Page 79 of Ruined Kingdom

Finally, I was able to pry my way completely inside his mind. It was like standing in the middle of a whirlwind of panic and rage.

I was unable to tell where his emotions ended, and the Fae King’s commands began.

No wonder he couldn’t control it!

Kaine… I’m right here. Let me help you fight him. Just listen to my voice.

The pain and darkness within him were so insurmountable, that even just the fraction I felt made me question if I was dying.

Come back to me…

The storm ceased suddenly, his mind going absolutely still.

I looked up to see his full-formed skull-like head facing me, his yellow eyes predatorily soulless.

Am I too late?

The snapping of metal chains was the next thing that echoed through the room.

Kaine was freeing himself, his gaze not leaving me for an instant as he did.

I trembled in place and watched in horror. “Kaine?”

He approached me slowly, grabbing my arms on either side and yanking me into him.

Quakes still ran through him even as he held me. He was trying to hold his own against the Fae King’s influence, but it was getting harder for him.

“Kaine, I—” I began to say before the sound of crashing and yelling could be heard in the distance.

They were coming for us.

“Soph!” I could hear Lexi and the others call out to me as they just reached us.

Kaine wrapped his arms around me tightly and crouched down.

I didn't know what he was doing, but I trusted him. So, I shut my eyes and clung to the patches of fur that still remained.

He jumped up with such great force that I nearly fell out of his arms. He crashed through the solid rock above us, and the frigid night air bit at my skin, alerting me to the fact that we were outside.

23

SOPHIA

Kaine moved his hands away from my head, allowing me to look up at the huge full moon hanging in the night sky.

On this night, shifters are at their most powerful, I remembered Kaine saying to me once. Please, let it be enough.

Kaine landed in the grass with a ground-rumbling thud before setting me down gently. “I can’t believe you came for me.” Even as he spoke, the mouth of the skull covering his face never moved.

Now that we were out in the moonlight, I could see his form better. It would have been more terrifying if the man I loved hadn’t been in there behind the monstrous visage.

I noticed how a warm mist expelled from the mouth as he breathed as if the temperature had suddenly dropped.

I was just about to respond, condemning him for even questioning whether I would come to rescue him, when a word lingered in my mind, pushing out all other thoughts.

Cold?

A kiss of something light and chilly touched the top of my head, seeping into my hair.

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