All will be well, my sweet mate, I say through the bond.Please don’t be frightened. I will find you soon. I promise.
I pray that I’m telling the truth.
But as I continue following my instincts, walking toward the warmth that is Isabel, I finally see a glimmer of light in the darkness.
I hasten my steps, though I’m careful not to make a sound.
Voices soon reach me, and I creep closer.
At last, the narrow mouth of the cave comes into sight. I peek inside but see nothing. After withdrawing a blade from my weapons belt, I enter the passageway, my eyes scanning for any sign of my mate. The deeper I go into the cave, the brighter the light becomes.
Eventually, the passageway opens to a slightly larger space.
My heart lodges in my throat at the scene before me.
Isabel is crouched on the floor, her arms wrapped around her center as though she’s clutching an injury. Murderous rage surges through me, but so does a touch of gentleness for my mate.
I send Isabel waves of warmth through the bond, but also a warning not to look up.
Lachlan paces back and forth in the small space, clutching a knife, murmuring to himself. Every so often, he glances up, and I see the black despair in his eyes. He’s crazed with grief, that much is certain. But I can’t spare a moment for the pain he’s enduring, nor can I offer him a speck of mercy.
There will be no second chances for him.
No redemption.
I will kill him.
And I won’t hesitate.
He starts to walk toward Isabel, and I call upon winter magic that I rarely use. I disappear from where I’m standing, only to flash between them a moment later, my blade held high.
Lachlan’s eyes widen.
“You,” he says. “You’re just in time to watch your mate die. And then, I will kill you too.”
“No, Lachlan.” I firm my grip on the knife as I decide where on his body to strike first. “I am sorry about Maelissa. But you are mad with despair, and it will cost you your life.”
“You were in the arms of your human whore when Maelissa died in the snow!”
His body fades in and out, becoming temporarily translucent as he tries to flash from one location to another as I just did, but he doesn’t succeed. Eventually, his body becomes entirely solid, and he leans over, panting. He quickly forces himself upright and holds the knife higher, though his hand trembles and perspiration glistens on his brow.
Then he screams and crashes into me, rushing at me so quickly that he knocks the knife from my hand. Isabel screams and I hear her trying to move around behind us, probably to get out of the way, but she emits a soft, strangled sound, and I sense her pain through the bond.
Her ribs. Her ribs are cracked or perhaps even broken.
Lachlan. He kicked her.
Gods, how badly did he hurt her?
Before I can reach for the knife that skidded across the stone, winter magic crackles from Lachlan’s outstretched palm.
A blast of ice-blue light slams into my chest.
I’m hurled backward.
My body crashes against the cave wall hard enough to crack stone. Pain detonates through my ribs and shoulder as the force knocks the breath from my lungs. For one terrible, disorienting moment, the entire cavern spins around me.
Gods.
