Page 77 of The Stone Curse
An image filled my mind of thick crimson fluid, and my mouth flooded with saliva.
I bolted up in bed, chest heaving, and licked my lips. “No…”
“Mirrowind said?—”
“I know what she said but no. I’m fine. I just…I need to sleep.”
Derek looked like he wanted to argue but thought better of it and nodded. “Sleep, and I will watch over you.”
My vision blurred. “It’s been a while since you did that.”
“It’s been a while since you needed it, but my Cameron, I am always here for you if you need me.”
“I know.” I turned on my side to face him, and he stroked my hair.
“Close your eyes. You are safe. You are home.”
Serath waitsfor me by the lake, and I run into his arms, pressing myself to his chest as he holds me tight.
“Cameron, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing now that I’m here with you.” I don’t want to talk about the outside world. I don’t want to waste the precious time we have here with my doubts and concerns.
He strokes my hair, and I allow my body a reprieve, a moment to simply be and forget about the weight of tasks that wait for me outside this haven.
“Cameron, look at me,” he says.
I reluctantly tip my head back, gaze grazing his jaw and roving over his beautifully brutal features. “I wish I could stay here with you.”
He cups my face, callused fingers grazing my cheeks as his gaze darkens with concern. “What’s happening out there? Tell me.”
I can’t hide from him. Can never mask my true emotions, so I don’t try. Instead, I turn my head to kiss his palm and give him half the truth. “Nothing. Really. It’s the night before the trial,and I’m nervous is all. But then…then I’ll be coming for you.” The corner of his eyes tighten, and my stomach dips. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
His lips brush my forehead, hands sliding down to my shoulders and resting there. “Nothing. Just the thought of you walking into danger. The fact that you must save me.” His mouth turned down in disgust. “It makes me sick to know that I can’t protect my mate.”
“We protect each other, Serath, and?—”
He breaks eye contact to look over my head, his body tensing.
“What is it?” I try to turn to track his gaze, but he quickly cups my face and crushes his mouth to mine.
Sparks ignite inside me, embers rising from the pit of my belly to fill my chest. I breathe him in, infected by his urgency, and the need to be beneath his skin, to be one overwhelms me.
He breaks the kiss roughly, breathing raggedly, eyes dark filled with a tumult of emotions as they meet mine. “I love you, Cameron. Not because you’re my mate, but because you’re you. Always, unabashedly you.”
I blink back tears because this feels wrong. This feels like goodbye. “I love you too, so fucking much.”
His throat bobs. “Enough to let me go, if it comes to that?”
“I know we can’t be together out there. I know one of us will have to leave, and I’ve made peace with that.”
“No, Cameron, that’s not what I’m referring to.”
Wait, what was he… “No…”
He exhales against my lips. “I need you to promise. If I fail to hold on to my body, if they succeed in tearing me from it, if I become one of them, then you’ll end me. Promise me.”
First Lionel then him…I don’t want to think about this. “You’re not going to fail. You can hold on. I know you can. This place will keep you safe, and I’ll find you. I’ll stop whatever they’re doing to you, and we will fix you.”
