Page 107 of Savage Sacrifice
I wrap my arms around my middle, failing to keep the chill off my skin as I nod, but he doesn’t see. He’s staring at the ground, reluctant to look at me, refusing to let me look him in the eye.
Clearing my throat, I rock back on my heels, hating the distance he keeps insisting on. “I did.”
“They’re on their way?”
Tears prick my eyes as my hands clench. I want to run to his lap, I want to crawl inside of him and take the pain away. It’s clear to see, palpable in the room, and it hurts. I can’t imagine how much it’s ruining him too.
“They are. Are you sure about this?” I must have asked him a thousand times, but what’s one more?
“No, Polaris. I’m not sure of anything,” he rasps, keeping his head dipped so I can’t see his eyes.
All I want to do is lock in on his marbled green and blue eyes, but even if he were to lift his head back, I somehow know I wouldn’t see them. They’re gone. Black, venomous pools have replaced them.
But what cuts me more than anything is the chill to his voice as he says my name. I can’t bear it.
“What’s different?” I breathe, my back pressed against the cool stone wall behind me. As he shakes his head, the elongated nose of his mask moves with him.
“Nothing is different,” he insists, a lie we both know and feel deep in our souls.
“You never call me Polaris,” I rasp, my throat harsh as I try to swallow past the razor blades digging deeper into my soul.
“What else am I supposed to call you? That’s your name.”
I feel hollow inside, staring at the man before me as he flexes his hands, causing the chains to rattle and clang along the floor. They’re there because he insisted.
He hit the floor in his room with athud, ripping my heart from my chest as The Crow disappeared, and when he woke, he wasn’t the same.
Sure, he was calculated, protective, and obsessive, but in all the wrong ways.
Don’t come near me.
Don’t touch me.
Don’t trust me.
He snarled and raged at himself as he rose from the floor, mask secured permanently to his face, and against his will, he snapped the leather jacket off the floor and draped it over his shoulders before reaching for the daunting hat that completed The Crow’s look.
The Crow.
My crow.
If he’s The Crow, then who is the old crow now?
None of it makes sense. All I know is the pain and despair that now clings to the man I love.
My gaze rakes over the thick chains that are bound around his wrists and ankles, securing him to the wall in the basementof the wolves’ dorm. Apparently, the chains are here for when a wolf becomes unruly, and Asher believes he falls into that category now because he feels unpredictable.
That’s why I called Blaze first. It would take him longer to get here than my wolves. Regardless, we’re not going to be ready for this. Footsteps echo in the distance through the heavy door I’ve left slightly ajar, and I feel the tension ripple through Asher.
I don’t think, I just move. Hurrying toward him, I want to be by his side as he deals with all of this, offering him the silent support he’s always willingly given me, but the second I’m within a step of him, his head tilts back and he snarls.
“Stay. Back.”
I fall to my knees before him. Blinking at him through a watery lens, I keep my gaze locked on his. “Asher, please. You’re not the enemy. Stop treating yourself like you are,” I insist, and he shakes his head disapprovingly.
“Look at me, Polaris. Do you see what I see?” he snaps, his rage all-consuming.
I press my hand to my chest, willing my heart to calm down. “I know what I see, Asher, and I see you. I still seeyoubeneath all of this.”
