Page 23 of Fate Unchained

He growled. Maybe it would be better if he thought of her as a beautiful vulknapper. Then perhaps he’d stop noticing things like how her lips were perfectly aligned with his cock when she’d knelt in front of him earlier. Or how her eyes matched the blue of the water in the lagoon near his den.

If he spread her out before the fire and took her, he wouldn’t be focusing on the grimoire. Or on the information he needed from her. All he’d want to do was make her cry out his name. To discover what he could do to make her claw at his back again.

It wasn’t her beauty or the softness of her skin on his lips that hit him hardest. It was what she’d said. Yes. I think you’ll keep your word.

He stared at the dark cave entrance. Few people outside his pack brothers would ever say something like that to him. Most people treated him like he was either about to hunt them down to chew on their bones or like they thought he was a bit of an asshole. Probably because he usually was.

Yet when she told him that, he believed her. And it made him feel fifty feet tall. It also made him want her even more. At this rate, he’d need to plunge into the cold water himself so his balls would stop aching.

A small buzz flared to life at the back of his mind. “Kyril?”

“Zann?”

“Yeah, where are you?”

Zann was an Alpha, so he had the ability to reach out mentally to the pack—shit, he’d been their Alpha over one hundred years ago—but Hans, Zann’s brother, was Alpha now and the only one who was supposed to call out to them mentally. Kyril could speak mentally once the connection was made, but he couldn't start it since he wasn’t an Alpha. “I’m stuck in the cave south of the old pack den. Near that rundown river village.”

“When the weather is over, we’ll come down to you, and we can all keep hunting the Dark Cabal.”

“I’m having a little … problem.” He told Zann about Lilah and how she’d trapped him in the cave.

Zann didn’t react well. Even mentally, his rage flared through as he swore. Zann had been trapped by a magicwielder long ago—and they’d thought he was dead. After that happened, the pack fell apart.

“Have you killed her?”

“The rune showed up.”

A long silence followed. “Reject it and get rid of her. You don’t want a mate.”

Kyril and Zann embraced the old ways, the traditional ways of walking alone, the most out of all the pack members. It’s why Zann had always been his closest friend. Kyril was close with Juri, too, and the two other vulk who lived in the south near him, Thane and Blazh, but Zann had always believed in the old ways in the same way he did. Pursue spawn, protect the pack. That was it.

Kyril glanced at Lilah, who sat next to the fire again. “She might be able to help us. We’ve formed an agreement to work together.”

“Your only pact is to the pack.”

“I gave my word.”

Zann didn’t say anything. Kyril didn’t make promises or give his word often, but when he did, he always kept it. Also, Lilah believed he’d keep his word, which meant something. “She has some skills.” He explained to Zann about her being a zorzye and her skill as a wyrdstaave.

“Forget her skills, she targeted you for a reason. Have you found out what it is?”

Kyril tensed. His eyes narrowed, and he studied Lilah. “Not yet, but I will.”

“Find out. Then get rid of the bond as soon as you can. When the sorcerer captured me, the goal was to bind me to her. She used magic to force a bond between us. There’s something wrong with these bonds. Don’t trust it.”

Zann had never spoken of his time with Hazel, the magicwielder who’d worked with Morana and used magic to enchant him. Hazel and Zann survived the cave-in, and Hazel now lived in Ulterra, but Zann hadn’t pursued her for revenge, and Hazel had helped the vulk twice— the first time was last year when they’d battled a sorcerer and, more recently, to battle the Dark Cabal near Ryba.

“Did the sorcerer use runic magic, too?”

“No, but magic is magic, and no bond is good for a vulk. It makes us weak.”

Kyril nodded, though Zann couldn’t see. He’d always agreed with Zann. He glanced at Lilah again. The problem was the bond in his chest didn’t feel like it was making him weak. It felt … good.

“Finn and I will head down to help you. We’ll figure out how to break you free.”

Kyril glanced up at the skylight in the cave. The smoke still whipped out of the opening, with flakes furiously mixing with it. “Wait for the storm to end. I’ll be fine. And I can use this time to get more information from the human. Why did Hans pull Finn from Ryba?” Ryba was the first town to welcome the vulk freely again, and Finn was enjoying the hospitality.

“Hans wanted me to check in with the vae on the Dark Cabal, but he thought Finn should come with me. I guess he’s worried I’ll get in a fight with the king.” That wasn’t surprising; Zann wasn’t known for his diplomacy. Then again, who did get along with the vae? The human-like immortals living in the Kuls weren’t bad fighters when they finally decided to fight, but they spent a bit too much time looking up at the stars and playing music.

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