Chapter 1
Amara
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Blood coats my fingertips, growing hotter by the second. Burning, branding me with every drop as my heart threatens to beat out of my chest. Even with adrenaline battering against my muscles, I can’t make a single one respond, can’t so much as a draw in a breath.
Not when I'm face to face with the monster nightmares are made of.
“Don’t worry, darling, we’ll find her together.” Another slice of the blade tearing through my skin. “You’re a dragon,mydragon. We just need to dig a little deeper.” An eternity later, wild green eyes look down on me in sympathy before Malcolm turns the blade on himself, replicating every wound he inflicted. “Don’t be discouraged. Every time we try, it brings us closer together, see? Someone only needs to glance at the two of us to see that we were made for each other; a perfect match.”
“Amara?” Stone’s soft breath skims over the shell of my ear, startling me out of my internal spiral, and my legs nearly give out beneath me. Only his arm banded around my stomach keeps me upright, his hold tightening even as I sink my nails deeper into his skin.
My lips part, but nothing comes out. Not a whimper, not so much as an exhale. I’m caught in the emerald gaze of the man standing a stone’s throw away, the one that’s haunted me for nearly a decade, suffocating as icy terror freezes my lungs.
Malcolm’s smirk drops into a concerned frown, flicking his attention above my head to Stone. “It's a bit hypocritical to come out here criticizing how men treat their mates when the woman in your arms is afraid to even speak, don’t you think?”
Kodiak and Raiden turn to face me as a dangerous rumble escapes Stone at my back, echoing around the clearing. Voice dripping with disdain, Stone growls, “And who do you think she’s afraidof, Malcolm?”
It couldn’t have been hard for him to put together between my death grip at the appearance of the blonde haired, green eyed stranger, but the other two look genuinely surprised. Slowly, realization dawns, and Kodiak’s face contorts with rage, while Raiden reins in his anger, emotions carefully concealed once more. Only the rigid set of his jaw and the volatile storm in his eyes prove he’s affected at all.
As Kodi takes a step in my direction, though, Raiden snaps out a hand and grips his shoulder, pulling him to a stop. Turning to Malcolm, he drawls, “Mason, what are you doing here?”
He knows him. He works with the guy that drugged me in Khalida, and is on a first name basis with the bane of my existence.
It’s never been so abundantly clear that I hardly know the men the Fates signed my life over to.
Malcolm -Mason-cocks his head with a frown, attention rapt on me. “I was passing through and heard the commotion, so thought I’d swing by to see if I could help. Good thing, too. I’d heard some nasty rumors about what was really happening to the women you’d ‘saved’ in that playground of yours that I didn’t want to believe, but, well...” Beneath the facade of sympathy is a flash of anger, and he’s sure to let the condemnation be heard as he raises his voice to carry across the crowd. “The Amara I remember had a smile that could light up a room. Tell me, Raiden. Has she said a single word since you’ve been here, or did you only bring her as a pretty showpiece to flaunt in these men’s faces?”
Kodi jerks out of Raiden’s grip. “You motherfucking-”
Malcolm shakes his head in disappointment, dismissing Kodiak entirely as he turns to Raiden with a glare. “And you have the audacity to come out here and rip these mens’ mate away from them?” He scoffs in disgust. “Your legion has gotten drunk on the power you slaughtered the elder council for. The rest of us keep to ourselves now; you should too.”
The wolves swivel their attention onto me now, assessing, and several men narrow their eyes. Dozens of shifters watching the way I tremble like prey, listening to my rapidly beating heart, and smelling the fear rolling off of me in waves. Lack of oxygen has my head spinning, and I finally suck down air, a headache splitting my skull with the sudden rush. Retracting my nails from Stone’s arm, his blood trickles down my fingers to my palms, and my stomach lurches violently.
“Amara,” he rumbles behind me, and another spike of adrenaline slams into my system as he tightens his hold.
Electricity flares across my skin in a brief, harsh jolt, but it’s enough to shock him into letting go. With a strangled sound, I stumble forward, barely remaining upright without his support.
Watching Raiden stop Kodi from hurting Malcolm when he’s finally rightthere,the hostility in the air so thick my anxiety is choking on it, and all of the predatory looks from wolves sizing me up, seeing an opportunity? It’s just... too much.
Sucking down a deep breath, I turn on my heel, sprinting as fast as my legs will carry me.
