Page 51 of A Touch Of Death

I look around the room but find it empty. Where we'd left Novia on the bed is nothing but a creased duvet. Nix barges past me and walks straight to the closet, swinging the door so hard it almost breaks off the hinges. "She isn't here. Where is she?!"

Nix barges out of Novia's closet and stops in his tracks when he sees the open french doors. We all walk closer to the open doors, no doubt making an uncanny resemblance of the Sanderson Sisters, and peer outside as though that will suddenly make Novia appear.

I look around her room once more, and then focus on the tugging in my chest. The sensation is slowly growing in strength, which tells me that ourfae is moving further away from the house. I finally allow a spark of panic to flare up inside my chest.

"Spencer, how strong are the runes? Will you feel it if Novia leaves the perimeter?" I ask, unable to disguise my worry now that it's all I can feel with the knowledge of Novia being vulnerable to Davis without us and away from the protection of the runes.

The mage faces me with dread-ridden eyes and mutters, "Yeah. I should be able to feel it the moment she crosses over the-"

His sentence cuts off, but I don't need him to finish what he was about to say. I feel it, too. The moment she steps over the rune’s border, my chest feels like it constricts in on itself. Everything screams at me to chase after Novia, to bring her back where she'll be safe.

One look at the others proves she and the bond have had the same effect on them, though Nix looks a little worse for wear. He crashes to the floor, breathing heavily and clutching his arms to his stomach while he curls in on himself. A growl permeates the air, one that’s filled with as much pain as it is anger.

As soon as I'm able to breathe properly again without my chest feeling as though it's seconds away from caving in on itself, I speak. "Nix?"

He doesn't move from the floor for the longest minute. Another growl escapes him, and this one sounds predominantly more animal than the last. Doing the only thing I can think of, I slip into Nix's mind and find his normal thoughts missing. What's in their place is something I've never witnessed before. All thoughts are focused on Novia. A deep, instinctual layer surrounds his thoughts, and I quickly realise rational Nix is no longer in charge.

His animals have taken over. And we need to back away from him.Now.

Whispering into Spencer and Ezra's minds, I tell them to back away from Nix as slowly as they can manage while making as little noise as possible. They do as they’re told, slipping past him without incident. Coming to stand beside me, we create an unintentional barrier between Nix and the only way out of this room.

I take a steady step forward, making to speak to Nix, when suddenly his head snaps up. I'm quickly moving back a step when I see his eyes have changed from their usual deep blue. Instead, a set of yellow wolf-like irises stare back at me with an intensity that has the hairs on my arms standing on end. Long, piercing canines have dropped from his gums and poke his bottom lip, nicking his skin and drawing a drop of blood.

I lift my hands in a placating gesture, but it only agitates him further. His lips pull back in a vicious snarl, and in a heartbeat, Nix is standing. His large frame seems impossibly larger, tight with tension and restrained muscle. He looks more imposing than he ever has in all of the time I've known him.

Just as I think he's going to brace himself for an attack, his head tilts upwards, and he inhales deeply. A bestial growl leaves him this time, and when his head snaps back down, it's in the direction of the window.

With no warning at all, Nix bolts for the doors and, in a blink, is throwing himself over the balcony and shifting into his large white wolf form before he even hits the ground. My damn heart somersaults under my ribs as I watch him soar through the sky and land with a loud thump as his paws hit the soft grass below.

My heart thunders even more when I take a look into his mind and realise he's going after one thing and one thing only.

Novia.

Chapter 24

Nix

I tryto fight it, but my animals are too strong. They’re all clawing at me at once, sending pain rushing through my body. Pain like I’ve never felt before. They want out, but I won’t give up that easily. I’ve held on this long, even when realisation hit me that Novia had disappeared. They fought me then, and I won.

I fight it just as much as they fight me. I clutch my stomach, doing anything to keep my animals locked down inside of me, trying to keep them at bay. I need to think rationally, but my animals won’t let me. Instinct won’t let me.

I need Novia. And so do my animals.

I put up a good fight, but in the end,I lose.

My wolf takes over, crashing to the forefront of my mind, stronger than I’ve ever felt. The other animals are still pacing around restlessly, but it’s suddenly as though nothing in the world matters other than one person. All of his thoughts zero in on Novia. Thefae.

My mate.

Mate.

Where is she? Where is my mate? Why is she running? Who is she running from? I have to find her. I need to bring her home. Ineedto protect her.

Make her mine.

Mine.

MINE.

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