Page 45 of What Hunts Inside the Shadows

The fact that Holt and the others didn’t try to intercede didn’t bode well for us at all, and the menace on his face made me swallow nervously. His eyes turned toward Aramis, his lips peeling back into something resembling a snarl as he studied the other man, who seemed desperate to put more distance between us.

“Fuck!” Aramis yelled, dropping to his knees in the snow, making himself submissive.

“You can’t even fucking die!” I yelled, watching as he bowed his head and lowered himself to the ground.

“That doesn’t mean it won’t hurt like a fucking bitch, you menace. Would you just give him what he wants already?” he asked, staring at the way Caldris’s boots carved through the snow. It fell steadily, landing on my cloak in heavy layers and covering my hair in white flakes, then scattering as I flinched away from the male prowling toward Aramis. There was no doubt he would tear the other man limb from limb while I watched. I stared at him, considering the vengeance I couldn’t achieve on my own through his death.

Would his pain ease the part of me that called for blood?

“Estrella, please just give him what he wants,” Aramis said, his voice nearly quivering as he stared at Caldris’s boots. “I am sorry about your brother, but you’realivebecause of what I did.”

“Who said I wanted to be?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. That darkest part of me rose from within, enjoying the way he huddled in on himself in fear. For a single moment, I didn’t want to stop the bloodshed—I wanted to join in.

Caldris stopped with his boots directly in front of Aramis’s head, leering down at the other male with that brutality etched into the lines of his face. Gone was the male I knew, the one who would regret what he’d done when he came back from this madness that possessed him.

It wasn’t protectiveness for Aramis that forced my hand, but the knowledge that I would always want Caldris to stop me from becoming the monster I feared. I would want him to intervene, to keep me from committing sins I couldn’t take back when I emerged from the dark well inside of me.

“Fuck,” I hissed, the realization jolting me as I turned and ran in the opposite direction of Aramis. I raced due East, hauling my body over the snow-covered plains as quickly as I could manage. Trees loomed in the distance, and I didn’t know why, but I focused on them as my plan for escape.

I knew as well as anyone that there would be no escaping the Fae chasing me.

I glanced over my shoulder, expecting to find him following close behind, enjoying the chase, thriving on the thrill of hunting down the mate who dared to run from him. I halted in place, spinning back to look at Aramis kneeling in the distance.

Caldris was gone.

All I felt coursing down the bond were his rage and the way it mingled with his excitement. I turned my head to the side, studying the snow between Aramis and I for footprints that I couldn’t find. There was only one set, only my sloppy trail through the snow as I raced as if my life depended on it.

I spun around, only to crash into the black leather and metal armor of my mate. He stood before me, the remnants of shadows floating off his skin as he stared down his nose at me while I touched my palms to his chest to catch my balance.

Caldris’s eyes were fathomless, void of all light as he stared down at me. He raised a single hand to capture one of mine, his thumb trailing over the black circle on the back of my hand. His voice was barely a whisper when he finally spoke. “Why do you continue to run from me, my star?” I pulled on my hand, trying to get him to release me as those dark eyes gleamed.

“You’re scaring me,” I said, taking a step back. He released my hand, following the movement as I took another step.

“There’s no need to be afraid,” he murmured, his voice soft in spite of the tension gripping his body as he followed me, mirroring my movements as a predator toys with his prey.

“What happened to you?” I asked, stopping my steps altogether.

He lifted his hand from his side, touching a talon to my cheek. After trailing it over the skin there, sliding it over my lips and chin, he pressed the tip into the front of my throat. The threat hung between us, unspoken as he stared at the point of contact in confusion. “I hate that you don’t want me.”

“That’s not what happened. We were in a good place this morning, and then you saw the body,” I said, a shocked gasp leaving my throat as his hand wrapped around the front of my neck. He used that hand to guide me back, sweeping my legs out from under me and maneuvering me carefully to the ground.

I was weightless for a few moments, falling to my back in the snow as he leaned over me, pressing his weight into the hand he held at my throat. “Caldris,” I groaned, reaching up to grab his wrist. Aramis had been so certain my God wouldn’t hurt me, so certain I’d be safe.

“The body,” he said, voice dropping low as he leaned further over me. His face filled my vision, drowning out everything beyond him as I fought back the urge to struggle. His hand on my throat hadn’t restricted my breathing yet and I wanted to keep it that way. “If they can do that to a Fae female, what do you think they can do to you?” His chest rumbled with a growl, sounding like one of the wolves, making his entire body tremble with the force of it. “You who are so fragile, my vicious little mate.”

He flicked his nail against my skin, slicing through the surface to prove his point. The wound burned as cold air kissed it, my shocked gasp hovering between us as he lowered his head and licked the bead of blood from my skin. His tongue lingered against me, the slow drag of it over my flesh making me shiver despite my terror.

He lifted his free hand so I could watch as he pressed his nail into his own skin, puncturing his finger until a single dot of blood welled to the surface. He squeezed my throat, forcing me to open my mouth as I gasped for breath. Pressing that finger onto my tongue, he forced his blood into me and watched as the tiny scratch on my throat healed in response.

“What do you want from me?” I said, my voice harsh as he relaxed his hold.

He released my throat finally, pulling at the laces of my tunic where my cloak hung open beneath me on the snow. “You. Bound to me in every way,” he said, trailing a nail over my chest as he yanked the fabric down to reveal my breasts. I didn’t stop him, letting him take what he wanted.

It wasn’t so much out of fear that I allowed it, out of knowing it was what he needed. He needed me to not fight, to not shun his nature and the bond between us. I lifted a hand to touch his face, cupping it gently as he cut my skin with his nail. A tiny rivulet of red slid from my collarbone to my nipple, lighting my skin on fire as he lowered his mouth to it and trailed the tip of his tongue down to follow in its wake.

It healed immediately, the blood he’d given me serving its purpose of undoing any damage he inflicted. His mouth wrapped around my nipple as I slid a hand into his hair, using it to pull him tighter against me.

Encouraging him, I show him that I accepted him and his nature. I couldn’t promise him forever yet, but I could give him this moment and bring him back from the brink in the way he’d done for me the night before.

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