Page 55 of The King is Dead
There was a strange clap in the air and Melek’s face twisted in pain. He writhed, but pulled me tighter against him, shaking his head and roaring at that thing.
The darkness that had flickered in the corner pulled in around us, even from the moonlit windows.
“What—” I couldn’t finish the question, because my lungs froze.
Melek was already holding me to his side, but when my chest stopped, he growled and yanked me in front of him, wrapping his arms around me and writhing, as if something attacked him, trying to reach me.
“No…fucking no.”
The bond shrieked, thenmychest screamed in pain—as if talons dragged along the cord that bound us together, fraying it and—
I convulsed, and Melek roared. “Yilan!”
He curled around me as we were thrown off our feet. Melek took the impact on his shoulder and rolled, still snarling defiance and hoarsely calling my name as we came up hard against the wall. He grunted, but held me even tighter, tucking my head into his chest and snarling at the dark.
And then I was gasping, clinging, scrabbling because that darkpullingwas back, the one that had come for us the first time we mated—a spiraling, rushing power that stretched my ribs and threatened to suffocate me.
My body twitched and flailed, out of control. Melek’s arms around me felt like red-hot bars, searing my skin and I instinctively tried to pry his hands from me. But he wouldn’t release me—snarling and growling, both of us writhing.
“Mine,” he growled, tucking me tighter against him, burying his face in my neck from behind and curling me into the hollow of his body. “I said no! She ismine!”
The darkness sucked closer and between the pain and tightness in my chest, I couldn’t breathe again.
There was a terribletuggingin my skin, as if clawed hands attempted to pull me from his grip. Melek must have felt it too, because even though I could still feel the pain rocking through him, his grip on me never wavered, and when we coiled together like fighting snakes, his hoarse bellows screamed defiance.
Last time this happened he told me that Lucifer himself didn’t want us together. I’d been baffled, but lost sight of that puzzle in the greater conflicts of everything that had happened since.
But now, body screaming in pain and lack of air, it hit me what Melek had meant when he named the man in the windowFallen.
Fallen angel.
Lucifer?
Holy sh—
With a snarl of my own, I turned in Melek’s grip and threw my arms around his neck. “No…No!”seethed through gritted teeth.No!
Melek still growled, still twitched, continued to spit denials at this oppressive shadow. But something happened when I joined him—the bond hummed and swelled, the light from within expanding—and suddenly I could breathe again.
“What is it? What’s happening?” I gasped, holding even tighter to him, but still fighting against thisforcethat sought to tear me out of his arms.
“Just… resist,” he growled. “Don’t give in.Resist.”
And so, we resisted together. Both of us holding each other tightly, our bodies pummeled and torn, clawed and sickened. But as Melek forced me to the ground, to all fours, and put himself over me, his hands gripping mine, his body flinching and jerking, as he bellowed into the dark, and I shook my head and held him… slowly the sensation eased.
The invisible claws plucked out of my skin one by one, tearing as they dragged away like a cat pulled off of me.
The rush in the air and screaming in the bond, my pulse thrumming, it all stole my senses. But I felt Melek’s jaw move as if he spoke, felt the air of his breath flutter in my hair. And then… finally… the sensation faded like steam in the air. There one moment, gone the next.
We were left panting, Melek curled over me, holding me, covering me.
I could breathe again, thank God. My body shook like a leaf.
I blinked and breathed, looking frantically for that flickering shadow… but it was gone.
The room was a normal, midnight dark and still. The moonlight bright in the windows.
Melek groaned and staggered to his feet, still keeping one hand on me as he stood, turning slowly, braced for another fight.
