Did you know about this?I frowned.
She nodded and grabbed my wrist.Let’s go. Right now. They can’t hurt us. Not anymore. Just walk away, Lucien, and—
How can you ask me that?A lash of fire escaped.They have to pay. They have to die.
I agree. She stepped into me, pressing her frosty breasts against my arm.But you’re burning up and I don’t know how long you have left. I need you to come back with me, alright? Let me fix this and—
“Whatever it is that you’re doing,” Marcus snapped. “Stop it.” He smiled at the men surrounding us. “We’re here to take you home, Lucien. I did have to convince the board not to hurt you after the mess you’ve caused, but...we’re nothing if not forgiving so.” Stepping forward, he held out his hands like a long-lost father. “Come back with me to Cinderkeep. I promise no harm will come to either of you and we can continue as we were or...” His eyes shuttered with evil. “If you no longer want to live in England. Fine. You’ll live here. In this very mountain. I’ll personally design a cage that you will never step foot out of, and you can watch every little experiment I plan to do on Rook.”
The ground shook. Dirt lifted in spirals. Smoke exploded out of my shoulder blades.
Lucien...please calm down. Rook clung to me.
“Right.” Marcus grinned as if everyone had agreed. “Now that’s all settled, I’m tired and hungry and—”
Hungry.
She’d been hungry too.
The fragile, starving girl I couldn’t save.
The mountain rumbled louder beneath my feet.
“Lucien.” Rook fisted my hand, sending a wash of coldness into me. “Please.”
“I’ll see you in hell, you motherfucking bastard.” Snaking my arm around Rook, I clutched her close and flung open the gates of everything I had left.
The fire answered.
Embers ignited.
I staggered as my skin glowed brighter than the sun.
My lungs burned. My vision narrowed. The fire prepared to obliterate.
This would be the last one.
One last cataclysmic retribution and then...I could rest.
Marcus would be dead.
Rook would be safe.
She had Dillon.
She could go back to Iceland.
She would survive and never end up in a place like this.
“Lucien...stop,” she begged. “Pleasestop.”
More ice flooded me, trying to stabilise my meltdown.
But for the first time, I didn’t want her help.
If I didn’t kill him, he’d hurt her. Torture her.Breedher.
Whisper crouched low, fur bristling and muscles coiled.
