Like a coward, I do. Scrambling to my feet, I rush through the empty halls, terrified of what will happen when he finally does catch me, when I’m finally in his clutches. Because I know what I have to do.
And I don’t think I can do it.
I careen down the corridor, breath coming in ragged hiccups. I don’t know where I’m going, but I don’t stop. His footsteps echo inmy mind. I can hear that addictive, dark chuckle polluting my thoughts. I can feel his breath on the back of my neck.
I will never outrun him.
Spilling around a corner, my eyes lock on a curtained alcove off to the side of the hall. I stumble behind it, yank the heavy drape closed, and will my thundering heart to slow—to quiet.
“I can smell you, darling,” Kylian calls. “Of course, this trail of blood you’re leaving isn’t doing you any favors.”
I glance down, noting the warm sensation trickling down my inner arm. A deep gash peers back at me.
Fuck. I must have cut it trying to break away from him. I’m bleeding all over myself, all over the floor.
My back is pressed against the wall, my hand clamped over my mouth to stifle my heavy breaths.
I jump as the curtain flies back.
“Did you really think you could get away from me? I told you a thousand times—there is nowhere you can go where I will not find you.”
And without hesitation, he kisses me. Fire bursts toward the surface of my skin, flaring up at the first touch of his mouth on mine.
I don’t get the opportunity to fight him off. Because he’s suddenly flying through the air.
Jace is there, a shadow of death, his entire aura shifting into something so innately violent it actually frightens me.
It frightens me more than Kylian ever could.
Zadyn springs forward out of nowhere, clamping blood ore chains around Kylian’s wrists before he can react. Jace grips him by the collar and pulls his elbow back, a dagger poised to lodge itself inside that blackened heart.
And that’s when it happens.
“Stop!”
My bond squeezes the strangled cry from my throat.
“He’s my mate!”
99
SERENA
Jace goes deathly still.
His head angles toward me, one degree at a time.
“What did you just say?”
“He’s my mate,” I choke, crashing to the ground.
Jace stares at me, frozen, disbelief written all over his face. “No, he’s not, he’s?—”
I witness the exact moment my words sink in. I see the change register in his eyes as they tighten and go cold. His hand goes slack, and Kylian crumples to the floor, gasping for air.
“That can’t be true.”
My shoulders sag as I shake my head. Jace sets his jaw, his knuckles turning white around the dagger’s hilt.
