เข้าสู่ระบบKiara POV)Hours in the refrigerator left me approaching hypothermia. My teeth chattered, and my muscles shivered without stopping. Pain from exposure to all the meat in the room radiated through me. All I could think about was the relief of warmth, but with the way my body was strung up, I couldn’t warm up my hands or feet, cover my bare skin, or even move to generate heat. A few times, I thought David had made a mistake in leaving me here to freeze to death, and I found small satisfaction in the idea of him coming to retrieve me only to find me a corpse. But as the hours dragged on, I continued to live. Through sheer force of will or simple misfortune, I didn’t know.Then my body became numb to the cold, and I stopped shivering. At that point, I knew my condition was deteriorating toward the point of no return. Once hypothermia set in, your body stopped feeling cold—in fact, your blood vessels dilated, and you felt warm instead. I still felt sluggish, but as my thoughts deviated awa
Gavin lunged forward, all too ready to do as he was told, only to stop suddenly when his eyes fell upon the child. Everett and I quickly joined Gavin’s side, and there we saw the baby girl in Lothair’s arms with her eyes closed, breathing gently in her blanket, lulled into the comfort of restful sleep.“She’s still alive,” I said, unable to keep relief from my voice.“Yes. Muriel used the last of her magic to heal my daughter,” Lothair replied without emotion. He peered down at the infant, seemingly disconnected from her, looking at her like she was just an object and not his own beloved child. “She is perfectly healthy.”Then he looked back up at us again.“But I suspect that won’t be for long in your custody.”Anger prevented Gavin from saying anything.Everett turned his attention to the chain around Lothair’s ankle.“They left you behind. Why?”This time, Lothair hesitated to speak. His stare ventured past us.But I knew the answer.“They overthrew you.”Lothair frowned.“Yes. My
I didn’t remember falling asleep, but when I jolted awake on the couch, the sun hadn’t even risen yet. The front door cracked open, and Everett spoke quietly to somebody just coming in. Gavin was still dozing beside me, with Billie beside him and Aislin on the other end of the couch. Craning my neck, I looked past the couch and saw a few men clad in black step inside, then met Everett’s eyes.“The Mythguard is here,” he said. “Wake everyone up. We’ll begin planning while the recon team visits the mine.”Aislin was already unfurling her limbs and blinking sleep out of her eyes, which was fine. I didn’t want to get near her. I gently shook Gavin’s arm, then tipped forward to my feet while he and Billie stirred, looking up at the people coming inside. Everett welcomed a swarm of strangers into our space, looking focused and hardened while we sagged with exhaustion and dark circles under our eyes.After a quick breakfast, we sat around the table with five Mythguard representatives. Anothe
My consciousness flickered in and out after I was dragged away from the accident. Bumping along in the back of the truck, I slumped forward and let exhaustion and pain whisk me into fluttering half-sleep, but it didn’t feel so much like sleep as it was just shock that blinded and numbed me to all else. I had a vague sense of where I was being taken, assuming that we were plunging back into the mountains to the silver mine. But when the truck rolled to a stop, and I looked up, I was surprised to find trees closing in around me and, ahead of me, the monstrous facade of Hexen Manor.“Why are we here?” I groaned.The dragon guard grabbed my arm and hoisted me out of the truck bed. My legs nearly gave out as I hit the ground.“Does it matter?” he grunted.Somebody handed nylon rope to the dragon.“Wrap her up real good, Kipling.”Nodding, Kipling took the rope and wound it tightly around my wrists behind my back, all the way up my arms to my elbows. He circled the rope so firmly around my
Shortly after we had finished preparing the feather darts, my heart plunged into my stomach with such intensity that I felt sick. Blanched with nausea and inexplicable fear, I sat at the kitchen table and stared out the nearest window, fighting to keep myself from hyperventilating.“Something happened.”Everett looked suspiciously at me.“What do you mean?”“Something happened,” I repeated with mounting anxiety. Standing up, my legs trembled, although I hadn’t exerted myself at all that day. I barely made it to the window and stared outside into the night as if I could see the very source of the trauma that suddenly struck me. But the mountainside was quiet that night. Deep within me, I knew something was wrong. My fated mate was experiencing intense fear, and now pain radiated through my head and into my body, exploding through my hands like I was impaled by a hundred teeth. “Kiara’s in trouble.”Still sitting at the table, Everett and Gavin exchanged looks. Aislin and Billie had gon
I never thought we’d be going straight to the city of Gunnison from Everett’s place, but instead, Sebastian took me into Grandbay, to the hotel where the surviving operatives in his team were staying. There was still police tape strung up in front of the hotel room that David and his dragons burst into a few weeks ago, the night they kidnapped my mother and killed Aislin’s father. The stench of blood and burning oil permeated the walls even though the hotel staff vigorously tried to wash it away.In the hotel room, I hovered uncomfortably while Sebastian and his colleagues packed up their things.“You can take a shower while you wait,” he suggested. “In fact, I recommend you do.”“Why do I stink?” I drawled.Sebastian hesitated, implying to me that I did, although my unicorn lineage tended to remove the worst of my body odor.“We have special soap and shampoo that dilutes your scent. It might help you avoid getting tracked.”I shrugged and did as he suggested, removing my clothes in t







