My nostrils flare. I know that scent; I’ve been bathed with it in battle. The blood of a brother. “Vampire blood.” I glance at the floor, almost missing the puddle of blood. The reflection of the roses camouflaged it.
What the fuck happened?
Tristen leans down. My eyes pivot to Selene’s room. “Look,” Tristen points to the bottom of the bush. A boot is poking out from under the thick foliage. The closer we look, the more parts of the body we find. Jonas’s face—what used to be a face— peers back at us from within the vines.
“Well… that’s not something you’d want to put in a vase.” Tristen exhales; he pokes a vine with his sword. “He’s definitely dead.”
“Obviously.” He’s got a bush sprouting from his chest!
The bond pulls my feet down the hall, and I practically fall into the door as I barge in. She’s not on her bed, but the sheets are rumpled. Where is she?
My chest feels like yarn being wrapped around knitting needles. There she is, sitting outside on her balcony. Her knees are curled up, but her body looks boneless. Joy and relief dilate my eyes.
“You got it?” she states with confidence. Only her eyelids move as they struggle to look at me.
Each step I take is an iron chain cementing the bond. I expect her to tell me to stop.To remind me that she was given to Galen and that I have a duty forced upon me by her brother.
I wouldn’t.
I haven’t been myself since I came here. When Everett forced his magic into me, it changed me, shook my confidence, made me step back and observe. I watched my mate with another, forced myself to obey her and not attack, to ignore the bond.
I’ve become a man I would not call honorable. Weeks of torture that I will not endure any longer.
She will let me claim her, or I will surrender to death willingly.
I was trained to fight, to take, and that’s what I’m going to do. All this push and pull she’s forced me to endure was out of fear for me, for us. She needs to know what kind of man I am. All her life, she has been accustomed to monsters.
I can be one.
Love is a beast after all. It consumes, drives you wild. It needs more and more, and so I shall feed the monster.
“This is over.” I point to the walls. Galen’s walls. “You’re not his. I will never stand aside and watch him lead you away. Do. You. Understand?”
Her breath quivers as she lifts her head. “I was trying to protect our bond.”
“Our bond is different, Selene.” My fist close like tongs gripping a crucible, brimming with the molten metal that forms our twisted love and unbreakable bond. “I’m just as possessive as Galen, but I also respect you.” My hair sweeps my forehead as I shake my head. “But you haven’t shown me the same respect.”
Her tongue darts out, trying to lick away the guilt on her lips.
I remove the space between us and crouch down. “He will never touch you again. I will show you how I survived in battle. I will cut him down and toss his fucking hands in that bush in your hallway.And I’ll keep it there until the message is clear to you. You’re mine. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“Very alpha male." I can hear the smile on Tristen's lips, as well as the relief that Selene is safe. In typical fashion, he's going to try to lighten the mood with sex jokes. "Touch-her-and-die. Ember told me that’s something ladies like. It's in all the books she reads to me. It's always the most badass women who like to be tossed around in bed.”
I’m about to turn on him, but Selene casts her eyes down and blushes.
His hand lands on my shoulder. “I think we all need a deep inhale. Deeper, deeper, yeah baby, that's it, take it.”
Selene covers her mouth; her fingers are pale and tremble, but… she giggles.
“Look, she laughed. Brownie points for me. I know we had a rough start. I admit I didn’t like you, Selene, but that mark on my brother’s chest means you’re stuck with me. Congratulations, and word of advice, ignore my shit and admire my giggles.”
I roll my eyes, and he sighs.
“Okay, okay.” Tristen pulls back. “One more question: why is there a rose bush with a face in your hallway, or parts of a face?”
I study her hands. They have one more second on this land of being alone. One more flexing of her fingers opening wide and meeting air. The next time she uncurls her hand it will meet my touch!
