Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
I smack Octo’s backside so he gets close to my beast, and I climb to stand in the saddle in a feat I didn’t think myself capable of. But if I am to put the collar on his neck, I need to move fast. I reach to my side and unclasp the straps holding my breastplate in place, then shrug it off, ready to leap.
Black eyes widen as the wolf opens its jaws. His glow brightens, making me narrow my eyes to protect them, and I tighten my hold on the collar, focused on the creature keeping my man hostage. I’m about to jump off the kelpie’s back when the Sunwolf lets out a growl. Octo steps aside, then bucks, and I shoot out of the saddle before I get to make a controlled leap. The brilliant, rainbow glow of sunlight shining through water spins around me as I fly through the air, unable to confirm where the ground is anymore.
Colliding with the stones is a painful affair, and I grunt when something in my recently injured shoulder moves, blinding me with pain.
Yet I get to my feet. I try to work out where I am when the Sunwolf comes at me. His massive jaws filled with sharp teeth open… and close on my leg.
I scream out when pain rips through me like lightning, but I barely have time to process the torment when he pulls me up in the air as if I’m merely a plaything. And even though my bones are getting crushed like twigs and hot blood splashes my face when he swings me from side to side, all I can think of is that I’m close to where I need to be.
“Hawk! Please! It’s me!” I yell, half-gone with the agony in my leg.
I will die here. That thought hits me when I sense my shadow dissolving on his tongue. The only reason I’m still alive is because he wants my shadow first.
So I give it to him. All I want is to hold him one last time.
Panting, I grab the hard edge of his skull head and look into the void of his eyes. My stomach muscles burn, and my crushed leg is numb, but I grasp the connection between us, so strong and alive despite shadow being drained out of me along with blood.
I let him feel my heartbeat.
“My love,” I choke out and stroke the golden bone. “Let me do this for you. Let me give you the safety you wanted.”
A soft grunt comes out from deep in the Sunwolf’s chest, and I’m lowered to the moss. The beast lets go, then pushes its bloodstained muzzle under my tunic, pushing up the fabric. Hot air dances against my skin as he smells me, and I float in the shimmery blur where everything has soft edges. The pain is gone, and all I feel is warmth so intense I wish to strip my clothes.
My eyes are about to close when I realize the Sunwolf’s throat is right above me, so I open the Umlaris Band and push it up, into the thick coat. Each inch forward is like a separate battle, but I know I can do it, and when the dark collar locks with a soft click, I can finally rest.
Chapter 42
Hawk
Dreams have always escaped my grasp, dispersing the moment I woke up, but as I curled up in the dungeon, trying to forget that I might stay there forever, dense waves of fantastical images carried me away from the shores of consciousness and straight into the depths.
There was no regret there, nor pain, just cozy warmth that brought me back to my childhood and the delicious Summer mornings in the woods. I used to stretch in the moss, pick fresh berries straight from the bushes, and enjoy the sun on my skin, half asleep and content.
Going back to that state is like coming home.
Time does not matter.
I have no obligations beyond staying put so I don’t endanger anyone.
My consciousness drifts on the surface of the calmest of oceans.
Then, in a flash, an icy stream washes over me, taking my breath, and carries me away from the nothingness in the middle of the ocean, back toward the beach of sharp rocks. It’s going too fast. I see the pink clouds above turn an angry red shade, and lightning tears the sky in half as blood rain falls, splashing my cheeks and filling my open mouth.
As the wave clashes with the shore and sharp gravel tears into my skin, the dream fades, gone like an old memory.
I taste blood and iron.
Sylvan is stroking the sides of my head. Oh, I would recognize his touch anywhere.
Has he returned to me?
No. He shouldn’t have. He promised. I must still be dreaming.
“Let go of him!” A female voice yells.