Page 35 of Forsaken Dream
“I’m not in the mood to hear stories, so what is this about?” I sneered. “Or do you love hearing your own voice so much you can’t help but spew insanities?”
“It’s all connected, you dumb rock.” I stiffened, and my gaze was tinted red at his bark. “I’ve been fighting those for the last sixty years, but they were few and far between. Until I came to this town.” Gathering his senses, he glared but kept talking, like that was a shock at this point. “After Echo told us her dream, we knew the moment she entered the human realm all three of us were spat here along with her. Sixty years ago.” One of his perfectly shaped eyebrows lifted as if daring me to argue his conclusion.
Stewing, I said nothing.
“We know there is a fourth mate we haven’t yet seen, and since he is not here while we are … well, we can assume he is lost, held captive, or dead. If the last is true, we will need to help our mate the best we can. That kind of loss could break her. But the shades coming in hordes here worries me more at this time.”
“She will not go anywhere near the shades.” Slicing the air with my hand, I left no room for argument.
“Shades are creatures from the Faerie realm.” Angelo watched me intently as dread clawed at my innards. “The Unseelie part of it, to be exact.”
“What are you saying?” My lips felt numb, and I doubted they even moved when I asked the question.
“They’ve been searching for the missing heir to the Seelie court for decades. What if the three of us coming here and the mate bond springing to life pointed a glowing arrow to where she is?”
“You think the Seelie king asked them for help?” It sounded too farfetched from everything he had told me about the scum so far. “According to your expert observations, he wouldn’t be so obvious. He would be inconspicuous, not send hordes of Unseelie creatures to her doorstep. If he did do that, she could’ve revealed that she hasn’t been missing but had actually escaped the fate he’d chosen for her.”
“Or”—Ignoring everything I said, he pointed a finger at my face, which I wanted nothing more than to break—“the Unseelie prince is looking for his mate to be.”
A snarl ripped from me, and it was loud enough that the vehicle swerved so hard we toppled over, while my mate jerked to glare at us over her shoulder. The truck fishtailed for long moments before straightening out. Angelo was hissing something as he kicked and shoved in his attempt to untangle his limbs from mine, but I couldn’t hear it over the thundering in my ears. I needed to kill, to maim the scum that thought he could take my mate from me.
“Control your temper, barbarian. All I’m saying is, we need to be vigilant and keep an eye out for the male.” With one last kick, he pushed himself up. “You are no good to any of us, least of all her, if you succumb to madness.” A sharp bark of humorless laughter shook his shoulders at my startled glance. “You don’t think I know your kind? We made it our mission to know all races in all the realms.” Pity curling his mouth downward, he cleared his throat. I didn’t dare breathe. “How long?” When the silence stretched, he huffed. “How much longer before you shift to your other form and never turn back?”
The Archangel new my time was up.
I’d take disgust and anger over pity from the feathered fuck anytime.
“I found my mate.” Shoving off the bed of the truck, I sat up, refusing to look away. “The time is no longer of consequence.”
“Finding a mate and sealing the bond are two different things. Even I know that.” Lowering himself across from me, he wiped that damn look of pity from his stupid mug. “She deserves to know that you will die if you leave it too long.”
“What I do with my life does not matter to you,friend,” I spat the word like a curse.
“Actually, since it involves my mate, it very much matters to me.” With a sigh, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, effectively ending our not-so-pleasant talk. “If you don’t tell her soon, I will.”
“Stay out of it or I will grind your bones.”
Chuckling, Angelo didn’t answer, and I didn’t expect him to. The Archangel was a pain in my ass, yet in all my rage, I still couldn’t summon the will to rip his pretty head from his shoulders. Knowing that it would only hurt my mate had saved the feathered fuck’s life.You dying will hurt her too.I cut the thought before it festered longer in my head.
I would give my mate all the time she needed.
Even if it killed me.
