Tenebrys should have been out in the woods, but knowing the fae were looking for Delphi made it impossible to leave her alone. His knot throbbed incessantly, and he couldn't risk being around her either. Not like this.
He hadn't been able to stand being in the same room as her, and that was before the moon rose.
Delphi had been upset when he had arrived, and his short fuse only made it worse. She was just so beautiful and stubborn.He didn't know whether to shake her or kiss her in sheer frustration.
It was physically impossible for him to hurt his mate, but he had used his temper as a weapon for so long, he didn't know how to be gentle anymore.
He should have told her what that blasted fae had said about looking for her. Maybe then she would have understood why threatening to leave had made him feel so unhinged.
"Dark goddess Rosemerta, why did it have to be her that you chose as my mate?" he asked the sky. He wanted to hate Delphi so much, but the mating bond and seeing how different she was from her parents was making it impossible.
You never should have brought her here. The thought sent a sharp stabbing pain in his gut. He wasn't capable of hating her or sending her away. It felt like the goddess really did hate him.
Or Rosemerta is trying to teach you something, his mother's voice echoed in the back of his mind. She would always tell him that whenever things didn't go his way. Maela was devoted to the Lady of Life and Death and had always tried to drill into him that everything in life had a cycle of both light and dark. Maybe Delphi wasn't going to be another curse, but a blessing, if he let himself dare to think of it that way.
Tenebrys sighed. He needed to go and talk to her, apologize for snapping at her and explain how the full moon made shifters crazier than normal.
Tenebrys was about to turn away from the balcony when something flickered in the corner of his eye. Someone was in the old gardens, creeping along the path and moving toward the main road where the old perimeter wards used to be.
His claws unsheathed, a low growl breaking free from his throat. The figure turned, and Tenebrys saw the unmistakable outline of Delphi's face.
Fury turned to fear, igniting Tenebrys's veins. She reached the main road and stared at the woods. She was leaving him.
"No," he snarled and leaped off the side of the balcony.
Tenebrys landed in the overgrown garden and tore his way through it. He stopped for the barest second when he smelled Delphi's blood. His senses flared, his night vision growing brighter.
Crimson drops still clung to a bramble with a small blood trail. A scream of panic cut through the night.
"Delphi..." Tenebrys ran, his claws tearing up clumps of earth as he raced toward the sound. In moments, he hit the remains of the paved road, and the putrid, sweet stench of fae mingled with Delphi's blood and fear.
He ran faster, and the only thing that stopped him from going berserk was that they were heading in the opposite direction from the gateway. If they got through it, he would never see Delphi again.
Tenebrys could smell fae blood and heard a voice, high-pitched and taunting, through the trees.
"You'll pay for this," one fae said, looking at his wounded arm.
Delphi held a bloody dagger in front of her with a dangerous look in her eye. "Touch me again and you'll fucking regret it."
Another fae laughed gleefully. "How fun! Looks like our master's new kitten has claws."
"She's not your master's kitten," Tenebrys snarled low from the shadows. The laughing fae turned only to have Tenebrys's claws tear the smile off his face.
Berserker blackness narrowed his vision, and he attacked the fae raiders with all the rage and fear pulsing through him. One was fast enough to race behind Delphi, grabbing her around the throat in the confusion.
"Don't come any closer, or I'll—" it began.
Delphi's foot came down on its knee, shattering it with one blow. It screamed and released her. Delphi didn't give it a chance to grab her again. She turned and ran into the trees.
Tenebrys roared, cutting down the two fae he had been fighting. He closed in on the one crawling away, its wounded leg hanging behind it.
"Wait! I have information! I can bargain," he said as Tenebrys closed in on him.
"You touched my mate. There is no bargaining," Tenebrys said and tore its head from its shoulders.
He tossed it aside and focused on the forest, searching for the direction Delphi had gone. She was running the wrong way, and he hurried to catch up to her. There were a lot more than raiders in the forest that could hurt her.
Tenebrys caught sight of her trying to get around a fallen tree. He could smell her sweat and adrenaline.
