Page 161 of Upon Buried Embers

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I.

Want.

It.

Off.

I teeter to the side as voices reach me, hands touching me and I recoil, screaming and trembling. My vision darkens, dulling at the edges.

“Rohan!”

“Elf, it’s Beau, it’s okay.”

I need Rohan.

Beau reaches for me once more and I scream again, blindly spinning in a circle, looking to get away, to not have hands touching me.

Then warmth surrounds me as I’m picked up, my face in a neck I know too well.

I still, slumping in his hold.

Safe.

Thirty eight

Rohan

“What the fuck happened!” I roar, pacing in front of my tent where all my clan are gathered. “Who was it? Who made her that way?”

I storm over to Beau, gripping him by the front of his tunic and hauling him within an inch of my face.

“What did you do?”

“No—nothing. I swear.”

“You were with her!”

“I found her like that and I called for help when she wouldn’t calm down.”

I’m going to kill him.

“He’s telling the truth, brother,” Kaldar says, coming over to me and daring to place a hand on my shoulder, knowing how close I am to losing it.

My head snaps to him, teeth bared.

“I saw her when he called. She was making these horrible breathing sounds and then she was screaming. He was trying to calm her down.”

I growl and shove Beau away. He falls on his ass, my clan watching it all unfold but I don’t care.

I heard her from across camp. I’ve never run so fast to get to her, fear driving me.

When I saw her clawing at her neck, tears rolling down her face, rage and concern blended together. I took her back to my tent, laying with her until she fell asleep.

She never said a word to me.

Not a single one.

“She left after some food,” Tofa says, and I whirl on her, ignoring how she backs away a little. “We were talking and she seemed fine.”

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