Despite the lack of emotion, I could feel tears trickle down my face. I dabbed one with the tip of my finger.
“Weakness,” I said, wiping another tear away. “I hate this.”
His smile grew warmer as he gently took my face in his hands.
“You are mistaken. This is your strength.”
The room went dark and brightened until I was lying in a canopy bed surrounded by high ceilings and lavish décor, but I wasn’t naked. Darius walked into the room in his suit, but as a werewolf.
“Are you not hungry for the wolf, Willa?” he asked, loosening his tie before rubbing the long, thick bulge running down the inseam of his pants.
“Perhaps later,” I said as he climbed into bed, still fully clothed. This time, he smelled like he usually did. Spicy cologne mixed with tobacco.
“You do not seem well lately.”
“I feel like a fool,” I whispered.
“Why?”
“Why do you care so much for me?”
Darius gently caressed my cheek, his eyes glowing silver again. “This is what I am. I have taken you for my mate, and I cannot stop what I feel.”
The room faded until all I could see was Mosavi on the ground in the middle of the woods, blood pouring from a hole in his chest. I knelt next to him, tears reluctantly streaming from my eyes despite still feeling empty.
“They know about you,” he gasped out, his words slurred as he lost more blood. “You need to leave this place.”
“Beast,” I said, covering the fist-sized hole with my hand. “We had an agreement.”
“One that I must regretfully break,” he whispered. “Rescue another, and maybe you will grow to love him. I am sorry.”
I shuddered, running my fingers along the fatal wound. It didn’t seem to be made by any weapon I knew of, and his rapid healing had not kicked in.
“Stupid beast,” I whispered as heat traveled from my chest, down my arms and into his body.
“What are you doing?”
“Something foolish. Something selfish,” I whispered, keeping my hand over the pulsing wound as more of myself flowed into him. It felt as though my life drained, and it became harder to breathe. “Darius.”
His eyes widened.
As the rest of my essence faded, something flowed back into the void in my chest, coming up from my arm. An overwhelming sensation had me sobbing as I fell against the werewolf.
“Willa,” he whispered. “You can have me. Even my soul.”
His voice echoed in my mind as everything faded to white.
A large hand shook me awake, and I snapped my eyes open to see Roscoe standing over me with a concerned look.
“Dinner’s ready,” he said calmly, leaning in for a kiss. “Wanna eat now, or have some fun?”
“Can you lay with me for a little while?”
“You okay?” he asked, slipping in beside me under the covers.
“I just had a bad dream, and I could use the company.”
Chapter 25
