Page 85 of Fate Unchained

Brooke batted at his arms until he released her. “That’s never happened before.”

“Sure,” Finn said.

It was up to Kyril. “Focus on Zann. I’ll find Lilah.”

He took a few steps away from everyone else and closed his eyes. Lilah. What if he lost her?

Pain ripped through him. Howling and desperate as if he’d been torn in two. He gasped and lurched forward. He couldn’t imagine living the rest of his life without ever seeing her again. Without getting to hear her laugh or see her smile.

Yet he’d kept her at arms-length, ready to walk away after the full moon.

Someone brushed against his side, and he opened an eye. Hans. “You all right?”

Kyril glanced at Briony. “I get it now. I …” He still couldn’t say what he truly felt. All he could say was, “Lilah.”

He let his vulk side take over like it had when he’d bedded Lilah last night, only this time, he let it fully unleash. Though he’d lost some control last night, a part of himself remained frozen. Untouched. The part his instincts clawed to break through, but so far, he’d resisted. Kept his true self tucked far away, because he didn’t want to let Lilah in.

No one had ever really wanted him. Why would the most perfect creature in all of Ulterra choose him? But he knew—had known for a long time—that she was the only one he’d want for all of eternity.

Even if she didn’t choose him.

So he’d hidden from her that the rune still spoke to him, still urged him toward her because it reminded him of being tied to someone who didn’t want to be tied to him. His mother.

He didn’t want to wake up every day wanting her only to know she didn’t want him. To go back to how he’d felt as a child, curled up on the couches of clan members. Overlooked. Ignored.

He’d hidden the part of him that wanted her. The part of him that wanted to love her. He kept telling himself the vulk didn’t take mates for a reason, kept trying to remind himself that it would only make him weak. Vulnerable.

He’d been doing a lot of hiding.

Kyril’s palm slammed against the wall, and his claws extruded to their full length. He reached deep down inside himself and let what he truly felt for Lilah wash over him.

Warmth. Light. Her buttercup scent. A peace, a feeling he was finally, truly home, shot through him. It was like no home he’d ever known. It was what he’d always wished for in the deepest, darkest places when he allowed himself to wonder if he could ever have something different. His home was where Lilah was. He chose her.

The rune pinged.

Now. He needed to find her now. He pictured her in the tea shop. Long, golden hair in slight waves down her back. Precisely pressed shirt and slim trousers. Laughing at him, her head tilted back slightly.

His chest heated then flooded his entire body with warmth.

Images flashed under his eyelids. Dark wood. A curved room. Sadness.

He snarled. Why was Lilah sad?

Then he saw her, standing amid towers of books. It was like she stood inside a star. White light illuminated her from behind, making her hair sparkle. His heart squeezed. He wasn’t an Alpha, he couldn’t speak to her mentally, but he tried anyway. “I’m coming for you.”

Her eyes widened. Had she heard him? She turned, maybe to someone, or something, he couldn’t see. “All these books here in Herskala Hall. How wonderful.” He heard her as clearly as if she stood next to him.

He let out a long breath. She wasn’t hurt, and she didn’t appear to be in any immediate danger. The coil inside him, the one demanding blood from those who’d taken her, loosened a fraction.

Herskala Hall. “I’m coming, lalee.”

She pressed a hand to her chest and smiled a small, secret smile, and the image faded.

He whirled. He needed to run. To race toward Lilah. Toward his mate. But he wasn’t going to rush in and put Lilah in danger. Perhaps Lilah, and her steady approach to researching things instead of leaping right in, had rubbed off on him. “Herskala Hall.”

Hans stared at him a long moment, then nodded.

Kyril turned to Hazel. “What do we know about Herskala Hall?”

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