Page 68 of Savage Torment

I plant my hand on my chest, heaving in a breath as unshed tears settle in my eyes.

“That was… something else,” Tatum states, appearing at the side of me, and I fail to smile in acknowledgment.

“Imagine being the ones spoken about. Imagine loving someone for others to pass such judgment on. Not one thing he said was about how they had hurt anyone or shown signs of being a danger to their community. They just…” I sigh, shaking my head as I look down at the ground.

“They just loved each other,” Lincoln murmurs, completing my sentence as he joins us.

“They died for loving others outside of their factions,” Asher reiterates, driving the point home, and I feel like I’m going to be sick.

What would the people in there think of me?

Love? No, maybe, it can’t be, but I’ve made no effort to hide anything I’ve done for others to make judgment.

Defeated, I walk with my head down, eager to get back to the barn and figure out a way back from here. But I don’t get far before I hear the gentle sound of soft sobs coming from behind a large oak tree off to my right.

“It’s okay, Princess. It’s all going to be okay,” a man says, attempting to soothe a sobbing woman. She’s wrapped up in his arms, clinging to him like her life depends on it.

“I just want to love you, Jonah.”

My heart stills at the name on the woman’s lips and I freeze, allowing them to captivate me completely as the man leans back to brush a tendril of hair from her face.

“I know, Princess. We’ll figure this out. They can’t tear us apart, any of us, and the sooner they learn that, the better,” Jonah insists, his voice firm as, who I assume is Belladora, nods in acknowledgment.

“I would die for you. You know that, right?” she breathes, and I feel the weight of her words in my gut.

“That’s the only love I know, and it’s you, Princess,” Jonah promises, digging into his pocket to retrieve something small and shiny.

A coin.

“Jonah.”

“I’m going to love you in every lifetime, Belladora. This coin will forever be proof of it,” he promises, my heart soaring at their pain, but before I get a chance to truly comprehend the true weight of the coins we own, reality slips from between my fingers and everything fades away.

21

POLARIS

My bedroom reappears, and although I sag with relief to be back on familiar turf, I feel like a piece of me is still there, hurting, grieving the pain I could feel.

With my hand clutched against my chest, I stumble toward my bed, sitting with a sigh. I don’t look up from my feet, aware the guys are here with me, but I need a moment to compose myself.

“What the fuck was that?” Lincoln grunts, and I sense him starting to pace, but I’m still trying to gather my thoughts.

“That was…” Asher starts, but his words swiftly trail off when he realizes there’s no describing what that was.

“It was sad as fuck,” Wylder grunts, and I finally lift my gaze to nod in agreement.

“Heartbreaking,” I murmur, palm still pressed against my chest as my heart thunders wildly.

“There’s a lot to unpack,” Tatum adds, sitting beside me on the bed, and I nod again.

“It’s sad that their love, their pain, and their everything created such a powerful curse that continues to hurt so many afterward, yet we hardly discuss their names. They died because of love, cursed us for it as well, and most people here wouldn’teven recognize a single name,” I murmur, my chest tightening with the truth of his words.

“I’ll be sure to honor them when I kill my blood kin,” Lincoln replies with an eye roll, and I glare into the back of his head as he continues to pace.

Asshole.

“The coins,” Tatum starts, and I reluctantly pull my stare from the irritating Alpha. “Each coin seems to represent one of the men, symbolizing their love for their woman.”

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