Page 99 of Death Warden
And then everyone freezes, except for the man in the circle. He turns to me with a shrug. “And then they tore my core power from me and trapped it in a statue. But my power was so strong it gave the statue life.”
This is Dralos. Of course it is, and the statue is… “Finley…”
“Yes. He belongs to me, Adi, just as your life belongs to me. It’s nothing personal. It’s a trade. And trades must be completed.”
He sounds so reasonable but there is madness in his eyes. “What are you?”
He grins and this time his mouth stretches much too wide, so wide that the corners stop just beneath his eyes.
I stumble away from him. “What are you?”
“Hungry!” He hurtles toward me.
“NO!”I surged out of sleep, kicking and gasping.
My arm hit something hard and then I was pinned to the bed by a lithe body. Warm breath kissed my neck and a soothing voice filled my ear. The cold, crisp scent registered last.
“Hush, you’re safe.”
I breathed Curo in and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I saw him. I saw Dralos. I remember the dreams. I remember them all now. We have to find Finley. We can’t let Dralos get hold of him.”
Curo looked down at me, eyes dark with emotions I couldn’t define. “We will. I promise. Tobias is working on a location spell. They pulled hairs off a shirt Finley wore.”
I relaxed, allowing my head to sink into the pillows, and scanned his face. The bruises were almost gone now. Still, I reached up to touch his cheekbone. “What happened.”
“Spectre.” He smiled wryly.
“What?” I tried to sit up, but he bundled me into his arms and rolled so I was tucked against him. “It’s fine. Guy stuff. We’re good.”
“Why did he hit you?”
“Because he knows that I…”
I locked gazes with him, and my mouth went dry. “That you what?”
“That I kissed you. That I wanted to do more than that. But he stopped when I told him I’m in love with you.”
My pulse sped up and my throat tightened as that feeling I’d been quelling for the past week swelled inside me. A few hours ago, I’d have stamped on the words. Held back, whatever, to try and make living here easy on everyone. To try and give the mate bond with Spectre a chance, but I was going to die, and I didn’t want to do it with regrets. I didn’t want to do it holding a lie in my heart.
“I love you too, Curo.”
Someone sucked in a breath and Curo stilled.
Awareness hit me a moment too late. I turned my head to find Spectre standing by the door.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR
My words echoed in my head, and from the look on Spectre’s face, they were echoing in his too. He must have entered in time to hear my declaration.
I waited for the guilt to hit me, but it never came. I loved Curo and I wasn’t ashamed to admit it. I needed Spectre to be okay with that.
“Hey.” I smiled at him. “You gonna join us.”
He closed his eyes and exhaled, then nodded. Curo’s tense body relaxed a little.
I shifted so that I could lie between them, smell them both, absorb their presence, and bathe in it while I still had the chance.
“You love him,” Spectre said, as if testing the words.
