The rush.
He instinctually knew that, somewhere in a deep part of my soul, I craved battle.
If I had ever craved it before, as a man would food, it had also become a thirst after my wife made the decision to stay with her family instead of fighting to come home with me, her husband.
Mywife.
Guerriero spurred forward, feeling the fury that swirled in my soul like a tornado. One squeeze of my thighs and he would slow, but there was no slowing for either of us. We were both panting, our muscles tight, our hearts racing.
We both knew where we were headed.
Apollo and Zeus, my two Maremma sheep dogs, had been left in the dust, and I could hear the echoing of their barking as we made our escape. The sea was not far ahead, and the strength of the cold wind skimming off the irritated water pushed against my body, pushed against Guerriero, his mane and mine carried by the wind. I could feel how wild my hair was. How unkempt.
Everything in my life had been unkempt since she made the decision to separate us.
Mamma had come at me with an explanation, but I needed none where my wife was concerned. She had something to prove. Even if we were separated for a time, I would still find her in the maze. Therefore, no one, most of all her fucking family, could ever challenge it.
There was more to it.
This was a cooling off period. Two loves wrapped up in each other couldn’t see their own hands in front of their faces, much less the truth their parents were yelling in their ears.
Passion burns out, especially when death might be a stake.
However.
I fucking knew it.
My wife fucking knew it.
What existed between us could never burn out. Could never fizzle out. Could never go out in any capacity. I wasn’t overstating it when I told her grandfather and father that Fate had spoken to me. The voice echoing in my heart was true—much truer than even I could be. Than any Fausti living or dead could be.
There was also the issue of us conspiring for the day of the maze. Figuring out the logistics and using it to our advantage the day of. Maybe desperate suitors had thought about this. If we were together, and we conspired, my truth could come into question.
I’d remove anyone’s tongue who challenged me in that way.
Yeah, Sistine’s earphones had been tagged, but I wasn’t going to use them that day. I knew I could find her without issue. I had no proof, but faith the size of a mustard seed and all that.
My shredded feelings had to do with how quickly she had agreed, and onourbehalf. It fucking tore me up inside—more than she could ever imagine. Walking away from her, I left myheart behind, my own wife’s hands the ones that ripped it out of my chest.
ZioRomeo’s words from that underground club in Paris seemed to echo inside of my mind. How time was limited, and once a moment was over, it was over. There was the true fucking problem. The moments my wife was spending were not with me, and they were moments we could never get back. I needed her beside me. Touching me. Breathing next to me.
Without her, it felt as if my windpipe had been crushed, and air was barely getting in.
Yeah, it was a short time in the world’s view, but in mine, it might have been centuries.
I made a “hah!” noise at Guerriero as he climbed the cliffside. He picked up even more speed, and right at the drop, he stopped, dust floating in the air from his hooves sliding along the crude path. My body went to slide forward, but I knew the fucking drill and braced myself for it.
Been there.
Done that.
It had been a while, but that sort of memory doesn’t fade.
When I’d first got him, he had been trying to kill me. He hated to be ridden. He wanted to be as wild as a mustang, running free with his harem. All of them under his protection. Then I got hold of him, and we butted heads. The murderous motherfucker instinctually just seemed to know the most prime places to kill me.
This was one of them.
The drop from the cliff was steep. It came to a jagged point at the end, extended rock holding it above the seething sea. He’d been racing as fast as he’d just been, and when he knew it was time, he stopped short, hooves hard on the ground, sliding to the edge. I was not expecting it and went over.
