Page 203 of Jagged Souls

Then when I went to kill her that second time. I wanted to grab Sau, but she fought back harder than I thought. She was supposed to be a quick done deal.

And then here – killing all my breeding chimeras one by one. The successful ones are infertile, so I let them go, no longer needing them because of her fucking husband having destroyed the foundations of the Death Hunt.

My throat tightens.

And the similarity in the V. I came back to find her just like I found Siome – the Fates perhaps needing to smack me in the face with a four by four because I didn’t get all the previous clues. Even her name overlaps. Siome – ends with a ‘me’ sound. Micha starts with it.

One cycle to the next.

“Oh my gods.”

Gathering her up in my arms, my heart bursting with love and grief, with shame and guilt for all I’ve done to her, I carry her out of the room, racing for Eduardo’s quarters. He’ll heal her. I don’t care if it kills him. He’llhealher.

“I’m sorry,” I say as she clings to me, her head so bloody and bruised. “Fuck, little helfire. I’m so sorry.”

Sixty

Antonio

I barge into Eduardo’s lab. He has Timothy strapped to a table, his dick hooked up to a pumping machine, jerking him off and collecting his seed. Normally, the witch would have his subject opened up in some horrific experiment or another too, but he’s used too much magic recently. I can smell the onset of loka building up in his blood. He’ll die a terrible, agonizing death if he uses much more, so he’s only been carving shallow cuts into the chimera’s skin.

He turns to me as I enter with Micha in my arms. “Heal her.”

“I ca–” He cuts himself off. Either he dies trying, or he dies now. Micha’s injuries aren’t fatal; he has nothing to barter with.

“Put her down,” he says.

“Not here.” I don’t want her touching the filth of his lab. She isn’t the same as Timothy. She isn’t even the same as me. She’s so much fucking more. Better. Purer.

He follows me out and to my room. He’s normally not allowed inside it, but I don’t want my mate anywhere else. I lay her down gently on my bed. The blood crusted on her face stands out sharply even amongst the swollen bruises. She moans, and I grab her hand to comfort her.

How could I have been so stupid as to not have seen the signs? She has Siome’s fire, her stubbornness, and her fierce protective nature of those she loves.

Siome jumped into my fight with Declan Shadow to save me. Despite that choice ending in her death, I know she wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. She loved her pups, as did I, but we loved each other more.

Eduardo steps up to study her face – the injuries I put there in my idiocy. “I’ll grab some healing –”

“If I wanted a wand or potions, I would have grabbed them,” I growl. I don’t want mediocre. I want the absolute best for her.

“I’ve used a lot, and her injuries aren’t ser–”

“Heal her,” I snap. They’re fucking serious to me. I laid my hands on her. I fuckinghurther. And I’m so fucking close to killing him for taking his time.

His lips tighten. He nods. But there’s a flash of defiance in his eyes. If he thinks he’s going to die anyway, he could kill her. Or permanently disfigure her. Give her a chronic pain or a lifelong illness.

“If you hurt her,” I say slowly, “death will be a blessing. And when it comes, I will drag you back from the dead to start it all over again.”

He gulps.

Resting his hands on her, he calls on his magic. White light bathes her, reducing the swelling in her cheeks and stitching up her split lip and busted skin. The bruises fade, and she opens her eyeless sockets. The sight rams into me. Suffocating me. I kiss her hand, then rise to my feet. “Get out,” I hiss at Eduardo before gathering her in my arms. He leaves, and she tenses against me.

“I’m so sorry, Micha. I’m so fucking sorry. I know better now. I’ll never hurt you again.”

“Why did you hit me?”

I wince. My heart screams.

“Did I not please you? I’m so sorry for –”