Page 15 of Forbid Me

They also looked like the eyes of a man I'd never seen inside of Bite Me. This wasn't one of Uziah's minions or goons or muscle.

Tall, dark, and handsomedid not do him justice. He was over six feet tall and built, but his presence felt like it was touching the ceiling and both sides of the wall. He moved toward me with a fluid grace, like a sleek panther stalking its prey on two legs. And I was pretty sure I was his prey.

I was supposed to be running. But my legs slowed and began to walk toward him, in no hurry to arrive or get away.

His sharp teeth were bared, radiating danger and primal strength. However, as his piercing gaze landed on me, it softened into something gentle and reassuring. I knew deep down that I could trust this man. Even after the gross revelation of what every other lover in my life must have thought of me, I knew that this one was going to bedifferent.

It's him!

I reached for him then. The moment my fingertips touched his palm, it all made sense. I was his fated mate. As he looked down at me, a sense of security washed over me. In his arms, I felt protected, wanted, and cherished. I knew that, no matter what, he would keep me safe.

"Come with me if you want to live."

Live? I could've died right there. This man was going to love me the way I deserved to be loved. He would never lie, cheat, or break my heart. Because he was my fated fucking mate.

I wanted to jump and cheer. But there was still danger behind us. And some kind of an earthquake going on outside.

I nodded my head, ready to be taken anywhere he was going. In the back of my mind, I heard Tori yelling at me to use my head and not my clit to make decisions. I heard Niamh saying to guard my heart and just have fun. But neither of them was here now. Neither of them was being held by the man that I was sure would never hurt me, never use me.

And so I let him clasp my hand, pull me close, and take me away. When we stepped out into the streets, it was pure chaos.

CHAPTER TEN

Oz

The bodies of the bear shifters and vampires who'd dared to stand in my way lay strewn beneath my feet, a macabre carpet that marked my passage. Each step I took was a declaration of the savage lengths I would go to fulfill my mission. Luckily for those on my tail, my mission was now in my arms.

As the heavy doors slammed shut behind us, a shift in the atmosphere greeted me. The sky, once a clear canvas of fading light, now roiled with ominous clouds, swirling into a vortex that appeared to devour light itself. The air, charged with anticipation and fear, crackled with the raw energy of magic unbound. People, mere shadows against the backdrop of impending doom, scattered in every direction, their screams piercing the growing tumult.

The ground beneath me vibrated, a sinister prelude to the catastrophe that was about to unfold. The portal, a gaping maw in the very fabric of reality, pulsated with a menacing glow, its edgesblurred as if painted with the brushstrokes of madness. The magic that seeped through was tangible, a thick, intoxicating aroma that cloyed at my throat.

The weight of the woman in my arms was the only anchor I had to the physical world. Her rapid breathing was a counterpoint to the drumming of my heart. I felt the pulse of the portal's magic brushing against my skin. It was a siren's call that beckoned with the promise of power and the threat of oblivion.

The world tilted on its axis. The ground beneath my feet quaked, a violent quake of earth that threatened to upend everything I'd ever known. Having a portal open up in a new realm was legions worse than traveling between two portals. Portal travel was going to be my escape from the Crossroads, but with this crack in the world opening, all magic—including short-range portaling—would be too dangerous. I had to get us as far away as possible from this doorway.

The sky roared like a herd of wild beasts. Winds howled like the cries of a thousand lost souls, each one vying for attention in this apocalyptic nightmare. People scattered, their screams piercing the air as they fled the unseen terror of the portal. Their fear was a tangible thing, a thick, choking cloud that seeped into every pore, every crevice of this broken city.

The world around us might be descending into anarchy, but my focus remained laser-sharp. My gaze lowered to the woman in my arms. I didn't even know her name yet.

Liar, my panther called me.She's mine.

The feral creature inside me roared loud. Louder than the people scrambling in the streets. Louder than the crack that rent the ground. She shuddered in my arms.

Had she heard the panther?

Was she about to run away from me?

Neither man nor beast would let that happen.

But she wasn't running. She clung to me. Her pink-tipped nails dug into my shirt. That lush body of hers pressed into mine. Her face tilted up, looking at me for answers.

I would give her the world. If it wasn't crumbling around us.

"I want to live," she said. "I can't die now, not when I just found you. That would be some serious bull?—"

The ground quaked again. I brought her hard against my chest, enough so that her feet came up off the ground. She looked down at them dangling a few inches and then back up at me.

"Oh my gosh, you just swept me off my feet. No man's ever done that to me before."

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