Chapter 24 #2
We’re pulled across the floor another meter, and Bodi grunts. “Malik, sever it. Bite through it.”
I dig in my paws, not giving up any more ground, but not gaining either. “We don’t know what that will do to you. Don’t give up!”
Rian stumbles and falls to a knee but keeps his hold on Bodi’s magic.
Bodi shouts at him to let go, and Kat screams from inside the cage, blasting her magic ineffectually against the barrier.
Alexandros grunts and collapses on his side.
And then Amri grabs Rian’s strand of magic and leans back.
Her wolverine’s strength is something to behold as she wrenches a meter then two from Leonora’s grasp.
I spare a glance at Askari, afraid that Amri’s presence means he’s dead.
My heart melts with love for my clan as I watch four Leos with their hands pressed to Askari, giving him whatever magic they have left even as Leonora continues to drain everyone in the room.
I won’t let Leonora destroy us.
The four of us fight, slowly gaining ground, but not enough. I understand what my brothers said earlier about leaning on each other, but it’s up to me now. It’s always been up to me. Maybe my mother somehow knew, but I see what I have to do with perfect clarity.
I slip into my brothers’ minds. “I love you.”
They both shout. “Malik!” Bodi’s voice holds an angry warning while Rian’s is coated in fear.
I look at Amri. A determined grimace pulls at her blood-smeared face as she tugs and holds fast to Rian’s magic. She swallows, drawing my attention to her enforcer tattoo around her throat … a throat I want to bite and mark, lick, kiss and worship.
I push into her mind. “I want the chance to fall in love with you, little warrior.”
Her head whips around, her fierce eyes boring into mine. I expect her to try to stop me. I expect her to cry out like my brothers. But just one heartbeat later, she nods and turns her focus back on keeping Leonora from stealing all of Rian’s power.
I unclamp my jaws from around Bodi’s magic and with a lightning-fast thought, I disappear and reappear right in front of Leonora in midair.
She gasps in surprise as I punch my paws into her stomach and curl my claws into her flesh.
She drops half-a-meter, and I hold tight, sinking my fangs into her neck, my jaws clamping down around her chest and upper-back.
A few good shakes of my head and I could tear the whole left side of her upper body off.
But then her blood rushes into my mouth, and it’s filled with so much power, I get lightheaded.
The high of her magic pouring into me has my fur standing on end, and we crash to the floor with me on top.
I can both feel and see the combined power of Helios and Leonora flooding my body, and I glow brighter and brighter.
As I sink my teeth deeper into Leonora’s flesh, I clamp my claws tighter, assuming she’s going to try to force my shift back to human to get me off her.
Horror fills me as she wraps her arms around me, grips my fur, and pulls me closer with a moaned, “Yes.” My beast and I balk in panic and disgust, but I can’t let go.
My jaws are locked. Leonora digs her nails into my skin, pulling on my fur so hard, it pulls a growl of pain from me.
And then she whispers with a grin against my muzzle. “Yes, Malik. Mark me. Claim me.”
I roar, “No!”
Something tugs at my chest. The feeling is too familiar. I scramble back, trying to rip myself off of Leonora, but no matter how much I tug or shake my head, my teeth won’t release her. And then a tendril of her magic wraps around mine, weaving our souls together .
I roar my outrage. I will not be bound to this female. She’s not my mate.
The strands of our magic weave tighter, and I whimper into Amri’s mind while I still can. “I’m so sorry.”
Leonora’s strand of magic tugs on mine, and I feel our heartbeats syncing.
My body goes all floaty as she holds the back of my head to her neck.
She’s warm, and her embrace feels like home.
Leonora chuckles darkly, her breath tickling my ear, and I want to hear that sound again, filled with such wicked delight.
Somewhere in the distance, a great roar shakes the palace. Leonora stiffens under me, and I’m filled with the need to reassure her that I won’t let anything happen to her, but my beast growls at me where I’m sprawled out in his mind.
My panther growls again. “You’re high as fuck. Too much magic. Ours. Helios’. Leonora’s. Snap out of it! Fight this.”
I try to shake off the euphoria, and some of my earlier horror seeps back into my chest. What am I doing? I slowly force myself to think and not just feel, but my thoughts are forming too slowly.
A hand grabs the scruff of my neck, and another grabs the top of my snout ripping my jaws open.
I’m hauled off my goddess and tossed backwards.
I catch sight of the dark skin and rippling muscle of a broad back, slashed with tiger stripes.
I twist midair and land with feline grace several yards away.
Amri is next to me in a heartbeat, but shame fills me until it’s a physical ache that threatens to implode my chest. I can’t look at her, not with the threads of magic tying me to Leonora.
I vaguely process that the room is quiet.
Too quiet. But all I can focus on is my mate as her hand closes around the tightly woven threads binding my soul to my goddess.
Amri ducks her head, meeting my gaze with clear, beautiful ice-blue eyes.
“You don’t belong to her.” She clenches her fist, and with a hiss and snap of magic, the threads snap.
My beast switches places with me so quickly, it makes me dizzy as I find myself standing on two legs, staring down at Amri. I reach out, cup the back of her head, tug her against my body, and kiss her.
She is home for me. Not Leonora. Amri. Always Amri.