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I roar, crazed, the word possessive, echoin’ in the clearin’, an’ wit’ one final surge o’ raw, animalistic strength,I rip ’is head from ’is shoulders, blood rainin’ down,spatterin’ the earth, ’is body twitchin’ once befer it stills.

“AWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”I howl like a bullhorn in the forest.

I barely register the crowd o’ alphas, betas, an’ hunters frozen at the edges o’ sum line, eyes wide with horror as blood spatters the ground. Their cheers ’ave died to a stunned silence as t’ey watch me.I’ll kill ’em next… but first…

I take a step toward me prize, lickin’ me lip as she scooches toward me, strugglin’ tu break free o’ chains

Murdoch! Snap out of it! It’s me!

I growl, ’eavy footsteps inchin’ closer tu ’er…hungry….

’er green eyes burn, fixed on me.

Murdoch,she whispers.Murdoch… look at me.But the beast would’na relent. I take a step toward ’er, breath ragged, body tremblin’ under the weight o’ bloodlust. The crowd around us deathly still. No one dares move tu intervene, afraid o’ me wrath fallin’ upon ’em.

Emerald

Murdoch.

My Alpha… but not as I’ve ever seen him.

Just soaked in blood, across his chest, dripping from his claws, smeared in streaks across his face.Carnage…

His eyes… red, but they might as well be black.Bottomless. Unalive…

Please, my Alpha…I speak into his mind through our bond, but I feel it’s hazy and barely holding on. I cry, fighting the cuffs, trying to stomp my fear down, but I’d seen him tear through his own brother like parchment without a care…

It wasn’t a fight.

It wasn’t even rage.

Suddenly, the hazy memories of what he’d done to those Alphas in the forest flickers through my mind, sending fear gripping my chest.It was apurge…

His chest rises and falls with unnatural force as hewatches me.He stalks me like prey, not the mate he’s bound to him with love. In those eyes, I mean nothing to him…I’m but a thing he wants to claim…

He snarls, and I flinch, getting to a rock and slamming my hand against it, not caring if I need to sever them. I need to stop him before he does something he’ll regret… he’ll die if he hurts me…

I need to stop him because those eyes…they don’t recognize me.

His claws flex. His lip curls as he takes one last step toward me, and I feel the bond strain like a thin, flimsy hair struggling against the madness of the Banes Root.

Snap.

He snatches me up, his blood-red eyes empty, teeth bare as he squeezes my throat. I whimper, but don’t scream… I don’t beg. I just I reach for him, cuff be damned, cupping his cheek.

Murdoch. It’s me.I’m here.

Uncaring if I die… if it’s at hands, it’s a worthy death… but still, I don’t want him to hurt, and the thought alone sends power surging from my chest toourbond, raw and wide open. I don’t speak into his ears.I speak to hissoul.

I’m safe. Come back. Come back to me.

He freezes, and his body trembles, claws twitching against my neck, breathing fractured.

I’m yours. Emerald. Your Omega. Your mate. COME BACK!

I watch his body jolt as his grips goes slack on my neck. I slip from his hands and fall, clutching my neck, coughing as he drops to his knees. Hard.Like his body gives out.

“AAAAAWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”he howls.