Solano
The pain is something I’ve never felt, not even after the battle with Eraldon. It cuts through my worry, my guilt, my need to find Emma. It’s sharp. Jarring. And because it’s her, it also verges on euphoric.
I gather her in my arms even as she claws at me, as she drinks my blood like a wild animal locked on a kill.
“Take what you need.” I send those words down the bond as I run a finger down the dark wings on her back.
She stops then rips her mouth away from my throat. “What did you say?”
“I said take what you need.” I look down at her, at how pale and fierce she is. My Emma.
“Emma.” I cup her face. “Can’t you feel me? Inside you, our bond?” I close my eyes and revel in the connection. It’s so much brighter now, alive and strong despite the encroaching darkness. “You feel it. I know you do.”
She shoves herself back from me, my blood dripping down her chin. “What is this? A trap?” She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “This—this feeling. It’s been you poisoning my mind? That’s what this was? Take it away! Get it out of me!” She beats her chest and lets out a scream that rips at my heart.
My feral howls, desperate to touch her again, to hold her. “It’s me. Your mate. Please, Emma.” I step toward her, but she backs away another step. “Emma.” I reach for her. “I’m here to take you home.”
She spits my blood onto the ground with a snarl. “You torture me and other nightlings, you kill my mother, and you think I’ll go back to the day realm with you? Is that what you think?”
I don’t understand. “I what?”
“You killed her mother.” Eraldon drops to the ground in front of me, his black eyes narrowed on me.
My joy at finding Emma is only overshadowed by my need to end the monster that hurt her, that stole her from me. “You lie.”
“Emma knows all too well that every word from your lips is a falsehood. Don’t worry. I’ve been taking excellent care of her. After all, she’s my mate.”
My feral flashes to the fore, but I can’t manifest it in this realm. All the same, my claws itch to claw Eraldon’s eyes out. “She’ll never be yours. You have no claim on her.”
“She wears my bite so well, sun king.” He grins, his fangs lengthening. “You’ll see it soon enough.”
Emma stands by his side, her gaze on me. And in it I see hate, malice, distrust. Down the bond I feel each of these emotions whirling through her like a tornado filled with razor blades and shadows.
“Emma, it’s me.”
“I know very well who you are.”
Eraldon wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her tight to him. “Had a snack, did you, my pet?”
The trees around us shake, and I can sense the seekers crawling through the branches, surrounding us.
She licks her lips. “I was looking for you, my king.” She blinks for a moment, her pupils dilating. “I thought you were calling me … through the bond and I came, but when I got here, the pull was coming from—”
“Because I’m your mate.” I step toward her, my hands out. “Emma, it’s me.”
She shakes her head. “No. I …”
“Can’t you feel me?” I think to her.
Her body stiffens, but she doesn’t respond aloud or through the bond. “I think I’m … I think his blood was poisoned or something.” She shakes her head again. “There’s something wrong with—”
“You need blood. My blood.” Eraldon grins at me. “Perhaps I’ll let you watch her feed from me before the mating ceremony. A little bonus for you.”
“You won’t touch her. You’ll never mate her. She’s already mated tome.” I want to strike him down with what magic I have left, but I can’t with Emma so close. “Emma, look at me.”
“Stop. Stop your lies.” She buries her face in Eraldon’s chest, and it’s like she raked her fangs through my still-beating heart.
“Emma.”
