7
KADEN
Slamming into the tree, I claw at the bark like a cat fighting for purchase. Inside my head, I fight the beast with every bit of power I have left.
My body is burned, hair singed, and I smell blood on the air.Myblood. The beast tried to fight the fire to get my mate and lost. Horribly.
Thank the Gods for Reid and Mal. Two Fae I watched grow up, they’re the only reason Max is unharmed.
I won’t entertain the delusional thoughts that others have sought her out—jealousy is a real thing in the Dark Fae—but I can’t give into the madness now. Instead, I beat against my constraints and force the beast to fight me mentally, while I try to take back control.
The battle is hard—and taxing. It’s getting more difficult to take control of my body. Soon, the beast will have complete power and I’ll be nothing but a whim in his mind.
No, I growl, punching against the tree. It splits, pieces falling into tiny splinters.I will not give up.
Max is fighting for me—for us. I’ll hold on as long as it takes.
I push further, gripping tight to my body and sanity. Sanity thatseems frayed now, as I’m constantly pulled in two. One part wants to give in—let the darkness take me away, and forget everything. The other part, the much bigger part, refuses. I want my future with my mate—a promise that has been dangled in front of me and I refuse to release its grandeur.
It’ll be Max and I until the world ends.
Panting, I drive the beast further back. He fights—bites and claws. He won’t submit. For years he’s been in chains and he won’t give in simply because I push.
What was it that Oslo used to say?
“Focus, Kaden. Breathe.”He taught me mediation, and breathing techniques. He always thought my mind was the greatest asset to battle the beast. Not my strength, not my iron-clad control, but my tenacious mind.
We worked endlessly on exercises to build my endurance. Ways of controlling the beast through sheer will. And it worked for a time. Until it didn’t.
Gods, I wish he were here. I could use his calm—his confidence in my abilities.
At this point, just knowing he was alive would be enough to bring me back. He was the father I always wanted, the man who believed in me. It was easy to battle the beast because he did it—and would be proud of me for it.
But like all things in life, everyone I’ve loved has been taken from me. Max is the only person left, and I will not lose her too. Not to a wound nor a curse, she will stay my mate in this life.
Inhaling, I howl as I exhale. The beast pushes against me again and we fight in my mind. Both of us want to be the dominant force—and neither of us will submit to the other.
I think of Oslo’s wisdom and his courage to persist. I think of his face, when he held me after my mother died. How he visited me in the dungeon, spurring me on to fight. I try to find the strength in his conviction, to resist a curse made up of magic and malice.
The memories change. His death on the tile floor of my throneroom assaults me. How his blood spilled against the black, blending together as if he didn’t matter.
I couldn’t protect him.
The beast surges again and I almost lose my hold.No.
Changing tactics, I push away the grief that wants to drown me and think of my mate. Of her sparkling eyes and her red colored lips that tempted me from afar. Of the first time I saw her, and thought her unique, intriguing although too daring for her own good. Of claiming her in the middle of a battle when everyone was being killed—and all I could see was her. All I could think of never wanting to be without her again.
The strength rises in me and I exhale, pushing the beast further back.
I think of her now—capable and sure. She leads with a firm hand, and although I know she’s distracted, she is not without her compassion. She cares for the guards, makes sure Reid sleeps, and asks if there were any hawks from Fee.
She is fucking magnificent.
It’s getting easier to hold on, to cage the beast.
I keep thinking of Max and hope to dream.
Seeing her on my mother’s throne, the one my father hid from the court. Her, comforting our people after we win this final war, becoming a symbol of peace and security.
