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What if I can’t get her to see me as her soul’s other half? Will she disappear from my life?

I’ve seen the insanity that happens when a soulmarked is torn from one of my kind.

Ambrose.

He knows the pain of loss. The pain of having everything pulled from his grasp.

Will I become like him?

Just a shadow of my former being? Eventually put down because I can no longer control the beast that threatens to never release me from his clutches?

I want to blame my beast for all of this.

But I’m the one that’s truly to blame for this chaos.

If I controlled myself… If I kept the cage locked on my emotions…

But the pain and fear of losing her before I could truly call her mine was too much to bear.

Will I be doomed to fucking repeat the memory of her being in my arms for eternity?

Only to push her away…

Am I already falling into the endless void of insanity?

Another push on my consciousness tries to break through the darkness swirling through my very being. Another push of someone trying to end this vicious cycle of hell I’m trapped in.

Just as a hot splash of blood fills my mouth, Asher finally breaks through my madness.

The red fades to the sides of my vision.

A human man’s head is in my hands, and I want to smash the skull open on the pavement like a pumpkin.

“She won’t be fucking tainted forever, you stupid fucking twat! She’s not fucking dead!” Asher’s voice screams next to my ear.

My beast’s control weakens as that realization punches us both in the gut.

Asher’s right.

The human body, while fragile, can eventually filter out impurities in the blood. Fuck, we could give her dialysis from other humans, if we must.

“Silence your demon, Raph,” Asher urges. “Your future with Alena is not far off. You just need to quit being such an asshole.”

My brain is a fucking mess.

And I feel like a fucking hormonal teen when I think about that future ahead of me.

Rage, lust, and love all surge through my psyche.

But Alena’s safety is far more important than me raging around a city like an asshole who doesn’t get what he wants immediately.

Looking up at the overcast sky, I frown. “How long have I been out?”

“Twenty minutes or so,” Asher says, and motions to the building that’s directly in front of us.

“Ah,” I say, and the hatred in my soul intensifies.

There, standing before me in all its disgusting fucking glory, is a church of the Order.