Chapter 78
Chapter 78
Damon
The wind cut like blades as I flew through the territories.
Frost bit at my skin, teeth sinking into the exposed lines of my shoulders and chest, but I didn’t feel it. Not through the pulse in my blood, the fire in my chest, the bond that burned with every beat of my heart.
She was close.
The mating bond wasn’t whispering anymore. It howled. A feral, ragged thing that refused to let me rest.
Each mile closed between us only made it worse–more urgent. More frantic. Like something in me knew if I didn’t reach her soon, I wouldn’t reach her at
all.
The land shifted beneath my feet–thinned dirt gave way to loose stone, craggy slopes and brittle roots. The terrain was sharper here, less traveled Even the trees looked starved. Wild. Watching.
Rogue territory. I bared my teeth.
The scent hit first–blood, smoke, something acidic and wrong. And beneath it… her. Faint. But there.
Zane surged, clawing at my thoughts. She’s bleeding. She’s close. Faster!
I slowed before the outpost came into view, heart thudding like a war drum. I pawed the ground, restless, as I stalked forward, claws extended, muscles
coiled.
And then I saw it.
The outpost was crumbling–half–covered in vines choking the side, roof partially caved in. The surrounding trees were scattered with footprints. Some human. Some wolf. The mud told the story before I reached the door.
A deadly fight.
Deep grooves in the dirt. Drag marks. Blood smears. I counted three rogue corpses–twisted, broken, half–shifted. One still clutched a torn bit of fabric in his claw. My jaw clenched.
She fought. Alone.
My legs moved before I told them to.
I kicked the door open. The scent of ash and blood hit me like a wall. The room was dim, the fire barely flickering, and she was there–curled near it like she’d folded in on herself.
El–no. I didn’t really know who she was beyond mine.
She was slumped on her side, knife still clenched in one shaking hand, her coat torn and dark with blood at the thigh, shoulder, ribs. H matted. Her skin pale.
She didn’t lift her head when I entered. But the bond screamed.
was
I dropped to my knees beside her, breath punched from my lungs at the sight of her face–bruised, cracked at the lip, streaked with soot and sweat.
“Goddess-,” I breathed. “please…”
Her eyes fluttered, then cracked open. Dazed. Glazed with pain. But she saw me.
15:03 Wed 4 Jun
Chapter 78
Me lip parted and
The thing changed h
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or body trembled under my tuck Her tank ky/log
And this be 1 didn’t
Temldn’t stop touching her
My hands moved without conscious tough brushing tuple to tum dares, debuffing the deer h deeper than what routesse
She was shivering against mis, hair braith esteting an Aony Hall dog cold from gain fullsten
There was blood beneath her halls. And streaked her threat and jave: Par bients were missing Gars Shad made
I gently pulled her closer, adjusting my arms beneath her back, carstal sust to jest the open wound along half sigh–hit something brutal in me.
“Stay with me,” whispered, voice rough “Stay awake for me.”
Her eyes blinked open again, heavy–lidded and fever glazed. “You came.”
“I will always come.”
Zane growled low in my chest, his need rising–closer, closer, ours. The bond pulsed hot, nearly feral now. I could lead her go something else was there, too–relief. Recognition. Even in this state, she knew m
I pulled her closer into my lap, her body limp against mine, her scent curling around me–blood, smoke, fear, and 62
breathe without it. Couldn’t think without it.
Her skin was ice against my chest. I grabbed the nearby dirty blanket, wrapped it around her, but it wasn’t enough. The dwar is was in her. Buried deep. Sinking roots.
I bent my head, pressing my forehead to hers. “You should’ve told me,” murmured. “Whatever it is, I don’t care, Idant My har ightened just want you alive.”
Zane slammed forward. The bond flared. It wasn’t gentle this time. it wasn’t planned, it was instinct
I buried my face in her neck, inhaling her scent like it was the only thing keeping me grounded. And tha
– bit down,
Not hard enough to break her. But deep enough to mark
Her blood hit my tongue, warm and metallic, mingled with the crackle of the bond sealing itself like fire through the marrow.
The sensation roared through me–heat and clarity and something sharp, like being pulled from the edge of a cliff and anchored all at ones. The bond didn’t just settle. It sang
My mate gasped.
Her body jerked, but she didn’t pull away. She curled closer, her fingers clinging to my shoulder, her breath bitching on a sound hailway between a sub and a sigh.
The moment held. A second. Two A bletime
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Chapter 78
Then the world snapped back into place–brighter, sharper, anchored. My chest heaved. My teeth retracted. I pressed my lips to the skin I’d just claimed, gentle now, reverent.
It was done. She was mine. Not by politics. Not by power. By bond. By blood.
Her voice came soft, barely audible. “You marked me.”
I leaned back, just far enough to look into her eyes. “I didn’t plan to.”
Hér lashes fluttered. “But you meant it.”
“Yes.” There was no point in lying.
Something shifted in her gaze. Not fear. Not confusion. Trust? She closed her eyes again, her breathing slowed down. “O…kay.”
And in that breath, in that one word, I felt something loosen inside me. A thread of hope curling where all I’d known was fury.
N
Her head fell gently against my collarbone, her breath shallow, but more even now. Her body sagged with exhaustion, not surrender.
I wrapped both arms around her and held her tighter, cradling her against my chest like she might slip away if I loosened my grip. I could feel her heartbeat against mine. Weak. But steady.
Zane settled, his fury melted down to a protectiveness so primal it hummed beneath
my
skin.
I pressed my mouth to her temple.
“I’ve got you now,” I whispered. “And no one’s taking you from me again.”
Outside, the wind howled. Inside, she lost consciousness and I clung to the comfort that she was alive.
