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AllissaI yanked against the chains, making my wrists slick with blood. I’d been fighting against the shackles, but they seemed impossible to break. I was hoping my blood would make my wrists slip through, but it was no use. Footsteps pounded above, then wildly ran down the stairs toward me. I was shocked to see Alfred’s frantic face.He raced toward me, his hands fumbling against the locks. “Lissa, we have to hurry,” his voice sharp with panic. “I caused a disturbance. We have to run now.”He wrenched at the shackles with shaking fingers and they fell open, leaving my wrists raw and throbbing. I could hardly move. My legs had turned to water, the time I was in confinement weakened me. Alfred’s eyes burned with desperation. He dragged me to my feet, half carrying, half pulling me toward the stairs. “We can’t wait,” he insisted desperately. The stone steps loomed ahead, cruel and steep. I gasped, breath ragged in my chest, each step a small agony, but Alfred wouldn’t let me falter.The
DarrenI shifted into my beast as I hunted for my mate. I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I knew I was being pulled to her. I’m not sure why, but I had grabbed Ally’s watch before I left. She usually always had it on her. I guess I felt that this would help me find her. It was strange that I could feel the watch even in my beast form. I felt it pulse heat inside of me as if it were alive, burning me, tethering me … hopefully to her.I powered through the forest with a recklessness bordering on feral, eyes fixed forward, nose twitching, ears pricked for any sign of Allissa or her captors. My human thoughts dissolved into my beast’s instincts, into paws hitting earth, earth kicking up behind me, dirt and leaves and clouds of dust. Into love and rage and gnawing, chewing need. Into finding her. Into taking her back.Had they taken her into another territory? Were they forcing her through the plains, dragging her through mud and swamp? An image of her—wild hair, arms pulled, struggling
AllissaI floated between consciousness and some dark sea, adrift in shadows with nothing to cling to but his smell. There was no mistake that Alfred was beside me. A thin thread of memory tried to pull me back, but everything slipped through my fingers, leaving me drowning in uncertainty. How long had I been out? My pulse beat like a frantic drum as I fought against the heaviness, the haze, the tight metal around my wrists. Time had all blurred together, and I lost track of it. I braced myself and slowly opened my eyes. He was right in front of me. His eyes met mine, and I could see the pain in them again.“Lissa, gods, Lissa. Do you need a drink? Are you hungry?” The beast inside me recoiled, confused by its own emotions. I wanted to scream, to tell him how deeply he’d wounded me, how nothing could ever be okay. Instead, a different urgency took hold, more primal and immediate: my throat was parched, and I felt the sharp gnaw of hunger twisting in my stomach. My senses seemed magnif
DarrenI took a step toward the door before I heard a hum from Dayanara. I turned to look at her and noticed her moving quickly, her face intent and focused on Lyle’s body.She placed a hand on his forehead, a thoughtful wrinkle between her brows. “This is strange,” she said, and the uncertainty in her voice startled me. Her hands traced his throat, then hovered over his heart, a dawning realization on her face. “This is divine magic,” she said, eyes wide. “It stopped his heart, froze his blood. I’m not sure what could have caused this.” She placed her hand on his chest, and I turned to face her completely. Her eyes widened as she looked up at me. “He isn’t dead.” The words were an electric shock, jarring and incredible. “He’s alive,” she breathed. I stumbled forward, my own heart threatening to stop from the sudden flood of hope.I was there, at her side, hardly daring to believe what I’d heard. “Alive?” My voice was a weak breath, the single word a tangled mess of disbelief and desp
DarrenThe moment the griffin touched down, I was off, the corridor blurring around me as I tore through it. Dayanara’s voice followed, muttering something about not getting herself lost and about being ready to zap any lycan fool enough to mess with her. I barely heard her. I didn’t care about anything but getting to Lyle and getting answers. I reached back for Dayanara’s hand without stopping, dragging her through the endless twists of the halls. My father waited outside Lyle’s room, pale as moonlight, stunned into silence as I careened toward him.“Did you look at the videos?” I asked, barely able to choke the words out.“Cloaked,” he said, eyes wide with shock. “Lyle and Allissa collapsed, then Allissa was lifted by ... nothing. Like a ghost.” The familiar fury began to boil, too hot to contain. Too hot to control.“Fuck!” The word shot out, almost louder than I intended. I knew how I must have looked—feral and unhinged—but I couldn’t stop. Not now. “We have to get her back,” I sa
DarrenThe smell of blood and dirt clung to me like a second skin. I wiped the sweat off my brow, watching as the back of my hand turned red with the victory of another battle. Cuts and bruises screamed across my body, but exhaustion only lived in my bones, never my spirit. I couldn’t suppress the grin that took over my face. We’d won and hadn’t suffered many casualties. If we could keep this up, this war would be over before we knew it. Then, I could finally return to my Ally.I heard the heavy footsteps of my best friend before I saw him. Ivan appeared with his familiar stoic presence and a look that said he was about to crack a joke.“You look like hell, Darren,” Ivan said, his voice rumbling like distant thunder. He leaned against a tree, arms crossed, eyes scanning the battlefield as if he could still see the fight happening.“I could say the same for you,” I shot back, letting the grin stretch wider. I ran a hand through my hair, feeling the grit and grime that turned every touc