Page 78 of The King's Man
I cried out as that space behind my ribsblisteredwith pain. I grabbed for my chest and Jann cursed and rushed towards me, but I pushed away from him, hands up, hissing at him to stay back, and he stumbled to a halt again, his eyes pleading.
Panic coursed through me and my cursed tongue spoke without thought beyond what it would take to make himleave.
“You arenotmy mate,” I hissed, then sucked in sharply as the pain crackled through my chest and out to my limbs, so intense, I lost my grip on the Shadows and couldn’t disappear for a breath.
“Diadre—”
Praying for mercy, I grabbed at the shadows, shifted, and disappeared—grabbing my chest again when Jann made a pained noise behind me—running for my life. But fifty feet away, still shrouded in Shadow, I stumbled to a halt, swallowing back a cry against the pain.
It was as if he’d tied a rope to my heart, and now that I ran, he’d wrapped it around his thick forearms and planted his feet, determined to pull me back and bring me to my knees.
He dragged at me.
Mate.
Clawed at me.
He was my mate!
Merely by existing, he tormentedme.
The sheer effort to turn away and move in the opposite direction was so intense, I could only walk. But it didn’t matter because even if he couldn’t see me, I could see him.
Jann had dropped to all fours, those massive shoulders shuddering, fingers clawed into the dirt. And as I pushed myself away from him, he threw back his head and roared his pain so that it shook the trees—and that space in my chest. That empty, hollow, suckingholethat I’d never had before I met him. Never. Even at my most lonely, I hadneverfelt incomplete without a man.
He did that to me.
It wasn’t fair.
It wasn’t. Fucking. Fair.
29.Alpha Male Bullshit
~ JANN ~
When she disappeared I tried to follow, but I tripped and fell, and the pain my chest was so consuming, for a moment I thought my heart might actually give out.
I could feel her slowly, but surely moving away. And it devastated me.
I tried to call after her, but my voice was breathy and weak, the pain making me shake. I sat heavily and rubbed at my chest where the bond thrummed and squeezed.
Panic wanted to steal my mind, but I made myself focus.
As I’d suspected, she was heading for her brother.
The man would want me dead when she told him. But I could face that kind of challenge. The problem I couldn’t solve washer.I needed her like breathing. I had to find a way to make herlisten.
I pushed to my feet and stumbled forward, but it was difficultto breathe. My ribs creaked and the pain of the torn bond grew.
It was half a day’s travel to Jhonas through these fucking mists that already boiled and shifted around me. If I could survive to get close enough to the Shadekin camp, I’d be safe from the mists, but they might shoot me in my tracks before I could explain…
But what choice did I have? I couldn’t let her abandon me—couldn’t let her return to Theynor without me. I had to follow.
My throat burned almost as badly as my chest. My lips were dry and cracked from panting. I was a fit man, but I didn’t make a habit of running for hours on end. There was a reason I had messengers and runners. My body was honed as a weapon. I could battle for hours. But running? Propelling my bulk across the earth in the heat of the day? That took its toll.
I muttered to myself, trying to turn my mind from the pain in my chest to what words I could use to warn the Shadekin when I drew near that might stop them loosing arrows the moment they saw me, when something brushed the back of my neck.
I squealed like a pig, dropped and rolled, coming back up to my feet, panting, heart racing so fast my skin throbbed.
