Page 274 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

Scorpius nodded down at me. “Breathe in through your nose.”

I sucked in air.

My chest expanded.

He gripped the hilt of the dagger. “Now bite down.” In one smooth motion, he ripped the blade from my skin. Metal razed flesh.

My teeth cracked.

I bellowed into the leather strip, and my back arched off the ground as I planted my heels and screamed.

Scorpius pressed cloth over the wound to stop the bleeding, and the sensation was worse than getting stabbed in the first place.

I writhed in agony.

What type of power was in her dagger? It was not normal ice.

Arabella tried to turn around, but Orion stood strong with his thighs parted, and he blocked her view with his golden body.

Scorpius’s face contorted with concentration as he used his full strength to stem the bleeding. “I got you,” he promised.

I tried to nod.

Ice sizzled as it mixed with fire in my veins. I boiled alive.

Tears streamed down my face.

If it weren’t for my mates surrounding me, I wouldn’t have found the will to fight through the pain.

But they were there, so I bowed my back, planted my feet, and gritted through it.

I left broken pieces of my teeth on a leather strap.

But I kept fighting.

For them—my Protector and Revered.

I was an Ignis.

Even if my destiny was that of pain.

I would wield my power, and I would not fail my mates.

Not while I lived.

Chapter 38

Aran

THE CHOICES WE MAKE

Metamorphosis—Day 55, hour 5

I woke up to a body choking beneath me.

My bruised forearm was digging deep into John’s windpipe and crushing off his flow of air. He was pressed into the bed with a crimson face.

As I stared down, a horrible sense of foreboding washed over me.

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