Chapter Fifteen
T he shuffling gets louder and is soon followed by a shit ton of other noises.
Ranging from battle cries to screams of pain.
The glorious crunching sound of several bones breaking.
The delicious hiss of a fireball meeting its target.
All with the undertone of a rumble of thunder.
It’s a beautiful symphony, and I smile wickedly at the knowledge that my mate is such a fierce force of nature.
My wrist throbs more, and I’m fighting against my body’s urge to give in to darkness again. Pushing through the fogginess of my mind, I focus only on the sounds from outside. The rain has stopped now, and I have to wonder if that was also brought on by Forsythia. The sounds get louder, and I know that the fight has moved closer to the cave entrance.
The sounds reach their crescendo, and then a deafening silence descends on the battle almost instantly. A strange rumble comes from the ground, followed by more nothing. I hold my breath in anticipation.
Anxiousness starts to overwhelm me when the light at the doorway to the cave we have been living in is shadowed by a figure. The pull tugs so strongly against my chest that a smile engulfs my entire face, and my heart beats so wildly I fear it might burst. They step forward, and I can finally see the features of…
Well, who the fuck is that?
He has to be the biggest fucking dude I have seen in my entire life. He continues to walk toward me in an almost comically elegant way for his sheer size. He has to be at least seven feet tall, with light brown hair that reaches his shoulders. He stops in front of me and grimaces before leaning down close to my face.
That’s when I notice his eyes.
I have a knack for categorizing different beings, and I know those copper-red eyes belong to a fae. If they were a brighter red, I would know he was an Imp. But that color is not quite like any I can recall.
He reaches down to my face and begins to examine me, checking my pupils and my pulse. I want to recoil, but I just don’t have the strength. He grunts a few times as he checks me over, but he doesn’t get far in the assessment before I hear footsteps racing towards us.
Forsythia barely makes it ten feet away before she comes to an abrupt stop and screams, “Oh Gods, no!!” Before she covers her mouth with both hands.
Wow…
Several nights, I had thought about how badly I wanted to hear her scream for me. My name is the top choice, of course, followed closely by ‘ harder Daddy’ . That all led to very uncomfortable mornings. But this is definitely not the tone she had in those dreams.
Nope. Not even close.
Instead of the bliss and desire from my fantasies, her voice is laced with agony and disgust. Her entrancing golden eyes, which I have dreamed of looking at me with pure love and yearning, reflect only shock and horror.
I know how it looks.
I won’t be the same as before, and maybe that is the core of the problem she is battling internally now. I drop my gaze to the ground. I don’t need to see the rejection on her face. She no longer wants me.
How could she? I will always be less now.
Suddenly I wish that that piece of shit Hudson would have just killed me. Then I would be spared the look of pity from a giant stranger and the strangled sounds of disgust and tears coming from my mate. Spared from the pain in my heart as it shatters much like the rest of my body.
Slowing my breathing, I stop fighting against the darkness and let it pull me under once more.
What a fucking pleasant rescue this turned out to be.