“Why?” My voice broke, unable to get enough air to say it with the fierceness inside me. I had to hope my mind got that across.
The bond will stay. No matter what. You’ll drive us both crazy.
A rational reason.
Functional. Efficient.
That wasn’t enough anymore.
My fingers clawed at the mud, dirt packing underneath my nails, hoping something solid would help me get purchase.
His purr vibrated against my back, calming the adrenaline that was keeping my head above water. My limbs turned to lead in response, and every pulled and strained muscle screamed.
Cheating bastard.
My fingers wiggled across the treeline, but that was the last of my gas. I’d put my body through the ringer, and I wasn’t physically capable of fighting anymore.
Not with this literal weight pressing on my back.
Defeat weaved through my bones.Damn it.
Talia, please.
Familiar sadness jabbed at the raw open place deep inside me that understood why he was like this. I’d make excuses and forgive him, and no one would grow.
I’d be trapped in this cycle forever.
I released the tension in my body and let out a heaving breath of surrender.
Warm hands grabbed mine, forcing me to put some energy into intertwining our fingers, and pulled with a grunt. Gravel bit into my palm as I slid. I recognized that less than perfect pink manicure.
Like she knew the exact moment I gave up on myself again.
Chapter 31:
“Wereyouchowingondonuts again?” Shannon gave a breathless laugh.
Rot pulled me back with one quick yank that made my back pop, dragging Shannon too. She used a leg on each tree trunk on either side of us to anchor her position.
“You came back for me?” My voice came out small. She should have been long gone by now. Why was she here?
“I never left you.” She leaned back to hold me in place. But when Rot did another tug, she sat down on the gravel, digging in the heel of her boots into the trees. The root snapped, and he pulled us both back into the swamp like our combined weight was nothing.
But she didn’t let go.
She should have saved her own skin, but there she was doing her damndest to hold on to me. Even though she was soaked to the bone and her face was beet red from her efforts.
“I called a real Rinah witch. A hunter. She’ll be here any minute,” Shannon warned breathlessly. Her nail dug into myskin as she gripped me tighter. “Let Talia go, and I’ll send her in the wrong direction.”
“I’ll kill her the same as I did her sisters,” Rot snarled.I refuse to let my mate go. No one will take her away from me. I waited too long.
I briefly wondered if this was what it felt like to be quartered. My body was being ripped in two directions, except my heart was warm.
Shannon was fighting for me. Not to own me. Not to make her life better.
For me.
Sinking understanding that wasn’t mine settled in my gut, making me nauseous. Rot stopped pulling me as hard, like he wasn’t trying to win anymore. But he became a statue, holding his position like a brick wall. A defensive growl shook his chest, and a wave of hesitation and fear hit me like a tidal wave.
