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“Tell. Me,” he grinds out, interrupting my plea.

“From me. You should run from me,” I admit, my words barely audible among the moans he’s drawing from my tongue.

“Fuck you, Raven,” he snaps, his hips connecting with mine even more brutally than before.

“No, fuck you,” I groan back, desperate for him to understand that what I’m saying comes from love. I don’t get to add any of that on, though, to express how I’m feeling and why I want him to be free of me if necessary because I’m hurtling over the cliff of pleasure, drowning in the depths of my climax as my veins burn with ecstasy.

Wave after wave washes over me and I feel him lean closer, his lips at my ear as he continues to fuck me through my climax.

“Raven Hendrix, I am Brax Carlsen. I pledge to help with all that I am, all that I could be, and all I wish to be.”

Each word is enunciated with a thrust of his cock, claiming me there and then while pledging himself to me.

That fucker. That absolute fucking fucker.

His hips jut slower as he presses his lips to my cheek, the pulsing of his cock fluttering in my core as he comes inside of me.

I’m breathless, shocked, and still completely at his mercy. I didn’t want him to say those words, but he said them anyway. I want to be mad, angry, and given a moment to tear his fucking head off with rage, but deep down, something stirs inside of me. A truth I can’t bring myself to admit.

Hearing those words from him means more than from his parents or the Brotherhood of Drakes. They mean something else entirely.

They scream forever and always, until death do we part, and he somehow managed to scrawl out the words, close the envelope, and seal it shut with his release.

THIRTEEN

ELDON

Darkness melds around me as I drift. Terror, panic, and uncertainty war inside of me as I fail to ground myself. Short, sharp bursts of cries echo in my ears, coming and going too quickly for me to pinpoint the direction or cause behind them. All I know is it’s not good. Not good at all.

A familiar bird flies in the distance, slowly nearing with every flap of its broad wings.

A pink-feathered raven.

It circles above me as the cries turn into screams, and the world is no longer black. Dripping in blood, my feet filthy in the boggy ground beneath me, I stare at the horrors.

Death. Death. And more death.

A battle cry roars from above as the raven darts toward us. Instinctively, I reach my hand out toward the bright pink feathers, but it doesn’t reach my palm before the bellow becomes too much and the world goes black once more.

Panting, a small flicker of fire burns in my hand, trying to light the space around me. A flash of stone, a blink of onyx, and the breeze from an invisible move confirm my brothers are around me. But where is my love? My heart? My raven?

My body strains, my magic weak as I try to expand the ember in my palm, but the effort produces very little result. I’m already at my limit, strung tight, but I need to find her.

“Raven!” My voice is hoarse, clogged with pain and heartache I know is coming. “Little Bird!”

Silence rings in my ears, offering me no solace as a hand lands on my shoulder. I turn to see Zane at my side, but it’s Brax who speaks.

“That’s enough, El.”

I frown, confused by whatever the hell is going on, when Creed waves me closer. I don’t know where I’m stepping or where we are, but that’s not my concern. My priority is Raven.

As I near Creed, he crouches on the ground and my heart stops.

Gone is the familiar pink hair I’ve tangled around my fist so many times, and in its place are sheer black locks from root to tip. That’s not the problem, though. No. It’s the way it all cascades around her face as she lies completely still on the dried grass. It’s the way her eyelids are closed, and I know in my soul they’re not going to open.

Not now.

Not in a minute.