Page 71 of Prisoner of the Lycan Prince

“I want every drop of honey, sweetheart. Say yes.”

“Yes,” I said, my voice a whisper of sound. I clenched my teeth against a sudden chill that racked my bones.

Across the warehouse, foam flecked Einar’s lips. He roared and slashed his claws at everyone who tried to get close to him.

I had to reach him. Cold crept through me, but I continued to crawl, grabbing at the floor and propelling myself forward. Spots danced in my vision.

Einar. I tried to say it, but my lips were numb.

He whirled toward me. And he stopped, his chest heaving. Raw flesh glistened between his exposed ribs. Chunks of fur sprouted across his body in patches, giving him the look of a dog with mange.

Pain seared me, but I kept crawling. After another second, I couldn’t feel my legs. I had to reach him. I drew a deep breath.

“Einar!” My voice echoed in my ears, the syllables of his name rippling. “Come back to me.”

Einar stared. His brow furrowed. Slowly, the madness left his eyes. In a blur of bone and flesh, he transformed. Suddenly, a buff-colored lycan stood before me, its golden eyes burning with intelligence. In another blur, Einar shifted to two legs. Nude, he rushed to me, collapsing on the ground and gathering me in his arms.

“Harper,” he rasped, tears sheening his eyes. He held a shaking hand over my neck. “I…oh gods.”

As the strength drained from my body, I reached up, just managing to brush my fingertips over his cheek. “Your eyes…” I whispered. “I like…the silver…best.”

He grabbed my hand and kissed my fingertips. His tears splashed on my face, but I didn’t feel them land.

“Harper,” he said. “I love you.”

I smiled even as the cold crept to my chest. “I love you, too.” The cold reached my neck. Shadows clustered at the edges of my vision.

“Stay with me,” Einar said, his tears falling faster. “You have to stay.”

So cold. My teeth should have chattered. Instead, a curious sort of peace floated through me. Einar’s face grew blurry. Sounds faded. I’d read somewhere that hearing was the last sense to go.

As the shadows took over, I drew one last breath. Because I had something important to say. I had to make sure Einar heard me.

“It was never the centaurs,” I said. “It was you.”

Chapter

Twenty-Three

EINAR

Harper’s eyes drifted shut. Blood stopped pumping from her ruined neck. Her body was cold. She was gone. She was fucking gone.

“No!” I cried, my throat aching. I gathered Harper to me, burying my face in her hair. “Gods, no.”

The warehouse was still, everyone silent around me. Tears stung my eyes, and pain lodged in my chest. Was this what a broken heart felt like? Wherever Harper was going, I wanted to go too. I’d just found her, and now she’d been ripped away from me.

No. Fuck no. I wouldn’t allow it.

I lifted my head. Blinking away tears, I spotted Adina in the crowd.

“Make a potion,” I ordered. “You have to save her.”

Adina moved forward, her expression stricken. “I know of no such potion, Prince Einar. Harper was bitten by a werewolf. Human females so rarely make the turn. And…Harper is already gone. If there’s a potion to bring her back, I’ve never heard of it.”

The ache in my chest intensified. Once again, helplessness gripped me. “What am I going to do?” I asked, unsure if I asked Adina or the crowd in general. Or maybe I asked myself. Not the gods, surely. They’d never answered my pleas before.

No, they’d cursed me. Punished me. Maybe that’s what this was. I’d evaded their judgment once, escaping lycan society with my life after I took someone else’s. Using my position and my brother’s money, I’d fled across the country and built a prison I could tolerate.

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