Page 60 of The Silent Mate

“You swear to protect this child with your life?” I held hisgaze, and the sincerity within his eyes did little to quell my innate hatred for this male.

“Like my own.”

Slowly, I rose from the bed. The soles of my feet prickled and ached as I took small steps toward Roman. When I reached him, I extended my hand between us. I didn’t flinch when he took it.

“Then I accept.”

28

MALIK

After all I endured in my life, I always imagined death would have the decency to greet me quickly. I deserved the mercy of a quick death. At least, that was whatIthought.

Death, the sick bastard, clearly didn’t agree.

I hovered, suspended in the strange rift between life and death. Not quite existing, but notceasingto exist, either. Mind separated from body. No feeling. No pain. No sights or sounds or smells.

At times, the temptation to surrender to the vastnothingnessbecame too great to ignore. But every time I dared give up, a flash of a memory resurfaced, quick as a lightning bolt from the sky, reminding me of the happiest weeks of my life.

In those moments, I only saw Aria.

Her face. Her smile. The sound of her laughter, ringing in my ears long after the sight of her vanished from my dying mind. Those were the moments that gave me a reason to hold on, at least for a while longer.

I was growingsick of the darkness.

Sometimes, I thought I heard voices, but when I tried to open my eyes, my mind felt disconnected from my body. Other times, in the impenetrable shroud of shadows, a skittering of agony sliced through my being, reminding me of my unfortunate predicament.

Somewhere in the depths of my mind, I began to remember what happened to place me in this endless purgatory. Again, it only came in flashes.

I’d been asleep, my dreams transporting me to my bedroom in the cottage, where my little dove curled into my side. But I never slept deeply, especially not while on the road. A faint rustling by my head ripped me from my slumber. That small warning might’ve been the only reason I still teetered between the world of the living and the dead.

I’d opened my eyes in time to find a familiar gaze staring back at me. Cruel. Cynical. Angry. Eyes that had tormented me for years, but I’d been foolish to believe it would never come tothis…Roman.

I fought back against my brother, but even I could not defy the odds. Five fully-grown warriors against one rightful alpha.

My vision turned bloody. Every fiber of my being centered on survival. I wanted to survive, almost as much as I wanted to kill every wolf that turned against me. And yet, when the darkness took me, I sensed in my gut that Roman escaped.

Perhapsthatexplained why death had not yet collected my soul. The stubborn thing refused to die while my evil brother lived.

In the never-ending darkness, I imagined his death. Bloody. Slow.

Even so, it wasn’t the need for revenge that kept me hanging on. It was her.

Alwaysher.

“Samah!”A young female voice pierced through the haze of nothingness. It grated, causing my head to pound like a drum between my temples. “Samah, come quickly! I think he’s waking up.”

I ground my teeth together, biting back the urge to throttle the owner of the ear-splitting voice.Moon Goddess,my head felt seconds away from shattering into a thousand pieces.

Rusty hinges creaked, followed by the sound of rushing footsteps.

“Come away from him now, Myra,” an older, softer female voice warned. “Call Alpha Amir. Tell him to bring guards, just in case.”

A lighter pair of footsteps scurried away, fading into silence.

Guards? Alpha Amir?Where the hells was I?

The question peaked my interest enough that I tried to open my eyes. I struggled to find the connection between my mind and my eyelids, willing the small muscles to act on my command. Sluggishly, they obeyed.

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