve as both your captor and your bodyguard. Maybe we can convince them you were trying to escape. I can pretend I was only here to keep you in your bed.” His lips twitched in a humorless smile. “We can behave as if I was only being their faithful dog.”
Garrick rose from the bed, pacing across the floor.
“You can’t lie,” I whispered. I couldn’t banish the images of a bloody, tortured Garrick from my mind, and I didn’t want to find out what Preston and Nerissa would do to him if they found him holding me, sharing my bed.
His expression was tormented as he raked his fingers though his hair again. “Maybe you should leave—”
