Page 48 of Heart of Dawn
“Why are you alive?” he questioned, disappointment in his tone. “You must have a hundred angels on your back.”
“Fuck you,” I retaliated.
He spat bloodied saliva at me. “Come on, Miko. Spill those beans. How did you get away so easily?” His eyes darted briefly to Daria. “Ah. You had help. I knew you couldn’t do it alone.” He dabbed at his nose, patting the side of his mouth. “You really hurt me.”
“Good.”
Lance smirked, his blue eyes sparkling with some deadly, unknown secret.
Great.
“Oh, Miko. Look at you being all brave and gallant. Well, maybe not gallant. That’s giving you too much credit. Desperate would be more appropriate.” He spat more blood in my direction, showing off fresh gaps in his teeth. “Do you miss yourfae mate?” The prick spoke in a whiny tone. “Have you cried? Have you rocked in some corner, pining for the redhead, cursing my name, cursing Dawn, droning on about how life is cruel and unfair to bring you together just to tear you apart?” He groaned and gagged. “Sickening. But then you’ve always made me sick. One of the biggest regrets of my life is taking you to bed. You’re nothing but lower-class trash who never deserved that crown on his head. Definitely unworthy of my touch.”
As much as I didn’t want his words to cut deep, they did. Because I shouldn’t be alive, let alone an alpha. I was supposed to be dead at three years old, but I got a second chance at the expense of the world.
Fuck. Guilt bore down on me. I actually staggered slightly under its intensity. Dark thoughts trundled into my mind like rain clouds, releasing a bitter deluge. Every icy droplet came with a bite, a reminder of what I’d gained and what I’d lost. The deaths of my family, the undoing of this world, the threat against Faery. I tried clinging to the brightness of Orion, but my grip was slick.
I didn’t deserve to live. I didn’t deserve to have that special honey to replicate me.
No. Blood for blood it had to be. This blood pumping in my veins right now, not some copied version.
I have to go now. I have to forget about Ori. I have to?—
Beams of sunlight broke through the dense darkness of my inner world. Shafts of light on my face, reaching my heart, carrying the warmth of cherries and love.
Orion…
I would never give him up.
Damn it. I shut my bullshit down. Fuck being a martyr, fuck carrying guilt for a decision I didn’t make. Why should I let Lance’s words get to me like this, to make me question my hope?Orion counted on Wendy, and counted on me to make things work, to be in the future with him.
That’s the thing about guilt. It works in strange ways, sets landmines wherever you go. And it sent its roots to the deepest parts of my core. Always there, never letting go, never allowing me to be truly free.
But fuck those rain clouds. I wanted to live. I would deal with the guilt later, as long as I did it in the arms of my mate.
There. Deflectors up. Lance’s bullshit sent spinning off into space.
I smiled up at him, offering my best menacing grin. “Come down. Come play. Let’s finish this. Don’t be a coward.”
“Finish it?” he questioned irritably.
I folded my arms. “Yeah. Let’s tango.”
Lance hit a lot of points on the personality spectrum. One of his biggest traits, for better or worse, was his ability to surprise. Like his face changing, becoming feline, ears sticking up with tufty tips, his body quickly transforming into a silver-furred lynx.
Yeah. Surprise.
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” I mumbled up at the big cat. Bigger than a regular lynx, his massive paws hid claws deadly enough to make short work of anybody.
He might be a prick, but he was a dangerous one.
Right. So, we were going down this route, eh?
He hissed at me, his long whiskers twitching. A pair of blue eyes caught the fading moonlight, driving my heartrate up.
I shifted, clothes tearing open, my human body giving way to the big wolf of black fur. I shook, lifting my head to bay at the moon—a call I hoped my pack would also hear. Not to save me, but to find me later.
Lance dove from the branch, claws out. I failed to move in time and he landed on my back, crushing me to the ground. Tore into me with claws and teeth and wild fury.
