The Beast
Mine. Mine. Mine.
I was free. My mate in my arms. The foolish humans who attacked her?
Dead. All but one. Simon. I had his scent. Knew his name.
I would hunt him later. Kill him.
You made a bargain. Simon’s life for Daciana. She is the one who betrayed us.
I snarled. Iven’s words meant nothing. Less than nothing. You. Betray me.
Iven had locked me inside the cage of his mind, his small, weak body. For years.
I was protecting you.
Lies. That’s all Iven the Atlan did. He lied. He betrayed.
He would lie to our mate. Betray her. Break her heart. He already had. She was my mate. Mine. I had chosen. She accepted. Mating cuffs. She said yes.
MINE! Iven kept us apart. Fucked her. Tasted her. Kept her for himself. Betrayer.
I shoved Iven into the dark abyss where he had kept me. Locked him away.
My mate. My Brody. Mine.
“Mine. Mine. Mine.” I held her as I raced through the forest, miles disappearing beneath my feet as I ran, taking her far away from the dead bodies and the human police. I could have returned to the house the traitor, Daciana, had given us. Foolish Iven had trusted her. Listened to her.
The wicked Everian female gave us a cage to live in so she would know where to find us. Used us to track the boy so she could kill him. Brought mercenaries to kill our mate.
Iven. Weak. Stupid. I hadn’t fought Iven when he’d accepted the mission. Protecting females and children was ingrained in our nature. But the Everian female? I would have warned him, if I’d believed, even for a moment, he would listen. But that was in the past. Krystal had me now. I protect mate.
Let me out.
Fuck. You. Iven.
Iven relented. He didn’t have a choice. I was in control now.
Don’t hurt her.
I stopped dead in my tracks and lifted my face to the sky. The roar of rage that erupted from my throat was raw pain, the agony of years of Iven’s judgment. Lack of trust. Betrayal. We’d survived being a prisoner of the Hive because I protected him.
Weeks of torture. Pain. A thousand, thousand voices trying to crack my skull wide open. Then one, powerful voice. The voice of a god. The Nexus Unit arrived to break me.
I kept Iven locked away. Safe. We survived. We escaped.
And he put me in a cage. Blamed me for everything. Punished me.
Kept me from our mate. That was the ultimate betrayal. The one I could not, would never, forgive.
“MINE!” My shout sent a dozen birds into flight from their roosts in the surrounding trees. I looked around. Had no idea where we were or how far I’d carried her. Didn’t matter.
The female in my arms shifted. “Can you um, put me down?”
“No.”
She squirmed, her soft ass rubbing against my side. “Iven.”
