I connected to Rune.
She stood next to the hellion and Hadrian, surrounded by Ridigar’s smoke. Hissing, rumbling, thunks, and cries filled her ears while a potent copper tang smothered her sense of smell. Both were to be expected in a fight. But her paws were soaked through in something warm, and her worry knew no bounds.
Red horns flashed through the swirling whiteparticles.
“MJ, shoot left,” Oliver ordered right before Lucille’s, “Right?—”
She stopped, her confusion faint through our connection, but concerning.
Rune!
One word, and it carried the only question I wanted answered.
I felt her despair. Her hopeless desperation. And my restraints broke. My anger became something physical. I would not now, nor ever, accept the implication behind my Soulhound’s emotions.
“From the Weaver, we were created. Our soul ripped in two.”
Alexei jerked his head up from the last buckle. “Ronen! What the fuck are you doing?”
“From the darkness of evil to Heaven’s light, we will fight. We will protect. We will be as one,” I bellowed into the air, feeling my shadows shiver with powerful energy.
He climbed into the sleigh, gripping the reins. “Ronen! I’m done. Get in. We’ll be in the forest in seconds.”
“She might not have seconds.”
“It will be one-sided! You’re not supposed to complete the bond without her!”
And I’d never get the chance if she died.
“From the depths of my soul, I accept her pain—her scars, her life.”
Odd sensations puckered across my back and limbs as I accepted every line tearing open her body. Energy sent shockwaves through my system, building toward a searing precipice.
“You can’t take it back!” Alexei tried one last time.
“With the breath in my lungs, I give to her freely and irrevocably. Without end,” I vowed.
Her pain pierced my side, and I clenched my teeth against a hiss, prepared for it. Her essence tugged at mine, pulling at my energy. It flowed out of me and into her, her emotions turning bold and clear once more.
“Fuck,” Alexei breathed.
It wasn’t over yet. I rushed into the sleigh, wincing as I sat down and warmth bled down my side.
I’m coming, Hellion.
Lucille
Time stilled.
Rune whimpered, her lit-up golden eyes swirling in my distorted vision. Ronen’s anger was palpable on my tongue. It pounded like a heartbeat in my mind.
Survive. Survive. Survive.
It screamed with a threat.I’m coming, Hellion.
I latched onto the ferocious, all-encompassing emotion, letting it fill me, hoping it’d stop my mind from slipping away.
Clove and balsam drugged the air, driving into my lungs and every part of me. It felt like Ronen held me close, like his heart beat for mine. The slashes in my side throbbed less, the bleeding slowed, and my vision righted just as the razor wire wrapped around Rune’s leg pulled.
