Her gaze carefully swept over us, assessing whether or not we were ready for what was to come. Finding nothing but unwavering devotion in our eyes, she nodded once and walked out the door.
The weight in her statement grounded us all, and we exchanged a troubled look before Dante moved closer to Natasha. Whispering the spell that he’d used before, his hand and forearm were instantly protected by a white shimmering glow, and he sat on the bed, placing his hand over the place where her stomach would be.
Her fire no longer burned him.
Glancing at my hand, I let my arm transform into the Beast’s, white fur covering every inch up to my rolled-up sleeve.Obsidian claws extended from my fingertips, but I kept them at bay so as not to hurt our mate.
I hated the way my chest clamped down on me, trapping the breath in my lungs when I walked toward the head of the bed. I ignored it all, even the way blood rushed through me, and my heart began to thunder.
Fear. Fucking fear.
What the fuck was I afraid of? Natasha was mine, and it was just a touch.
Just a touch…
Dante and D immediately tensed, holding their breaths, frozen in place without uttering a single word. They watched me, their muscles coiled and ready for action in case I ignited again.
Focusing on her beautiful face through the swaying blue waves of power, I slowly reached for her. Surprisingly, the flames welcomed my touch. No, not welcomed, tolerated, allowing me to go through them and caress the top of her hair. The softness of her silver strands caressed my fingers too, gifting me a moment of peace.
Both D and Dante visibly relaxed, their bodies sagging where they sat.
Feeling more like myself, I braved transforming my hand into my wolf’s instead, long fingers retreating as my thick paw formed. Once again, the guys tensed next to me. The sting of dangerous heat reached me immediately and my arm instinctively jerked, but I didn’t pull away—it was manageable.
The flames didn’t catch my fur, didn’t spread over my skin, they just swayed over my paw, letting their presence there be a stern warning.
My eyes connected with D’s, and he immediately scowled. “Don’t you fucking do it, Hannes. I mean it.”
I pursed my lips, unable but to ignore him.
“I swear to Goddess Hecate,” Dante threatened, standing from his perch next to our mate to stop me, but my mind was already made.
I was the fucking Iron Prince. I had never been a coward, and I wasn’t going to start today.
Before either of them could stop me, my arm shifted back to human… inside the fire.
“FUCK!”
Our combined curse reverberated through the room as theEternal Blazeengulfed my hand with a vengeance, spreading up my arm more powerfully than before, and going through the layers of skin in a split second.
I tried to pull my arm out, to get away, but the Vampire cocoon seemed to capture me there, making Natasha’s power twice as vicious.
A ball of deathlyTwilightsuddenly crashed against my chest, throwing me off her side until my body slammed against the wooden floor. I immediately pushed to my feet, transforming my arm back into the Beast’s to stop the burning… and the torture.
“Argh!” I roared, my voice turning into the Beast’s and projecting through the entire estate. Panting from the mix of pain, anger, and fucking annoyance, I held my twitching forearm—watching the flames slowly diminish and my skin begin to regenerate.
My eyes snapped to D and Dante, but they just held my gaze in silence. They knew better than to add to my torment because it was also theirs. Through our bond with Natasha, the three of us were also mates.
The door slammed open into the opposite wall the next moment, and Alyce barged into the room with Vanessa, both having heard my call of fury. My sister's gaze instantly fell to my partially burned arm, watching the last flame be snuffed, and anguish filled her blue eyes.
I dragged my gaze away from her, unwilling to accept her pity, another labored roar escaping me. My arm shook even when the fire was gone, its phantom heat still scorching my nerves. The next roar thundered through the sky as I fully turned into the Beast, the tatters of my clothes exploding everywhere.
“Hannes!”
“No!”
“Wait!”
Everyone called after me as I jumped off the balcony, landed in the frosted garden below, and began to run.
