Page 46 of Ravaging Red
The creature shrieked again, trying to form another spell, but Rael was already tearing through it, ripping at the magic-laced bone, dragging chunks of shadowed flesh free with every savage strike. The ground steamed beneath their struggle, the air thick with the scent of blood and something much more evil.Envy.
But even as Rael’s fangs buried deep into its throat, even as the creature screamed one last time as its form broke, dissolving into smoke and wind, it still didn’tdie.
Instead, it threatened. “You think you've won,” it hissed, its voice now a coil of air and venom, wrapping around us both likea curse. “But bonds like yours... they bleed. And I will be there when it does. To take what you love most.”
The shadows scattered, the forest groaned, and the clearing went still once more.
Rael stood panting, his body trembling, the glow in his eyes dimming as his claws dripped with fading traces of the creature’s form. He turned to me, chest heaving, his face a mask of rage and fear, and for a long moment, he didn’t speak.
He suddenly reached for me, pulling me into his warmth as we boh collapsed to the ground. I could feel the thud of his racing heartbeat on my cheek. “Are you alright?” His voice was hoarse and out of breath.
“How…how did you know?” I whispered, running my hands across his chest, my fingertips hovering over the wounds there.
He held me as if I was all that tethered him to the earth. “I felt it,” he gasped. “The second it touched you. I felt it trying to tear you away from me.”
I clung to him, sobbing. “It said it lost its mate… it wanted to make us suffer. I could feel him sucking my life away.”
“You’ll feel it for a while,” he said. “An echo. Like a bruise on your soul.”
“I felt… cold,” I whispered.
He cradled my face, pulled me close. “I’ll warm you. Always. I’ll never let you feel that way again.”
“Will it be back?” I asked, nervously glancing in between the trees that surrounded us.
“We are safe for now, Red.”
“But it will be back,” I insisted.
He hesitated before finally responding. “It will return but we will be prepared.”
“How?”
“I will not let you be harmed, Red.” He stated with a finality that stirred my heart.
Gods, I reached for him with trembling fingers and pulled his face down to mine. It wasn’t just desperation or survival or the aching need to feel whole again after that thing had tried to tear me apart. No. It was more. I pressed my lips to his and breathed again. It was the kind of kiss that spoke in silence and held a hungry promise. One that sealed my fate.
Our mouths collided in a slow, sultry storm, the taste of him ignited that familiar fire in me. His lips crushed mine with reverence and hunger all at once, as if he wasn’t sure whether to devour me or worship me. The long length of his tongue swept past my lips with a groan, coaxing, tasting,claiming, until the ache in my chest unraveled and spilled out between us in every panting breath.
I curled into him, gasping against the edge of his mouth, my hands buried in his thick fur, and he held me like I was made of something fragile. He kissed me like he needed the air inside my lungs, like he would tear the world in half to keep my breath in his mouth. It was a kiss not meant to soothe, but tobrand.
It felt like a silent vow that Iwashis. That whatever came next, be it blood, battle, or ruin, we would meet it bound together.
When the kiss broke, his forehead pressed to mine, his eyes soft but still burning. “I’m taking you home,” he growled.
His arms swept beneath me, gently lifting me from the bloodstained ground, and carried me through the trees. I shuddered as I remembered his monstrous form when he fought. I should have feared him them but how could I when he showed me so much love.
And it wasn’t weak or sweet. He was not soft by any means.
He showed a love that was savage and utterlyunforgiving.
Chapter 18
The Mark
RAEL
Damn the Council.
