Page 136 of Forged Bonds

Kylan’s wound had healed instantly, but irritated him immensely. Pale skin was exposed where the blade had cut his clothing, and his expression was twisted into a scowl.

I threw another knife.

He dodged again, then came for us.

The next few seconds happened faster than I could register. Oswald jumped in front of Nolan and I, throwing up one of the shields he’d always been able to use as my familiar and had retained access to in his original form. Nolan zipped around the barrier to face Kylan head on, their weapons clanging together as dust whipped up into a swirling mass. I was standing at the ready with my attention focused on my mates, which turned out to be a mistake.

Blinding pain shot through my back.

I choked down a scream, not wanting to distract Nolan from his fight with our main enemy, but it didn’t help.

I’d been stabbed.

Both my mates turned to look at me in horror, feeling the moment I was injured. When their eyes widened with shock I hazily turned around, blood dripping down my back as the blade was withdrawn by its owner.

Expecting to see a guard who’d managed to get past the other team’s stiff defences, my eyes widened when I saw the man who was supposed to be my trump card.

Grey.

FORTY

Caspian

Shan’s gaze was hollow as he stared down at me, his normally tan skin sallow and dry, the black ink of his tattoos stark against it. His long hair was oily and unkempt, pieces hanging out from his bun. Had he been any other race than angel, my mate would be on the brink of death. As an angel, this still wouldn’t be pleasant.

And I was doing it to him.

I’d stolen so much energy during our days in this cell. He looked like a husk of himself.

Yet, I took more.

His cock was in my mouth, hard only because I’d used my charms on him to make it so. I sucked messily, watching his expression to ensure he didn’t pass out. When he came, I’d get another hit of energy to feed the beast.

One more hit wasn’t going to be enough.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I resigned myself to the inevitable. Shan didn’t have enough energy left in his body to satiate me. Not after they’d had me kill four people back-to-back. When I’d last done that, I’d been tossed in the cell with Freya and I’d nearly drained her dry.

Freya had been at full strength then.

Shan wasn’t, because our captors had already done this before.

The first time I’d killed one person, then been sent back to Shan. The second, two. This time, they’d upped it to four. A day’s rest in between bringing me back from the brink wasn’t long enough, especially not when he was shackled and kept in the cold.

I forced an orgasm from him with a shot of my incubus magic and swallowed him down. Then I sat up and tucked his cock back in his pants.

“You need more,” Shan insisted, shifting his legs to bring them closer to me even as I moved away.

“There’s no use. All I’m doing is hurting you,” I mumbled.

I leaned against a wall far from him with my arms crossed over my chest, avoiding eye contact. What I couldn’t avoid was our bond and his incessant concern. The constant love. How did I deserve that when I was causing him harm out of my desperate need to avoid my own nature?

“Love, I know you don’t want to be lost to your beast again,” he said.

His voice was a low croak, parched from lack of water.

“This won’t fix it. I don’t want to kill people, but I don’t want to pointlessly hurt you either,” I said.

Rubbing my dirty wrist across my eyes, I sniffled. Shan’s gaze heated me like a spotlight, but I pretended I didn’t notice. “Come here, my heart,” he murmured, so quietly anyone listening in wouldn’t be able to hear.

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