Page 39 of What Whispers in the Dark
The entire forest trembled as she shrieked,Scream for me!
And he did.
By the stars, Garrik did.
From the depths of his gut, Garrik unleashed from the place where the bottomless tortured parts of him decayed. Where the shreds of his very soul were caught in a tangled labyrinth of pain.
A myriad of shame and guilt and every damning thing wound around him until it jerked taut and the chains stabbed into his lungs. He wretchedly screamed from his mind’s dungeon, hopeless toeverescape. Screamed as if the ripping and shredding of his throat’s roar would tear her memory away. Pleading—pleadingthis was the last time. Begging as he had done every night since he woke as himself again on the starsdamned ice mountain.
Over and over, the forest echoed with his screams. Over and over, his anguish spilled out as if reaching … as if reaching for something,anythingthat could save him?—
Tell me where you are!
The combustible agony inside his heart and soul detonated. Enough to demolish a starsdamned mountain, his shield weaponized.
It erupted in a city-leveling air wave, hoping to obliterate her as she fully manifested as a bloodlusted fae and straddled his thighs.
Garrik called to that stronghold of power deep in his mind again, searching for those plagued with magic. As if on the wings of a thousand winged creatures, he transcended and soared with that wave of destruction. Slamming into every bush, tree, and rock. Every glistening star and breath of wind.
Though he could not see them, he knew his eyes had succumbed to blackness as he watched—within his mind—trunks explode to dust and rocks shatter to fragments beneath him. Garrik scanned until his shield invaded the bounds of his Dragon’s camp. The glow manifested strong enough to illuminate the faces of his sentries trading shifts for the night.
And before his powers could demolish them, too…
He willed them back, leaving enough trees to illusion his desolation just beyond. Sweeping away on a careful breeze that disturbed their hair without the knowledge of his presence, his rage dissipated.
Yet his magic did not stop surging. He could not stop the search.
Garrik’s mind soared across the land, but his body was back at the tree. Withher.
Magic pushed him onward. Weaving through the firesites of his soldiers singing and dancing. Their joy and fervor pulled his attention from the female’s body. From her bloody hands roving up his chest.
Searching for a melody or a voice—thevoice—that he had clung to, he searched until sapphire eyes met him. Laughing with that beautiful smile he could watch until the end of his time.Unaware that he was there. That he wanted to stay and listen. To stay and listen and, just for a moment, feel safe.
Alora, his soul cried out.
But she wasn’t looking at him.
Her smile faded as something drew her attention to his empty tent. To the doors fluttering open and someone storming outside.
Then those pleading golden eyes snapped in his direction and took a step. Took a step as if his Guardian could see him standing there.
A tattooed hand reached out—reached toward him.Garrik?—
Pressure. Stars, there was pressure. A hand moving down … and her voice …I’m going to enjoy this …
“Thalon,” Garrik pleaded to those eyes full of brimstoned fury as the female’s hand brushed down the V of muscles that extended below his pants line. Popping his belt open, pulling it from the loops before she met the snaps and ties of his pants?—
Thalon… Thalon, please… Please.
Hold on, I’m coming!came his Guardian’s voice before swirling thunderclouds and branches of lightning burst into Garrik’s wavering vision. Seeing three—four—five silhouettes step from his Shadow Order’s firesite and through the swirling circle before it imploded behind them.
Then they were running.
Garrik choked out a breath as he felt her hand, what she was doing, how she began to stroke.They can’t see me like this. “Stop, K—”No.He refused to give her the pleasure of hearing him beg with her name. “S—stop.”
Steps scuffed the dirt. Over the rubble that he left the forest with.
Someone called out. Was calling him.
