“Pet, where are you?”It’s not a roar, but a softly spoken promise that he will find and rip the head off anyone who hurts me. As his words hit me, a shiver rolls through my body. I sense, for the first time, that I’m naked.
Whoever took me pulled me straight out of bed,putting me in this place without a stitch of clothing. Knowing I have nothing covering my body is alarming in a whole new way.“Fury, something is wrong.”
And how can I hear him this time, when I couldn’t before?
“Your power is growing and our connection is becoming stronger.”He answers my unasked question.
Thanks to my prone body, I’m facing upwards, unable to move, my gaze focused straight ahead, down the tunnel that continues threatening to close in on me, pondering those words. Noises beyond the hissing start to trickle through. My eyesight slowly begins to move from a tunnelled blur to crisper outlines.
“Where is Gideon, Pet?”Fury’s voice is firm yet somehow comforting as his words travel through me, filling my tired bones with new vigour. My arms and legs gain some movement.
“I was asleep with Rivern… Now, I’m waking up paralysed and naked. I don’t know where Gideon is. You created him. Can’t you tell me where he is?”I snap back in my mind. I don’t want to sound curt, though he is the God here. The fact that he keeps losing me when we are bonded for my protection makes my hackles rise.
“Due to my diminished powers and considering your distance, I can no longer watch you as I did within Haven. I now rely purely on our connection until you draw nearer to me. I’ve never been able to see much beyond the coastline that stretches the land closest to the isle I’m imprisoned on.”
That’s just great.The words fall through my mind, inadvertently finding Fury.
A growling comes through the bond. I feel his anger. Not anger for me—for the situation we suddenly find ourselves in. For a moment, his walls drop. I feel his desperation to be here, to protect. However, that feeling is immediately replaced, gone as if it never existed.
“Fury—”I start. A rumbling through the air cuts me off, the sound echoing down my tunnel. I sigh heavily, knowing only one beast could make that spine-tingling noise.Gideon.
Since conversing with Fury, my body has gained more feeling, so I try pulling myself up. Now, I can see the hell I’m cocooned in, thehissing still prevalent around my body, drenched in sweat. My skin is overheated from the poison—or the suffocatingly heat-drenched air. Argus unfurls within my chest. I push up on my arms, struck with the gut-clenching scene surrounding me.
“Fury?”My voice is unsure in my head. He didn’t reply to me before, and I’m afraid I might be alone down here with … with them in a deep pit, a hole of endless roughened walls. I don’t know how I even got down here. Getting out seems impossible in my current state. The circular space I’m in is wide enough for the snakes to form a ring around my body without touching me.
“I’m here. You’re never alone, Pet. I’m always here. Gideon will get you out of there.”Unease washes over me.How will Gideon get me out of this place?A loud hiss comes from my right. Sparkling seaweed green eyes find mine, a black, forked tongue coming out of a small, hissing mouth.
“Oh, shit,” the words slip out of my chapped lips. I quickly plaster a hand over my mouth.Do I scream? Do I stay silent?There are hundreds of snakes making a circle around my body, just out of reach, like they are giving me space, barricading me in. I don’t want to scare the creatures and make this worse for myself.This is far from a good situation.
Finally able to sit, I bring my woozy body into a crossed-legged position, resting my head in my hands. A low thumping comes from the back of my skull, my stomach a swooping mess, like I want to vomit. Otherwise, I feel fine.
“Draw your power, Pet.”
“What power?”I push against my temples.
“The fire that runs through the bond. It will strengthen you. It will burn through any lingering pain, just as it is allowing us to speak now.”Fury’s words are steady, hiding the anger I know he feels underneath.
Drawing on the bond, I follow his instructions, my scared body willingly opening to him. Argus is wide-eyed and bucking within my chest cavity, ready to release some fire when he feels the wash of power down the bond—God power. Even though it is dimmed, it is enough to right my human form. Tugging on the power, Argus roars his fire, my limbs sizzling with heat and life. I’m awash in Fury—his wrath, his revenge, his obsession—just enough light to suffocate the lingering poison in my system.
Pushing from the ground, my body now holds the energy of a fallen God, both my headache and my sickness gone. A hush descends around me. Not even a hiss can be heard.
Until I hear them…
“They didn’t attack her.”
“She still lives.”
“Seraph.”
That word again.It moves around me, another hush descends, and a broad, furry creature falls before me within the pit I’m stuck in.
Clawed fingertips find my body, pushing me into a warm, heated torso, fur tickling my skin. I don’t even have time to look into his eyes before Gideon shoves me against him, shielding me from the snakes that are still around us, not a hiss to be heard.
In his wolf-shifted form, we cannot communicate, so I grip my hands around his body, clinging on, digging my nails into his fur, inhaling the woodsy spice of my beast. His heart is racing roughly against my ear.
He stands holding me, his large frame a veritable monster standing on two legs—legs that showcase his running power. No doubt, when he is on all fours, he could outrun a horse. In every way, he looks like a wolf, but standing like a human on two legs gives away his humanity.
“I’m okay,” I whisper into his skin, a shuddered breath coming from the wolf gripping me tight.
