Page 63 of Ravaging Red
Rael had brought me here the day we left the High Veil. We left the Council behind and without an explanation he took usthere, simply telling me this place would shield me from what was coming. I believed him.
He let me travel back through the Veil when I wanted to visit Grandmother, though it pained him. He never said it, but I knew. His scent lingered on my cloaks even when I was gone for just a few hours, his presence always curled around my skin like armor. But I would always return, because this was where I belonged. Here, surrounded by walls carved with his family’s crest, in a bed lined with the furs of beasts long extinct, I had found something I didn’t know I was allowed to want.
Peace.
But peace was always temporary in a place like this.
The cold wind curled around me as I rested my palm against the curve of my belly, heavy and full of his seed. She kicked again, wild and sharp, as if she could feel the shadows tightening around us.
“She’s restless again,” I murmured, my voice soft against the wind.
“I know,” came his voice behind me.
Rael was never far, not when I carried his blood. I felt his heat before I saw him, his presence strong and comforting. He was bare from the waist up, streaks of blood smudged across his torso, the aftermath of his morning patrol. Even painted in violence, he moved like a god. His shoulders broad, golden eyes glowing with that feral predatory promise that made my knees weak.
Rael wrapped his arms around me from behind, pulling me into the heat of him. One clawed hand slid over the crest of my belly and settled there, firm and protective. His other hand rose to my throat, his fingers resting over the pulse that beat for him alone.
“She feels it,” he said darkly. “The Hollow is shifting again.”
I leaned into his strength, into the warmth of him, anchoring myself to the only thing that made sense anymore.
“I’ve had dreams again,” I whispered. “He's watching us. Craving what he can't have.”
Rael growled. “Watching is all he can do. Because if he comes near, he knows I will twist his soul apart.”
My heart still ached for the one friend I hadn’t been able to find. “Dulce’s still missing, Rael.”
His body tensed behind me. “I know.”
“It’s been months,” I continued. “Not a single trace of her. Nothing in the Veil. No messages through the markets. Are you sure you haven't heard anything? It’s like she vanished.”
“She didn’t vanish,” he said, keeping his voice low. “We both know she was taken, Red.”
Tears burned behind my eyes as I nodded.
“She was scared the last time we talked,” I whispered. “She promised me she wouldn't go into those woods. She told me…”
“Red, you cannot control the Blood Moon. If it calls for you, there is no stopping what it wants.”
“What if she's dead? What if a monster took her and she died fighting?”
“I doubt that's how it works,” he murmured again my neck.
“Rael!” I swatted him away, but he kept me in his arms, his nose buried in my neck.
“Don't you want her to feel what you do? The pleasure and pain you relish in.”
“Well, yes, but not at the cost of her life, or of not seeing her again. She’s still gone, Rael. I don’t get to tell her I’m carrying your daughter. That she made me believe I could survive this world.”
Rael turned me to face him, cradling my jaw in hands that had torn beasts apart, but only ever held me like I was this precious, fragile thing.
“Then I’ll find her,” he growled, a promise soaked in vengeance. “And whoever took her will wish the Hollow swallowed them whole before I did.”
I brushed my fingers along the bridge of his nose, feeling the shift in him, the rising rage. He stirred behind me, his cock swelled with need, pressing against the curve of my lower back. I shivered, not from fear, but from what I knew would come next.
He stepped closer, his claws dragging down my spine, slow and possessive. He spun me in his grip, massive hands spreading over my hips, forcing me against the cold stone wall of the tower as his mouth claimed the side of my neck with a growl.
“This Hollow will burn before anything touches what’s mine,” he snarled into my skin, his voice dropping a menacing octave, sending a thrill to me. “And you, my pet, are mine.”
