“He’s with the other vampires. He feels that is the safest place for him to be right now. He’s becoming more vampire and less wolf shifter every day. You should let him be, Lumi, especially…” he doesn’t finish his sentence.
I look from my hand to Ambrose’s. “This is a clue. I don’t know what it means. But we need to know if he has a new marking too.”
“Then I’ll go. I’ll find him and report back,” Talonis says, getting up.
But it’s not good enough.
“Are you okay? I’m going to get you some salve to help with the pain,” Ambrose says.
I nod.
The others go back to eating. Everyone except Sylara. She stares at me intensely.
“Help me?” I mouth to her.
She nods subtly.
I get up and walk to the back door. A few minutes later, Sylara is there.
“Don’t make me regret this. I put my life on the line, not you. You keep me in the middle the entire time. And if I tell you to run, you run. Agree?”
I nod.
“Get ready to shift,” she says, opening the door.
We run out the door and shift, tearing Ambrose’s beautiful night gown to shreds as I shift. But I keep my word, letting Sylara lead in front while I follow from behind, even though I know the way to where Nyx is most likely staying with the vampires. The cave I spied on him in before.
Sylara slows as we approach. I don’t know if she wants me to stay in wolf form or not, but she shifts to her human form right after me and doesn’t scowl or scold me for doing so. I need to talk to Nyx, and I can’t do that very well in my wolf form, even with the limited alpha-to-alpha connection I can sometimes speak.
We walk to the entrance of the cave. I have no idea what we are about to face, but before we take a step inside, Nyx appears. If he notices Sylara, he doesn’t acknowledge her in any way. His eyes are laser locked on me.
His eyes heat over my very naked body, not hiding that he’s checking me out at all. In record time, he notices the new mark on my hand. The one that is an exact replica of Ambrose’s, and then he takes a deep inhale. I can tell the exact moment that my scent mixed with Ambrose’s hits him. And I realize why everyone wanted me to stay back and not come. I’ve never seen this look on him before.
His eyes darken into tight slits. Nostrils flare, and lips curl dangerously until I can see the tip of his fang.
I can feel my pulse beating in my throat. For a split second, I want him to sink that fang into my neck. I want to feel him against my throat, sucking my blood. The intimacy of that act. Of trusting him not to kill me.
He moves—so fucking fast.
One second, he’s in the doorway of the cave, the next, I’m pinned to the cave wall, and his fang scrapes against that spot on my neck. I heave a deep breath, practically panting with anticipation.
Being with Ambrose was comfort. It felt good. With enough time, I know I can fall for him. Want him, maybe even fully love him again. But it will never be this. Nyx looks like he wants to devour me, mark me in his possessiveness, even though he has no right to me anymore. Not after what he’s done. Or what he thinks I’ve done.
And yet, this is the moment I want to replay in my head over and over. Others probably think this is the moment I almost die. That the curses or Nyx’s blood lust finally end me. But I’ve never felt so alive. So wanted, desired as I do right now. Even if that longing is twisted in a craving to kill me.
I’m fucked up. This is why the universe declared Ambrose as my mate instead of Nyx. I’m not myself with Nyx. I lose all sense with him.
“What did you do, love?” he purrs into my ear.
I rake my teeth over my bottom lip so hard that I draw a drop of blood.
Nyx stills, noticing the minuscule drop.
I suck in a breath, preparing for death. I expect Sylara to step in. To “save” me. But if she kills him to save me, then it won’t matter. Death will still find me.
She doesn’t move. She doesn’t register the danger. But I’m in danger—danger of death, or falling in love so hard with the man again that I ruin any hope of ending the curses, which means we are all as good as dead.
“Did you finally do it? Did you let him touch you?” his tongue licks up my neck ever so lightly.