Chapter 46
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Knox
Briar’s lips pressed so tightly together that lines etched the corners of her mouth. Her skin was far paler than normal, and I recognized the feverish gleam in her eyes from my time in the harem.
My stomach revolted at the sight of it as she bit her bottom lip. Blood trickled from her mouth, down her chin, and dripped onto the floor.
The beast stirred within me as it protested her blood and anguish. No mate could stand to see their loved one in such a position, and the beast didn’t like this.
We’d always worked together, but now we were on opposite sides… the beast versus the man. The beast wanted its mate, and the man sought answers. The man would prevail.
“You are one of them, Briar, and you can help us to be free. Tell me how to break the curse,” I said.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
Rising from the chair, I walked over to stand before her. She lifted her head a little as more blood trickled from her brutalized lip.
With my thumb, I wiped the blood away before brushing it onto my pants. When she licked her lips, my erection jumped. Orange fur broke out across the backs of my hands as my knuckles cracked. My toes lengthened, and the nails extended until they sliced through the tips of my boots.
Control yourself.
It was the best advice I’d given myself so far, but instead, I skimmed my knuckles down her cheek. She turned into my touch before twisting her head away.
“NO!” she shouted. “Don’t touch me!”
She shuddered as she leaned away, stretching her arms as far as they’d go. I lowered my hand to my side.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “I can’t.”
Her breath came faster as her damp hair fell forward to shield her face. I stepped back to examine her while she leaned into the chains.
“You must know something,” I stated.
When she lifted her head to look at me again, that fevered look had dilated her pupils until they almost took up her entire eyes. I’d seen many other casters with that same look in their eyes. Bile surged up my throat at the memory. I hated those monsters, and I hated her.
“I don’t,” she moaned. “My mother despises me. She never tells me anything. You know that… or at least Seth did.”
That is what she told me years ago, but it was probably a lie. Retreating to my chair again, I clasped my hands before me as I rested my elbows on my legs once more.
I studied her as her head drooped and she relaxed into the chains. I’d vowed never to become like the monsters who once caged me with their magic and their minds, but I wasn’t far above them right now.
However, I refused to let guilt get the best of me. She was the only hope I had for breaking this curse, and I refused to let it go.
While she was like this, she’d do anything to ease her suffering, and I had to use that to my advantage. At least, I wouldn’t take her against her will as was so often done to me.
When I leaned back in the chair and stretched my legs before me, her gaze fell to where my erection pushed against my pants. She licked her lips before jerking against the chains with a small whimper. Biting her lip, she closed her eyes as blood trickled from the wound she’d created.
“Do you want my cock, Briar?”
“No.” But when she opened her eyes, that fevered gleam remained in them.
“Do you remember what it felt like when we were together?” Rising from my chair, I walked closer to her. “How I’d kiss you from your lips to your breasts, to your belly, before settling my mouth between your legs. You were always so wet for me, so ready, so eager to come.”
She twitched against the chains as she whimpered. But she wasn’t the only one swept up in the memories of what was once the greatest joy of my life. She’d meant everything to me, and now she was nothing more than the enemy who could be the key to saving my kingdom.
However, I couldn’t deny the memories were enflaming the beast’s desire for her. I reached out to trail my fingers down her again, but stopped centimeters from her tantalizing skin. The heat of her beat against my knuckles; she was a delicious temptation more damning than the fires of hell.
With steely determination, I lowered my hand and retreated to the chair. When I sat this time, I gripped the chair’s arms.
Unable to stop it from happening, the bones in my hands cracked as they shifted, and my claws lengthened. The beast wrangled for control, and while I’d gladly given it to him in the harem, I refused to relinquish it now.
“How did your mother know about us?” I inquired.
The blood trickling from her mouth dripped off her chin and landed on the ground with a plop. “I don’t know. I never told her or anyone else anything.”
“Did you keep a journal?”
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, some of the fevered gleam had left them. When she focused on me, I saw something more than desperation in her beautiful, sea green eyes.
“I never kept a journal, and even if I did, I’d never be so stupid as to write anything about us down,” she said.
While a part of me truly wanted to believe her, I didn’t see how her mother could have known unless Briar told her.
Could someone have followed her into the tunnels without me knowing?
But that wasn’t possible. We were both always so careful, and I’d triple-checked to ensure no one was near her when she entered the tunnels. I’d stand in the shadows and wait until I was sure no one followed her before retreating to our spot.
There was never anyone there. Not to mention, her mother knew details from not just the day they took me, but from other days before then. She’d revealed different pieces of the puzzle we’d created for our escape.
I clasped my hands before me and gazed at the orange fur covering me up to my elbows. There was no way Briar didn’t betray me.