Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
And I was grateful.
Glad the Nhil hunter wasn’t dead because that would mean—
I cut myself off, unable to even think of Runa that way.
“He...lp.” Aktor moaned.
No one paid him any attention.
Solin rocked back and forth, his eyes locked on Runa’s closed eyes. My hands trembled as I brushed back her hair again and again, obsessively trying to heal what I’d hurt.
I bent and nuzzled my nose to hers. “Forgive me. I-I wasn’t thinking. I hoped the bind wasn’t real—that it was just a trick. I didn’t mean—”
Runa suddenly arched in my hold, a curt moan of pain slicing through the night.
“Runa.” I gathered her closer, pressing my forehead to her cheek, willing my energy, my spirit to feed hers with power. To fix what I’d broken.
Aktor coughed again, rolling onto his side, gulping down air.
The faster he shed the shackles of death, the more my temper billowed.
Why did he get to return to the land of living when Runa remained unreachable?
Even with the bind, he failed her.
I hated him.
I loathed him for what he’d done.
I despised him for making me lose control.
I wanted to shred him into nothing.
I wanted to tear him apart and let the vultures feast on him.
I wanted him to suffer so fucking much.
He didn’t deserve to walk on the same ground as Runa, let alone share her heartbeat.
Fury howled through me.
Their hearts...
Placing my hand over the swell of Runa’s breast, I searched for the thud-thud of her lifeforce.
“Don’t...touch...her,” Aktor grunted, forcing his bruised body to sit up.
Rage.
Deep, black, savage rage.
I couldn’t.
I couldn’t control the smog that billowed from my back and arrowed straight for him.
“Don’t!” Solin shouted. “Runa. You hurt him, you hurt her!”
Pain.
Bone-deep pain as I yanked back the shadows and dripped with icy sweat. The darkness snarled and tangled, fighting against me.
Grief poured through my mind.
I could never protect Runa from him.
I could never strike him for striking her.
I could never lay another finger on him without that same finger touching Runa.
Fuck!
How could I live with that?
How could I exist in a world where she wasn’t mine?
Runa shifted on my lap just as Aktor groaned and struggled to all fours. His dark eyes landed on her, and the flare of relief that she was still breathing absolutely gutted me.
Crawling toward us, Aktor coughed. “Solin...is she—” Another cough. “Will she be okay?”
Solin threw me a look before shrugging sadly. “You’re recovering. Your hearts are synced so...eventually she should wake.” His tone thickened. “As long as both of you are living, then neither can die.”
I stayed frozen, barely able to breathe in case I struck again.
“Why won’t...she wake...now I’m here?” Aktor grimaced.
I couldn’t tell if the concern in his voice was truly for her or for himself.
If she died, he would follow. If he died, she would have no choice but to take her last breath. That sort of bind would scramble anyone’s mind and make loyalty spring thick and fast.
Shadows siphoned out of me, cocooning Runa in my arms, keeping her out of his reach as he crawled nearer.
“She’s unconscious—” Aktor swallowed hard, eyeing up the darkness swirling around me as if it was a plague “—because of you.” Stopping just out of reach, still wary of my shades, he patted Syn as the traitorous lynx padded toward him. She licked his cheek, revealing misplaced affection from living with him since cubhood.
I bared my teeth at the lynx, cursing her for not seeing the evil inside him.
Dropping his arm, Aktor pushed himself into a sitting position. Breathing hard, he wedged his elbows on his knees as he touched his throat where bruises ringed and blood smeared his collarbone. He still wore the ash symbols on his chest—so similar to the symbols Runa had been dressed in when I’d found her in the middle of the grasslands just before the thunderstorm broke.
“No one wants you here,” he growled, looking at his fingers where blood stained his skin. “You don’t belong with us. And you—” He coughed again, swallowing away the pain I’d given “—no longer have any claim on her.” He pointed at Runa as she remained unmoving in my shadow-laced arms. “She belongs to me now. And there is nothing—” He grimaced and swallowed around the bruises “—you can do about it.” Balling his hands, he shoved off from the ground and swayed to his feet.
Solin stood too; two Nhil males towering over me while I remained kneeling with Runa still and silent on my lap. Zetas growled, her muzzle wrinkled and fangs glinting in the gloom.
Solin shot the snarling wolf a look, all while his bare arms tightened around Natim. The fawn wouldn’t stop looking at Runa with the occasional heart-tugging bleat. “Aktor, enough. I told you to give her time and not to follow us. What happened here tonight is your fault as much as anyone’s. Let Darro work through the consequences of this. Allow him and Runa time to say goodbye—”