Page 87 of Castor
“No.” I shook my head. “Your fate is to stay with me. Because I still need you. Don’t leave me, little dragon.”
“Kyo?” A man approached who could only be his older brother. Apart from the shade of their eyes and length of their hair, they were nearly identical. The full-sized dragon wasn’t on the beach anymore. Had it been him?
He dropped to the sand and examined the wound. He then shouted orders to the dragons behind him. They rushed forward and tried to take Kyo away.
“Get your hands off him!” I growled, holding him closer. My heart was shattering into pieces.
“It’s… okay, Red.” Kyo attempted a smile, though it fell short. He glided his thumb over my bottom lip. “And… I love you too.”
It was an answer to what I had mouthed to him when I’d thought I was about to die. I should’ve been happy that he felt the same, but it only made me hurt more. Because he was dying.
“We can save him,” Tatsuya said. His ocean-blue eyes burned into me, and his tone was sharp. “You’ve done enough damage, Nephilim. He’s only in this mess because of you.”
Guilt clawed at my chest. He was right. If not for me, Kyo wouldn’t have been anywhere near this battle. I should’ve told him no when he’d asked to come on the trip.
“Tat… suya.” Kyo’s orange eyes closed, and his head lolled to the side.
Tatsuya gathered Kyo in his arms and stood from the sand. I rose with them and stepped forward when the dragon king began carrying him away.
“Wait,” I said, panic rising in my throat. “Don’t take him from me. Please.”
Tatsuya didn’t even look at me.
“Let him go, Castor,” Alastair said. It was an order, and my body froze in place, obeying him. “Kyo is the king’s brother. Fighting him on this will only bring trouble.”
“He’s my mate, Al!” A sound tore from my throat, like a pained whimper. More tears welled in my eyes. “I love him.”
“I know you do.”
The male walking beside Tatsuya caught my eye. He looked to be in his mid twenties, though since dragons lived for thousands of years, there was no telling what his actual age was. An immortal’s physical age stopped at twenty-five. He was tall—maybe six foot six or seven—and had short silver hair with pale blue undertones, reminding me of a glacier in the Arctic Ocean. When he glanced back at me, his eyes narrowed slightly.
He turned and kept walking.
“Is that him?” Raiden asked. “The ice prince Kyo has to marry?”
My brothers knew about Kyo’s arranged marriage, even though I hadn’t told them. Our telepathic connection struck again, making it impossible to keep a damn thing from each other. However, I was thankful for it right then. Because I didn’t have the strength to explain shit to them.
I didn’t answer him.
I couldn’t.
Sirena approached us, her red hair darkened from sweat. Other than a few cuts and bruises, she was unharmed. “We need to gather the dead and build a pyre.”
The beach was littered with demons and Nephilim, stretching from one end to the other. Their bodies were roasting under the sun, and the rancid stench would only worsen as the day drew on. Unlike shades, who turned to ash when killed, these demons had solid forms and didn’t disintegrate. All would need to be disposed of.
Bone-tired and heartbroken, all I wanted to do was curl up somewhere and pass the fuck out. I was worried about Kyo. Would they be able to save him? That dagger seemed like it had missed his heart, but the position was still dangerous. Life-threatening.
Rage bubbled up inside me.
And it was aimed at Bellamy.
“You goddamn bastard!” I shoved against his chest, sending him off-balance. Shock flitted across his face right before I punched him. “Why did you hesitate with Phoenix? Kyo might die because you couldn’t do one fucking thing right!”
“Cas, I—”
I punched him again. And again. His eyes changed to orange as his lids fluttered open, and it only pissed me off even more. My knuckles cracked against his jawbone.
“I’m sorry!”
