It’s beautiful but wrong in a way I don’t understand, but it makes my chest tighten.
She looks peaceful, and I feel like a jerk for intruding on a private moment, but before I can slip away quietly, a metallic scent hits me.
I drop Hazel’s top and step closer until I see it. Blood. So much blood.
Dread clamps around my heart, twisting until I can’t breathe.
There’s no thought. Just instinct. I’m running to my mate before I even realize I’ve moved.
“Hazel!”
Her head snaps toward my voice, eyes widening as she sees me racing toward her.
She tries to cover herself with her arms, but it’s useless. I can’t see past the red water surrounding her anyway.
I dive into the water without thinking about my clothes, cutting through it toward her faster than I thought possible.
The second I reach her, I grab her face and pull her closer. The cuts on her shoulders and arms stand out brutally under the moonlight.
“You’re bleeding. That’s—shit, baby, that’s a lot of blood.”
Her blood spreads through the water, staining everything red. Everywhere I look…red.
“Hold on to me. I’m getting you out, okay?” I don’t give her a chance to argue before I sweep her into my arms.
She gasps, her voice tinged with pain, “Dean, put me down!”
I drag us to the edge and sprint out of the water, grabbing the towel, wrapping it around her shoulders, pressing down hard to stop the bleeding.
My hands are already slick with her blood.
I barely catch my breath before I see the cuts on her stomach and thighs.
No, no, no. This is worse than I thought.
Every inch of my mate’s skin below her chest is torn open with deep cuts that won’t stop bleeding. I grab her clothes,pressing them against the wounds, anything to slow it down, but it’s too much. Too much blood. Too many cuts.
I can’t fix this. I don’t know how to fix this.
I’m hyperventilating, struggling to drag a full breath, but I need to keep it together. I need to help her first.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Nothing inside my kingdom is supposed to hurt her. I failed. I was supposed to keep her safe, but look what happened.
Her thighs and feet are shredded, worse than the rest of her.
Blood. She’s bleeding. My mate is bleeding.
I thought nothing could hurt worse than imagining my daughter in that dungeon… but blood on my mate might actually kill me.
“Don’t worry, okay? You’re going to be fine. I’ll call the healer. We’re going to get you fixed up.”
And then I’m going to kill whoever did this.
I scream through the link for Nevaeh and Khatri to clear Hazel’s room before locking down every portal. No one gets in or out.
I need to know she’s safe before I rip the head off whoever dared to touch her.They don’t get to breathe after this.
Hazel cries out when I lift her again. I try to keep my hold gentle, but every instinct in me screams to grip her tighter, to keep her safe.
