AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The wind whips through my hair, the wyvern’s wings beating in a steady rhythm as we fly to the shimming opening. No darkness to be seen, just light as we break through it. The entrance back to the living tingles over my skin, and in the next moment, everything blurs. The beast beneath me is no more as my body begins to free fall.
With a pounding chest, I hurdle towards a blinding light, and when I reach it, my lungs sharply inhale life once more.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Draven
Everything is dark and I’ve lost track of the days because I don’t fucking care. Nothing in this life matters without her. And I can’t get myself to let go, no matter how many pitiful looks I can feel burning into my back when someone steps in the room.
She’s dead. There is no mistaking how her pallid body wars against the black satin sheets beneath her. The way her face would crease while smiling and laughing, or when her feistiness took hold has faded. Nothing but smooth skin that is missing its rosy spark.
Clutching her hand in mine—refusing to let go and break our connection—I drop my head and press my cheek to her frozen palm before holding my lips on our mark. The one that still remains. Though faint, it’s there.
I refuse to let our love ever die with her. She still holds power over me, and always will. My eyes never stray from her as they plead for the stars to breathe air into her lungs, to take it from my lungs instead.
For centuries, I was lost until I found myself in her. Her soul forced me to face the part of me I ran from. She saved me without ever knowing. And she is the reason my head remained above water.
Without a chance to fight it, my eyes fall shut. A sign of my body wanting to force itself to shut down. I know when Cora visits, she pushes some of her power into me to heal the energy draining from my body. And I let her, not bothering to push her away because my mind can’t stray from Emma. I don’t have the strength to fight her, to tell her to stop so I can join my mate.
I can’t seem to break out of this dark hole I’m endlessly falling down. There is only one person who can stop the madness catching fire in my mind and solidify the ground beneath my feet. My chest tightens, forever aching as I press my lips harder against her palm.
But my head jerks back when something twitches in my hand. Holding my breath, I stare at where my fingers interlock with hers, hoping it wasn’t a figment of my imagination. Minutes pass, but it feels like forever until two fingers quickly spasm against mine. So fast and featherlight that if I wasn’t looking, I would have missed it.
Leaning forward, I kiss her fingers repeatedly with whispered pleas spilling from my lips. “Please. Please. Please, come back to me.” Another rain of kisses. “I’m right here, always have been.”
Rocking back and forth, I hold onto her hand so tightly that my heat warms her skin as if I can pump life back into her. My heart squeezes painfully in my chest as I struggle to breathe. Everything drowns out around me, getting consumed with the rush of blood pounding in my head, drumming loudly in my ears until a scratchy voice I never thought I’d hear again cuts through my torment.
“Draven.”
Everything stops. Time ceases to exist as the bond in my chest comes flaring to life. My heart stutters as I snap my head up to her.
My mate.
Finding grey eyes bright and full of life. Bringing the storm of who she was back to life and once again snaring me in the tempest of her chaos. Tears track down my cheeks as I blink, disbelief still clinging to my eyes. But every time they land back on her, her smile grows.
The tightness in my chest fades and I carefully flatten my hand over her heart, needing to feel it beat against my palm. A desperate need to feel her chest rise with proof she’s come back to me. It’s only then that I take my first breath with her.
The legs of my chair scrape against the floor as I push to stand and lie on the edge of the mattress, resisting to pull her into me. She looks so fragile, so breakable. More so than when her heart wasn’t beating, as if it took all her strength to come back to me.
Leaning down, my head drops to her chest as every emotion rolls through me, and broken tears soak her shirt I’m clutching onto. Every piece of shrapnel my heart shattered into slowly works its way back together…because of her.
Fingers brush through my hair, smoothing the tension berating beneath my scalp. Burying my face into her, I breathe her in. Rose and honey fills my soul, calming the beast inside. Her heart beats strong beneath my cheek and my breathing syncs with the rise and fall of her chest.
“I’m so sor—”
“Don’t,” I cut her off, lifting my head to find her eyes closed tightly, but the wet streams falling down her cheeks can’t be missed. And the ache in her heart pierces mine deeply, slicing through the bond. Her sorrows are buried and rooted with mine. Deep and grounded, but never alone. Not anymore. “Look at me, Emma.”
Every time she gives me those stormy eyes, my breath catches, and I swear the world tilts on its axis. Making me want to fall to my knees, submitting myself to her. Only for her. My eyes penetrate hers, finding a well of remorse swimming in the depth of her soul. Everything she is feeling brushes through the bond, and I know it has to be because she left me. Because she sacrificed herself in my stead knowing she would die.
But the stars listened, knowing I was nearing the end, and that my beast was moments away from breaking through fucking fate itself to get to her.
She watches me, patient and waiting.
Dipping my head, my lips press a soft kiss on her stomach before looking deep into her eyes. “You have nothing to apologize for. So, I don’t want to hear it fall from those perfectly pink lips.” I can’t stop my eyes from dropping down to them when they part. The blue tint of them is long-gone, blooming with life now. And I have to force my gaze back to her wide eyes as she chews on that bottom lip, holding her breath for me to continue.
“But don’t ever fucking think that my life is worth saving over yours.” Cupping her face, I pull myself up to rest my forehead against hers. “Promise me, little demon.”
“Promise what?” she sniffles.
