Chapter 30
Taste His Own Pain
Raven
Present Day - Grypheem
Levi has been taken. I am getting married in ten days. My body aches. My mind is a blur of chaos and pain.
And truly, without any doubt, I despise the High Priestess. I do noteverwant to end up on her Isles, and if she does anything to Levi… Oh, God…
“Go to him, she’s gone for now.” Drago’s words snapped me out of my spiraling.
My feet propelled my body forward before my brain could catch up.
I never expected to find comfort in Griffin, but it was him who caught me as I launched myself onto him. It was Griffin who wrapped his bulky arms around me, who cradled me to him.
“Let’s go, not here.” It was Griffin who lifted me off of the ground and carried me from that hellish room. “Oleks, check on the others. You need to keep Enzo and Maverick out of sight, we are going to be watched like hawks from here on out.”
I couldn’t see Oleks, but his familiar scent wrapped around me as Griffin continued to carry me away.
“They took Levi.”
“Hush, we’re almost there.” Griffin hummed, speeding up his pace leading us back to his quarters.
When we made it, he slammed the door shut, but did not immediately let me go. Instead, he led us to the closet and shut us inside.
His breathing was heavy as he finally lowered me to the ground, but he held tight to me, his fingers gripping my forearms. “Raven. I’m so sorry.” His voice cracked.
My entire being was a pulverized mess of hurt and pain and aching. It felt as if my love was a toxin. First, my daughter. Then to Jayce. And now even Levi was a victim of it.
“They took him.”
Griffin folded me into his arms, forcing my head against his chest. “Let it out.”
The insanity of the last several weeks, of the last several months, of the last several years, it all piled one on top of the other.
My sadness turned to rage, to hot liquid lava. To acid that burned and destroyed everything in its wake.
I fought against Griffin, breaking free from his hold. In this instance, he was the enemy. He was the reason. He was to blame.
My fists pounded against his chest. “You gave me hope! I thought I could escape Violencia because of you! But it meantnothing! This place is worse!” My anger and grief were a swirling cyclone of destruction as the tendrils of insanity crept into my mind. As I unraveled.
“I know.” He grunted. “I’m sorry.”
His voice was nearly enough to stop me, but not quite. My hands continued to land against his sturdy chest, each punch slightly weaker than the last. My anger, a quick fuse burnt one too many times. I couldn’t even stay alight, my spark was gone.
I was a void.
A useless doll.
A fractured puppet.
Their fuckingCherished.
My hysteria bubbled up and out of me, I had been holdingeverythingat bay. Levi had been a constant warmth, a reminder that Jayce and Sparrow would return, a bandage covering a gaping wound. But now he was gone.
Griffin reached up, cupping my much smaller hands in one of his, holding them in place. “Keep this anger. Let it propel you forward. Do not get lost in the agony of loss but rather endure it. Allow it to be your reason why.”
