What is she?
What happened to her?
Questions battered my skull like a raging tide, but nothing, absolutely nothing, could prepare me for the brutal reality when I finally reached her. The scent of that mouthwatering thread of honeysuckle and cedar was nearly drowned now under the putrid rot clinging to her frail body. I stopped just inches from her, my heart was hammering so loudly it drowned out the rest of the world. Our eyes locked once more, my warm brown to her piercing gray and in the next instant, she crumbled forward like a bag of brittle bones, collapsing straight into my arms. Naked.
A choked sound escaped me as I caught her, cradling her against my chest as gently as I could. I didn’t care about the grime, filth, or smell.
All I saw was her. And all I felt was the soul-deep certainty that she was mine.
Her long lashes brushed her sunken cheek, her hair hung in matted tangles down her back.
My throat burned with rage and guilt.
Where had she come from? Who did this to her? How long had she suffered while I was wasting time searching elsewhere?
The self-loathing gnawed at me.
I carried her carefully, and made my way back toward the main road where the car waited.
When I broke through the treeline, Lupercus was lounging lazily against the hood, and Joe stood nearby, shifting nervously from foot to foot.
The moment they saw me, both men straightened and immediately recoiled, their faces twisted in disgust as they instinctively plugged their noses.
“With all due respect… what the f*ck are you doing carrying a cadaver?” Lupercus blurted, recoiling further.
The words sliced through my already frayed temper.
I leveled him with a glare so lethal the night seemed to shudder around me.
“I dare you to repeat that,” I ground out.
Lupercus paled, immediately bowing his head in submission.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I didn’t mean…”
“It doesn’t matter what you meant,” I cut him off coldly. “Open the d*mn door. We’re leaving. My mate needs help.”
Without another word, he scrambled to obey, throwing the back door wide open.
I gently placed her onto the car seat, shielding her fragile form from the night air as best as I could. Peeling off my hoodie, I carefully draped it over her, tucking it around her like a protective cocoon.
Only when I was sure she was safe did I turn back to Joe.
The pathetic excuse of a man. I crossed the distance between us in two strides, grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him clean off the ground.
“Supreme Alpha, please…” he choked.
“Did you do this?,” I snarled, my voice vibrating with the fury barely contained inside my chest.
He trembled, and his eyes were wide with terror.
“You are lucky I don’t have the luxury of time tonight, pup,” I hissed, tightening my fingers ever so slightly, making him gasp. “But hear me well, Joe. This does not end here.”
I pulled him closer, until our noses almost touched.
“You will be summoned. You will be investigated. And if it turns out you had anything, anything, to do with her suffering…”
I leaned in, dropping my voice into a whisper cold enough to freeze hell itself.
“I will annihilate your family. I will make you kill your sweet little wife and your precious brats with your own trembling hands. And then, Joe… then… I will keep you alive, just so you can relive their screams for the rest of your miserable existence.”
With a roar, I hurled him across the clearing like a rag doll. He crashed into a tree with a sickening thud and crumpled to the ground, unmoving.
Without sparing him another glance, I turned, climbed into the backseat, and pulled her delicate head into my lap, to shield her from the jostling of the car.
Lupercus slammed the door and floored the gas, the tires screamed against the asphalt as we tore down the road back toward the palace.
I gently brushed a filthy lock of hair from her bruised forehead, cradling her broken body with all the tenderness I had never known I possessed.
NARINE’S POV
My eyes fluttered open, and my mind was sluggish and disoriented, expecting, out of habit, to be greeted by the same cracked ceiling I’d stared at every day of my miserable existence.
But instead… I found myself staring up at an intricate, breathtakingly opulent ceiling adorned with swirling designs and delicate carvings, kissed with faint golds and silvers that shimmered under soft lighting, gilded by the soft glow of a chandelier.
Confused, I blinked rapidly, my gaze darting around.
The bed beneath me was impossibly soft, like what I would imagine resting atop a cloud would be like. Sheer silk curtains, dyed a delicate blue, hung elegantly from the four corners of the massive bed, swaying gently with the breeze.
My fingers curled instinctively into the plush bedding, half-expecting it to disappear, like an illusion ready to shatter at the first touch.
Was I dead?
Was this heaven?
Or was it hell… dressed in beautiful lies?
The last thing I remembered was stumbling blindly out into the cool night air. After that… nothing.
I tried to move, but my limbs trembled violently with the effort. Slowly, painstakingly, I pushed myself into a sitting position. I paused, stared at the back of my palm and blinked in disbelief. They were pale, nearly translucent.
Gone was the caked grime, the bloody smudges, and the filth I’d worn like a second skin for years. Instead, I was dressed in a large, soft hoodie.
A raw, broken sound ripped from my throat like a garbled squeal, startling me even further.
It was the first real sound I had made in what felt like a lifetime. It scared the sh*t out of even me. My hands shook violently as I stared down at them, unrecognizable.
I pressed my trembling hand to my chest, feeling the rapid, rabbit-like pace of my heart.
What was happening? Was this real?
“You’re awake.” A deep soothing voice broke through my panic.
I flinched instinctively, snapping my gaze toward the sound.
I forgot how to breathe.
The owner of that ethereal voice was hands down the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen in my life. He stood towering at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed over a broad, muscular chest that strained slightly against a black fitted shirt. Our eyes met, and I was struck by the contrast between his doe brown eyes and the lush, dark lashes framing them, so long and thick they almost seemed painted. I let my gaze trail down his face. His nose was strong, with a slight, endearing bump at the bridge, adding character to a face that otherwise looked sculpted by the gods themselves.
And his skin… Oh god, his skin seemed to glow in the soft light, like he was dipped in caramel and came out flawlessly. My gaze fell to his thick, fully sculpted lips that looked almost too soft for a man built like him.
I stared, wide-eyed, utterly entranced. I locked eyes with him again. Messy, dark curls crowned his head, and some stubborn strands fell into his forehead in the most effortlessly handsome way imaginable, I wondered if it would feel as soft as it looked.
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