Page 67 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)
AUDREY
Blazing agony tore at my body, ripping into my cells, digging into my essence, and igniting my soul. Everything was on fire and every muscle had contracted. I was frozen in place with one hand gripping the side of the death god’s altar, the other pressed on top of the altar — my fingers brushing Knox’s — and my head thrown back with a scream I couldn’t release.
I tried to breathe but couldn’t. Tried to move, to think, to do anything to relieve the pressure and the inferno consuming me, but I was stuck.
Panic squeezed even tighter around my chest, an all-consuming terror that I’d made a horrible mistake. Not because I shouldn’t have been trying to break my accidental mating bond with Knox, but because the spell we’d hoped would break the unbreakable was going to burn me up and leave nothing behind. Even if somehow my body survived, I’d be a shell, my soul completely devoured.
The fire tightened around my heart, ripping at the magic binding me to Knox. It heaved the bond from my chest, wrenching me forward, stretching, tearing, straining.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I squeezed my eyes shut, praying for it to be over, to finally be free.
Then the fire exploded, and the force yanked my soul out of my body determined to tear it apart before slamming it back into my chest. The impact knocked me over, suddenly releasing all my muscles, and I collapsed on the smooth floor of the death god’s temple.
Bishop rushed to my side and gathered me in his arms, cradling me against his chest and wiping the tears from my cheeks.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
On the other side of the altar, Knox groaned. He hadn’t been thrown back and had collapsed on top of the coffin-sized stone slab. The weak light filtering through the hole in the domed ceiling caught in the green flecks in his eyes.
They were so much like Bishop’s and yet so different. They mesmerized me, drawing me in, stealing my breath, and connecting with that messed up something inside me that said he was mine.
“Fuck,” he snarled, and the icy hollowness of his rejection crashed over me, consuming the painful, fiery remnants of the spell.
Oh, God. The frozen emptiness was even stronger than before, and I didn’t know if that meant our mating bond was stronger or just his determination to get rid of me.
“Shit,” Cyrus hissed, laying a hand on Knox’s shoulder. “It didn’t work, did it?”
“No.” Knox batted Cyrus’s hand away, shoved past him, and stormed out of the temple.
My throat tightened and a tear I didn’t want to cry rolled down my cheek.
It hadn’t worked.
We were stuck together.
Forever.
Or at least until one of us died, and I had a horrible feeling Knox would rather take his chances on going insane when I died than spend the rest of his life with me.
A sob tightened my throat and I buried my face against Bishop’s shoulder, fighting to keep it in.
I could do this. I could live with this.
Knox and I would have to seal our bond before it drove both of us crazy, but then I could convince him that I didn’t expect him to behave like my mate. I could find a room to rent in Stonehaven and spend a quiet life cleaning houses or something.
It wouldn’t be so bad.
Except my soul wept at the thought. It didn’t want to be without Knox. He was my mate. We belonged together.
And he doesn’t want me. Never did. Never will.
That was the cold hard truth I was going to have to live with.
“It’s okay,” Bishop murmured, stroking my hair and holding me tight. “We’ll get back to Stonehaven and see if Whil can transfer the bond to me.”
Right. Plan B. All wasn’t lost. We just needed to withstand the compulsion of the bond to seal it for another nine days.
A roar echoed down the narrow passage, the only way into the enormous chamber, and a shock of ferocious fury swept through the icy hollowness.
Oh, shit. He wasn’t going to wait for plan B. He was going to kill me. Now.
My gaze slid to the altar.
Would he think he’d be able to avoid the side-effects of losing his mate if he sacrificed me to the death god? Would Cyrus and Bishop let him?
A shiver swept through me. I’d already had one supposed mate try to sacrifice me and I’d barely escaped with my life. I doubted I’d be so lucky a second time. Especially since Knox was more powerful than Royce and Sterling.
I shifted my attention to Bishop, looking up at him through my lashes. He was so beautiful, his features sculpted, a dusting of dark stubble along his jaw, and warm brown eyes that could capture my soul.
He’d been kind to me from the start, had vowed to court me and make me his mate even if I was also mated to Knox. He wouldn’t let him sacrifice me.
But would he be strong enough to protect me from his brother? From both his brothers?
Without a doubt, if Cyrus had to pick a side, he’d pick Knox’s. He’d already made his priorities clear. His pack and family were first. Always first. And I was neither.
Bishop leaned back and met my gaze, his expression filled with so much concern it made my heart break and another tear rolled down my cheek.
No one had ever looked at me like that, like I mattered and I wasn’t a burden even though I was. I’d yearned for someone to care for me like that all my life, and now it seemed I’d found someone just when everything was completely fucked up.
“Can you walk?” he asked, his voice soft as if he were afraid speaking too loudly would scare me.
I nodded even though I wasn’t sure if my legs could hold me and reluctantly eased away from his embrace.
Knox roared again and a hint of alpha power squeezed around my chest. Bishop’s attention jerked toward the passage, his body tensing, and an icy fear shivered down my spine.
Was Knox coming back? Was Bishop going to be forced to pick between me and his brother?
My throat tightened and more tears burned my eyes.
There was no contest. Knox was his twin, the other half of his human soul. It didn’t matter how Bishop looked at me. A look was just a look. It didn’t mean anything.
Cyrus marched back into the chamber and grabbed all three of our packs. “We need to go. I don’t want to be on the death god’s land when night falls. Carry her if she can’t walk.”
Then he marched back out. He hadn’t even glanced my way and that only made the sinking feeling in my stomach grow. Some of Merrick’s betas hadn’t been able to look at me, either. They’d pretended I hadn’t existed and that somehow absolved them of any responsibility for the child they knew their alpha was treating like a slave and abusing.
I sucked in a ragged breath, trying to steady my nerves. If we were leaving, Knox wasn’t planning to sacrifice me. Which meant I might be the person no one wanted, but my life wasn’t in immediate danger.
It was sad that that was my best situation… and that I’d have to be on guard for Knox or Cyrus to change their minds.
I sucked in another, steadier breath, and gathered the tattered remains of my determination. Bishop had a plan B and my heat was over. I could resist having sex with Knox for another nine days. It might only be eight if I could convince the guys to push our pace.
I could do this.
I’d already made it this far. I’d survived a man-eating monster. This unwanted mating bond was nothing.
And maybe if I kept telling myself that, I’d believe it.
“So,” Bishop asked. “Am I carrying you?” A soft smile tugged at his lips as if he already knew my answer.
“No.” I shoved up to my feet. My body was achy on a bone-deep level, but I couldn’t have expected to go through that spell without some aftereffects.
I just needed to walk it off, perhaps get a night’s sleep, and I’d be back to the way I was before. The way I’d felt yesterday morning when I’d woken boneless and satiated in bed with Bishop.
The memory of having sex with him shivered through me and I clung to the sensation. Feeling a little turned on was better than the icy hollowness any day. And now the sensation wasn’t out of control. It was a low, sensual ache, burning at the edge of my senses. A memory that I could draw on to make myself feel better.
“Let’s go,” I told him.
So, plan A hadn’t worked, plan B was a long shot, and I had no idea what plan C was… if there even was a plan C. But I hadn’t given up during the years of suffering with Merrick and Sterling, and I wouldn’t give up now.