I switched to my normal vision and resheathed one of my swords.
You okay?I asked Rune as she lay on the ground panting.
She sent me confirmation. Her lungs still burned, but she’d be fine.
Good. Keep your eyes peeled for lingering threats.
But I was certain Ridigar wouldn’t be back.
He had just witnessed the first angel ever to destroy his smoke. He no longer had the upper hand.
And that just made the pet ten times more valuable.
I grabbed him by his uniform, lifted him, and slammed him against the closest tree, pressing my blade against his neck.
Blood and skin sizzled on the dark steel as he coughed.
“Why?” I seethed. “Why save us when you could’ve gotten the end you wanted?”
“Lucille.”
I stared at the male who sexually manipulated my cordistella. Who did horrendous things because of a rune placed on him, created by my feather. Who had just as rotten a soul as mine.
“Why do you keep getting up?” I pressed.
He paused, meeting my knowing gaze with one that was broken.
“Her,” he uttered so softly it nearly faded from his tongue.
“She’s what we call your spark. Your one thing. In all intents and purposes, disregarding your bond, she’s keeping you breathing.”
Something white flickered in my peripheral vision.
Shocked awe flooded my connection with Rune, a feeling I’d never felt from my Soulhound.
I whipped my head to the side.
My sword lowered with my disbelief.
His skeletal body shifted, staring me dead in the eye with the same irises as the pet. They challenged me, daring me to question his choice.
The biggest unbound male Soulhound I had ever seen picked the pet as his soul-bind.
The universe—or maybe even Gabriel—had to be playing a sick joke on me.
That was the only explanation for what sat in front of Rune, towering over her.
I’d read every book possible on Soulhounds when Rune showed up in my life. They searched for hundreds of years to find a worthy soul. They didn’t care about power, prestige, or personality. They only cared about the essence that made us, that drove our thoughts, our actions—who we were at our core.
Somehow, Soulhounds could sense it.
And for whatever reason, one found the pet deserving.
I tilted my head toward the lightening sky.
Why, Gabriel? What do they see that I don’t?
And I swore I heard his voice slither through my mind in his solemn, consoling timbre.
