Page 8

"You're hurting her," Garrett barked, suddenly there at the edge of the small clearing.He stood furious, naked, wild-eyed, clearly restraining himself from charging forward."Let her go."

Nikolai didn't even glance at him.His attention remained fixed entirely on me, his gaze studying my face with unsettling intensity.

"You would cage her," he whispered, still watching me."I would worship."

"She's not yours," Garrett growled, stepping forward, leaves crunching beneath his feet.

"She will be," Nikolai said softly."I plan to make her.All of ours the stars say."

I gasped, my body going stiff in his arms.His gaze didn't waver.It burned with something darker than mere desire, something ancient, patient, and terrifying.

"You belong to the curse," he murmured against my cheek, his lips barely brushing my skin, "but I...I belong to you."

Garrett stormed toward us, his voice rough with command."Let her go, Nikolai."

Nikolai didn't flinch."No."

That one word was soft.Quiet.But it cracked through the clearing like thunder, shocking everyone to stillness.

"You're scaring her," Garrett snarled, visibly struggling to keep himself calm though his fists clenched tight at his sides.

"She's already scared," Nikolai whispered, curling another length of his silvery tail around my thigh in a possessive caress.I couldn't stop myself as I finally moved, my hands going to his bare chest."Not of me...of what she wants."

Cassian emerged from the trees, leaves stuck in his tousled hair, no trace of his usual playful grin."Niko, come on.Don't do this."

"I already have," Nikolai replied."She ran.I followed.She fell.I caught.This is what fate does when it's finished playing polite.Hesitant I am not."

"Stop talking in riddles," Leif snapped from a low branch, perched there with eyes sharp and glowing in the dark, something birdlike in his movements despite his human form.

"She's the thread in the tangle.The center of the snare," Nikolai whispered, his lips brushing my temple with terrifying tenderness."I am the fangs in the dark...and I will not uncoil."

Garrett growled, taking another step forward."You're crossing a line."

Nikolai smiled then, slow and glacial as he pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes again."I was born on the other side of it."

Evander stepped forward cautiously, hands raised in a placating gesture."We all want to protect her, Nikolai.But this isn't the way."

"She doesn't need protection," Nikolai said, his grip tightening almost imperceptibly."She needs possession."

A shiver tore through me, not from fear, though there was certainly that, but from the terrible truth inside his words.They didn't just want me.They were already unraveling because of me.The realization was both horrifying and intoxicating.My thumb stroked his chest as I watched his reaction.It was barely perceptual as his eyelids closed a fraction, like he was reveling in the sensation.

Kade's voice cut through the night, cold as steel."Release her.Or I will make you."

Nikolai tilted his head, and for a moment I glimpsed it, the briefest flicker of serpentine glee in his inhuman eyes.

"You cannot unmake what has already begun."

Then he looked down at me again, eyes glowing with that unnatural light, voice so soft it barely stirred the air between us.

"You'll see.Soon.The bond is hungry.And I...am patient."

His coils shifted beneath me, muscles rippling like silk over stone as he adjusted his grip and pulled me tighter into his chest.He didn't release me.Didn't ask permission.Simply turned toward the cabin, carrying me with him, ignoring the growls and shouted warnings from the others as though they were merely the wind.

"They don't understand," he whispered, his lips brushing my ear with unsettling reverence."They see flesh and fear.But I see the thread inside your soul...coiling, coiling, coiling toward mine."

His voice was almost tender, but every word slithered through me.

"The forest chose you.The curse called you.But I...I claimed you first."