AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I summoned my vines, pulling the trees out of the way, clearing a path. I’d shift into my beast. She’d always connected with the beast, even when she couldn’t connect with me.
Closer. I was almost there—
Beasts surged from the trees. Terrible beasts—panthers and leopards, skoupumas, deadly carnivores that only a cursed male could dream up.
But then the beasts were gone.
Not gone—transformed. Terrestrials shifting back to their fae forms.
Holding my mate down. Ripping her clothing from her.
“You can do nothing to protect her.”
Vines closed around me, holding me back as they hurt her. I shifted, but even the beast was not enough.
My chest was exploding, Veyka’s pain was my pain. Her soul was fracturing from the violation, mine from being unable to reach her. Everything was fraying apart at the edges. I was fraying apart. I was losing my mind.
“You cannot protect anyone. You are not worthy.” The voice laughed again, dark and cruel. I’d never heard it that way. That voice had only spoken kindness and love. My mother’s voice…
“Wake up! It is a nightmare!”
It wasn’t. Veyka was dead—no, worse than dead. Violated. Just as she’d been raped as a child, now taken and raped again and again. Because of me.
I roared, throwing my fists outward. Throwing the heavy weight of vines off of me.
They loosened, but didn’t release me. I gnashed my teeth, ready to rip them free with my fangs. I sank in deep, savoring the taste of their blood.
But vines didn’t bleed.
“Arran, Arran, please. Please, listen to me.”
It wasn’t vines wrapped around me. It was Veyka.
Veyka.
Whole. Skin nearly as pale as her hair. Shaking.
Maybe it was me who was shaking.
The tang of blood filled the tent.
Veyka’s blood.
I fell backward, scrambled away. I swallowed, wiped at my mouth, loving the taste of her even as I nearly retched at what I had done.
“No.” What was wrong with me. Was I destined to hurt everyone I loved? “No. No. No.”
It built and built until I was screaming it. Over and over. The rage pouring off of me.
I lunged away, seeing nothing but darkness and blood, trying to get away, to get out.
But two strong hands caught my shoulders, dragging me back. Climbing into my lap. She slid her hands down my arms, never easing the intense pressure.
She was so strong, my mate.
Not strong enough.
My head snapped up. Her fingers tightened on my wrists, eyes meeting mine. Eyes that burned—not the blue glow of desire, but something primal and even more powerful. She pressed one of my hands to her chest. The center, where her heart pounded beneath her skin. She held it there for several long beats.
