Page 39 of Shielded Heart 1
Pressing her back against the wall, Samantha slid to the floor. She sucked in one sharp breath after another. Panic threatened to overcome her; her heart raced, her throat felt tight, and chills shook her body. Black spots filled her vision.
No! I can’t pass out.I need to tell him.
Samantha forced herself to take deep, even breaths. The darkness slowly receded.
Crawling away from the door, she sat up against the side of her bed and lifted her wrist. With trembling fingers, she activated her holocom and swiped through the menu to bring up her contacts.
She paused.
Why hadn’t they made her show them her contact list?
Whatever their reasons, it didn’t matter now. She needed to tell Alkorin.
She started a visual call.
Within seconds, Alkorin’s hologram appeared on her display. He flashed his fangs in a grin. “Samantha,” he purred. “I was starting to worry that you wouldn’t—”
“I need you,” she said quickly.
His eyes narrowed and his brows fell low as he leaned closer, searching her face. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“There were people here looking for you. Th-they were asking me questions about you.”
“What people, Samantha? Who were they?”
“They didn’t tell me, but one of them was the groalthuun from the Ventrillian Mall. The one who was taking pictures.” She wiped the moisture from her cheek with the back of her hand. “I didn’t tell them anything. I swear. I even gave them a fake name for you. You have to believe—”
“Did they hurt you?” he asked, his thirdeye lingering on her while the other two focused on something below the hologram.
Sam shook her head. “No.”
“Stay in your apartment. I’ll be there as fast as possible.”
“They said they’ll be around, Alk. They probably want you to come.”
“They’re probably listening to this conversation right now.”
Her heart leapt and her eyes widened. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Why had she been so stupid? Of course they would bug her apartment! It was probably why they hadn’t demanded to look at her holocom contacts.
And she was giving them all the information they needed right now.
“It’s okay, my little terran,” he said, all his eyes now on her. “I’ll be there soon. Don’t open the door for anyone but me.”
“Okay,” she said, searching his face. “Please be careful.”
TEN
The call ended, and the hologram of Samantha’s face—so beautiful, yet so filled with terror—vanished. Arcanthus slammed his fists atop his desk, denting the metal, and shoved himself to his feet. His pounding heart pumped fire through his veins. He clenched his teeth hard enough to risk shattering them.
A wordless, furious cry rose from his chest, beginning as a growl and ending as a roar. Even if there were words to encompass what he felt at that moment, his rage was too great to find them. He’d known what she was to him—hismate—and had suppressed most of the instincts she’d awoken in him so far.
There’d be no stopping them now.
He wanted to destroy anything and everything in his path. Wanted to tear Arthos apart and make the city bleed until he had Samantha safe in his arms.
Bloodlust had always lurked in his subconscious; it was the part of him that had thrilled in the combat he’d seen in his brief days as a soldier, the part of him that had loved the bloody arena fights he’d been forced into as a slave, the part he’d alwaysthought of as hisinner tretin. As years had passed, he’d done his best to silence it.
But he would embrace it to save Samantha. He would unleash it upon the universe to protect her.
