Embers of Lust (Wings of Ashes #2)

Prologue

The Past

Nix watched as the life faded from her fated mate’s eyes. He was the only man who knew her, down to her bones. The only man who would try to protect her from their torturer.

After being trapped for years in cages because of their rare shifter species, how was she supposed to go on without him?

Nix screamed and cried as she watched Persius bleed out, this time for the last time. She reached out from her cage, trying to touch his hand through his identical metal prison. “Please don’t leave me,” she begged him. “I love you. Please don’t leave me here alone.”

Alone with…him. The sick and twisted monster who tortured and performed experiments on Nix and Persius.

The last experiment had gone too far.

Persius coughed a small, splattered pool of blood. A crack sounded in his arm as he pushed with the last of his energy to move his now broken arm between two bars to reach her.

Persius and Nix’s fingers grazed each other’s. It was the most “touch” the two caged shifters had been able to revel in, after having only known each other when they awoke in cages two years ago.

“I wanted to protect you,” Nix cried. “I can get us out of here, I promise. Just hold on. I just need more time.”

Persius smiled sadly at her, blood dripping from his beautiful bow-shaped lips. With his last breath, he told her, “Find me in the next life, my love.”