Chapter 21

Aria

They roll across the forest floor in a blur of motion, claws and teeth flashing in the dappled sunlight. Blood spatters the leaves, the coppery scent of it thick and cloying in the air.

I know I should do something, should throw myself between them and put an end to this madness before one of them winds up dead. But I can't seem to make myself move, can't seem to do anything but watch in mute horror as the two males I love most in this world try to tear each other apart.

It's Callum who falters first, his weakened body no match for Elijah's savage strength. He stumbles, his flank laid open by a vicious swipe of claws, and Elijah presses his advantage with a snarl of triumph.

And then his jaws are closing around Callum's throat, and the world seems to freeze in a single, crystalline moment of perfect, terrible clarity.

I know in that instant that I am about to watch the father of my child die. That I am about to lose him forever, just when I had finally begun to hope that we might