Goddess, how long was I out for?My head throbs. I find myself in a plush bed, strapped down by thick green ropes. The inner shell of the headboard has a pearlescent, overarching canopy, which blocks my view of the ceiling and anything behind me, not that it is easy tomanoeuvre, being tied down. Stretching my head forward, I watch the blue females.They must be nearly six feet tall.
Every new territory I stumble through in the Forgotten Lands is filled with new, exotic creatures. The problem is I don’t know how dangerous they are. The bond tells me Dove is alive. That’s not good enough. I have to see her with my own eyes.
I clench my fists, pulling roughly at the green ropes. I don’t plan on going down without a fight.
Goddess, I need to find her.The tug on the bond is excruciating.I made a promise. She wasn’t meant to leave my sight.
I pull at the straps again, my heart pounding a million miles a moment.
The bond is open to her. I feel her heart beating in tune with my own down the threads we have woven from our growing love for each other.
Before they realised my volatile nature, the blue creatures continued to approach me. When one would come too close, I’d shut my eyes to them or snap my teeth like a petulant child. The only woman I want to lay eyes on is Dove.
One tried to touch my naked stomach and thigh. I growled at her like some ferocious beast—I’ve heard a similar sound come out of Gideon before in his wolf form. It was strange to my ears, like it was coming from far within my soul, recognising none of these women as my God-bonded, my mate.I will only have Dove in my bed.
They have since left me as they mill around the clamshell bed I’m fuming in, my stomach roughly moving up and down in angry breaths as I wait.
I pull on my restraints again. The naked blue females shuffle back, gasping.
A sinister smile forms over my lips, knowing they fear me.Good.
Stewing in my own wrath, a hush falls over the room.
I see another mer with long pink hair walk around the bed, followed by—I would recognise that naked, scarred torso anywhere—Gideon.
Inhaling deeply, I say his name, but he doesn’t answer.
Instead, the pink-haired woman with large, wide-set eyes sits on the side of my bed, not making any move to talk to me. I’m tempted to test her resolve by snapping my teeth again. Instead, I choose to watch her interaction with Gideon.
She talks to Gideon briefly, using words I’ve never heard spoken before. Soon, his amber eyes are on mine, and he’s ducking under the shell canopy, aiming for me. Something feels very wrong, though, his eyes glazed.
“She says you need to listen to what she has to say so you can communicate with her.”
“I don’t know what has gotten into you, wolf. I have no interest in what she has to say without Dove here. Have you asked her what has happened to Dove?”
At the mention of her name, a flicker shoots through his amber eyes, a synapse reconnecting. “Dove?” he whispers the word as if he is trying it out for the first time.
“Yes, you big, brainless wolf. My bonded. The woman you swore to protect.” His eye starts to twitch.
I quickly move my gaze over to the mer sitting at the end of my bed. She frowns, grabbing Gideon’s wide jaw, turning his face to hers.
She whispers harsh words in a language I still don’t understand. I notice his hands clench together at his sides, unwilling to fully accept what she is saying.
Does she have him under some type of spell?
The Gideon I know would have these mers’ throats ripped out in movements if they were keeping Dove from us. He wants her. I saw back in the moonlight of the Silver Sands, when we were drugged with the green venom, how much he wanted her. Plus, the bastard has grown on me, too.
Godsdammit, I need to do something.
Ignoring the pair at my bedside, I focus, trying to sort out my throbbing head to find the string that forever tethers us together.“Dove. Dove,answer me.”
I don’t have to wait long before she’s meeting me right where we left off.
“Oh, thank the Goddesses, are you okay?”Her voice is wobbly yet soothing down the line.
“Sorry, I’m fine.I was sleeping. Where are you? I will come for you.”I don’t tell her of my current predicament. I don’t want to make her anxious. I want her safe.
“Ummm, well—”A startled blow rings down the bond.
