Page 42 of Lifebound

“Steady…”

The man spoke.

My insides squeezed. His voice was hushed, not loud but not a whisper—like asecret.

And those eyes locked on mine again. “Don’t move.”

Yes, he’d found the exactly right spot between talking and whispering. If I wasn’t about to fucking die right now, I’d have been turned on. He sounded like sex.

And why was I so obsessed with how hesounded? I was about to fall off the back of a giant horse or get swallowed by these shadows that were everywhere around us or get eaten by beasts that looked like deformed monkeys—orget killed brutally by an abnormally gorgeous guy!

Breathe, breathe, breathe…

The man came closer, and he made to touch the horse, who moved us back a step and neighed again. My eyes squeezed shut then. I imagined him spinning around and jumping on his back and front hooves, trying to get me off.

“Steady, Aro,” said the man.

My heart stopped for a beat. He knew the horse’s name.

“Stop squeezing him. Try to get back on the saddle,” he said, and his voice was definitely the stuff of dreams—no way was he real.

“I…I can’t,” I choked out. Couldn’t he see how tense this horse was? He wasthisclose to trying to throw me off, and I had no more strength left in me to hold on, damn it!

“You have to. Easy,” he said, and he’d come even closer, both his hands on the sides of the horse’s face, close enough to me that I saw every line and every detail of his skin. Like this freckle just below the apple of his right cheek. And a long, faded cut on his jawline.

“He’s trying to throw me off,” I said, but an entirely new set of emotions was coming over me now and my muscles, against all odds, were starting to loosen up a bit.

“He’s just scared. He’s wounded.” The man held my eyes. “Slowly.”

It was a damn order.

I really,reallydidn’t like to be ordered around.

“Listen, mist—” I moved.

I sat up higher, pushed my hands against the horse’s neck, and I tried to steady myself, but it was too late.

The horsejumped.

He jumped, first on his front hooves, then his back ones, and he threw me in the fucking air like I weighed nothing.

The regret was automatic. Damn it, I should have held on. I should have kept my arms locked around his neck because look at me now—and I couldn’t even scream!

The horse moved forward. I fell.

With my eyes closed and my teeth gritted, I braced myself for impact. It all happened so fast that I didn’t even get to say a single prayer to not break my neck and die.

Instead, a split second later, arms were around me, and a body that could have been as strong as the ground. My neck didn’t break—the fall hadn’t been half as long as I’d thought because he’d caught me.

The stranger with the indigo eyes had caught me, and I had already wrapped my arms around his neck in pure instinct.

He was there and I was alive.

Every last bit of strength in my body gave up on me at the same second. I passed out before I could even think the wordsthank you.

fourteen

My eyes opened,but it took a few blinks until I was able to see anything.

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