Page 12 of Claim Me

However, this feels different. Mostly because my presence in the room hasn’t snapped her out of this delirious state yet. It usually only takes a few words from me to bring her back. But not this time.

She continues to shake, her arms pebbling with goose bumps as a chill sweeps across her body, causing her core temperature to drop.

I hiss as her skin becomes cold to the touch, her body seeming to die right before my eyes.

“Fallon…” I curl around her, trying to lend her my warmth. But I really have no idea how to help her.

Bane says it’s likely linked to post-traumatic stress, but Fallon has refused to talk to anyone about it. She keeps saying she’s “fine” after every incident.

I suspect it’s because she doesn’t want to open up to anyone. Trust is hard to earn, especially after suffering such severe betrayal from a loved one, let alone a fuckingmate.

If I could kill Klas, I would. A hundred times over. That asshole doesn’t deserve to breathe after everything he’s done.

The only caveat to ending him is what it’ll do to Fallon.

She’s an innocent who doesn’t deserve this fate.

Yet, there’s nothing we can do to help her avoid it.

While Kaspian has approached all of this with a practical mindset, I know the repercussions of Klas’s execution are weighing heavily on his mind. He and Fallon may not get along—primarily because she sees him as her captor—but he doesn’t blame her for what happened.

Although, he absolutely doesn’t trust her power.

Fallon possesses rare magic unlike anything Kaspian has ever seen, which is saying a lot for one as old as he is. He’s a master vampire with well over a thousand years of life experience. Not much surprises him these days, but Fallon clearly has.

She’s surprised me, too,I think, holding her as she continues to vibrate.

For one, I wasn’t expecting to like the witch who cast a deadly sleeping spell over all of Reykjavik. In fact, I originally wanted to murder her.

But everything changed the moment I met her.

Not only did we quickly discern her innocence, but she immediately displayed her fiery side by laying into Nolan for shooting her in the shoulder.

And shortly after that, she gleefully volunteered to eviscerate Klas.Several times.

Bane offered her his own blades to help, something that meant a lot more than Fallon would ever know. Knives were as much a part of Bane as his own hands, and to give them to someone else was a show of faith he rarely bestowed upon anyone.

I understood, as I felt very similarly about my toxic vials.

Yet Bane gave Fallon his knives without a hint of hesitation, then stood by while she worked.

Pretty sure he fell in love with her instantly. Not that she noticed, nor is it something he would ever act on.

Fallon is technically a prisoner, under constant observation until Kaspian can decide what to do with her.

And there’s the whole problem with her possessing death magic.

Being phantoms means Bane and I are part ghosts, so probably not the best idea to involve ourselves with a necromancer-like witch.

Still, I can’t force myself to release her and wait for whatever spell this is to end. She’s still ice cold against me, her body shivering almost violently.

Maybe because she’s naked, I think, noting her discarded towel on the floor.Not the best time to notice that.

I swallow and say her name again, trying to coax her out of her memories. “Klas isn’t here. He’s in the dungeon.”

Although, it wasn’tKlasshe kept saying before, butIssy.

Is that a place? A spell? A person?