Page 38 of Their Pretty Little Monster

She screams, a different sound now, but I don’t release her. I sink my teeth into her skin.

A growl rips from my throat, the coppery taste of her blood still fresh on my tongue.

She fights back, shoving against my shoulders, clawing at my head. I hold her down, my body trembling with a violent shudder that racks through me.

It’s not just a physical intoxication toward her… I feel it seeping deep down into my soul.

The pink mist thickens around us, or perhaps it’s blurring my vision. I lick the bite, wiping away the blood on her skin, when a forceful blow strikes me in the chest.

An invisible strike right in the solar plexus.

I snarl, struggling to rise, my limbs faltering, and I collapse next to Sage, who’s also convulsing.

Clasping her hand is the last thing I remember before darkness swallows my vision.

The air’s knocked out of me as I flip open my eyes to find I’m standing on a cliff’s edge, overlooking a landscape I recognize from my childhood.

Homes dot the countryside, families move about their daily business, and from my vantage point, the grand, lofty stone palace stands majestically.

It’s strange that I’m brought to the old kingdom in Blight.

Movement beside me draws my attention. Sage is here, gazing out over the land, then at me, confusion etched across her face. I smile, a reaction to her I no longer control. And with it comes the answer of why I’m here… because of her.

Because of us.

Seeing her comes with a sharpness in my chest again, along with an explosion of warmth, with possessiveness, with the strength drawn to her.

I’ve never felt this way before, even with my first love, Inka, who I had assumed was my true mate, but I never tested it. What I felt for her wasn’t the same. She was never my intended mate.

Unlike Sage.

This… it’s like the first time I saw Sage—the deep rush of emotions, the connection crashing over me, overwhelming, heart-thumping. Like this whole time, I’ve been living in a cave, and only now I’ve stepped out into the sunlight, experiencing real warmth.

I’m a warrior, a hunter, and nothing stands in my way, so how is it that when I look at her, I become someone else? Someone who craves a future that isn’t filled with only revenge, with hatred, and with fury for everything I’ve lost.

She stares up at me, blinking, as if she’s had her eyes opened up, too… staring at me as though I’m her everything. Fuck, that’s everything to me.

“I feel strange,” she murmurs. “I’m so drawn to you, but I barely know you. And then this place… I swear I’ve seen it before.”

“You have?” I reach over, pushing her silvery violet hair behind an ear, her skin gentle under my fingertips.

She blinks, casting her glance over the land. “I think so, but it’s never been this perfect, not this beautiful. I remember the castle over there, in ruins, in flames…”

Is this her Shadowfen side calling her to its origins?

“Where are we? What happened to the woods?” she asks, glancing around and hugging herself.

Her expression carries innocence, but behind her gaze, I know there’s a strong woman needing to emerge.

“This is Silvercrest Kingdom, or what it once looked like. The place was destroyed a long time ago during the Great Desolation, a time of unimaginable earthquakes that ruined our world.”

She breathes heavily, just staring at the castle.

I slide my hand into hers, turning her attention to me.

“There’s a reason we’re here, sharing a vision,” I begin. “This is what the Shadowfen call the Veil Ritual. It’s where the veil lifts, and we find each other in the same vision. It’s the mark of being true mates.”

Blinking rapidly, her eyes wide, she shakes her head. “No, that can’t be right. I’m imagining this because I don’t belong in this world,” she protests, pulling from my grasp.

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