Page 55 of Thorulf
Chapter Twenty-One
TERRIFIED FOR BOTHMaya and Thorulf, Jade was about to shift and follow Thorulf when he went after Maya but froze when he pushed images into her mind. Images born of conversations he remembered moments before her evidently. Images that drove home just how risky it would be for her to follow him into the godly storm.
She had just gone into heat.
Which meant there was a slight chance they’d been within the window of opportunity when she’d slept with him.
“Sonofa,” she cursed, suddenly recalling how they had talked about having children when they were younger. Offspring she had no idea she’d wanted until this moment. Kids definitely hadn't been a life goal. Yet it seemed they had been when she was still with him. So much so it brought tears to her eyes. She’d wanted them to be black like him. He had wanted them to be green like her. In the end, they had decided on a fetching mix of black and green.
She put a hand to her womb, wondering. While she was almost certain she hadn’t conceived yet, there was always a chance. And Thorulf had just used it as an effective weapon against her.
She couldn’t follow him and risk their potential offspring’s safety.
Dagr roared with frustration and dropped altitude as Thorulf shot up after Maya.
“He’ll get her back,”Jade assured, sharing his frustration. His helplessness. Not entirely convinced but trying to put on a brave face.“They’ll be okay.”
She kept trying to convince herself all the way down until Dagr landed in the woodland beyond the Fortress and eyed the sky alongside her. It was hard to see much of anything except white-hot lightning flashes in black-bellied clouds. Thunder boomed, and the ground shook.
“Damn Thor,”Dagr cursed, and she couldn’t agree more. Her fear grew with every passing moment. Fear not just for her sister but an intense, near-crippling fear for Thorulf. An unfamiliar sort of terror that made her chest tighten and breathing impossible. She literally couldn’t pull oxygen into her lungs.
What the hellwasthis? Was Evil attacking her from the inside out?
When Dagr realized the state she was in, he shifted, made her sit then crouched in front of her. “Don’t look at the sky, Jade.” He took her by the shoulders and made her look at him. “Just keep looking at me. Focus on drawing air into your lungs, and don’t look away. It’ll be all right.”
“What’s happening to me?” she gasped because her mind was too muddled to summon the magic to speak telepathically.
“You’re having what my mother would call a panic attack,” he replied calmly, his tone remarkably soothing despite his own inner angst. “Specifically, you’re having a reaction to your mate being in danger.”
Apanicattack?Please. She would have rolled her eyes if her vision wasn’t blurring and darkening around the edges. She’d never suffered anxiety and didn’t intend to start now. Yet her body thought differently. Her heart pounded wildly, and everything went numb.
“Just breathe, and it will pass.” Dagr’s steady gaze never left her face, his words practical and welcome. “Know that your mate will be okay. Lend him strength, not fear.”
“Not my mate,” she tried to say, but the words wouldn’t come out. Not because she couldn’t say them but because her dragon disagreed wholeheartedly. It wanted Thorulf. Always had. So her human half had better get on board.
Feeling not just the stubborn pushback from her inner beast but its clear-mindedness helped. It gave her a much-needed sense of peace and clarity when it came to Thorulf. Her tension began to fade. Hewouldsave Maya because he was too stubborn not to. Air rushed back into her lungs. Hewouldbe okay because he refused to leave Jade. Not now that they were just remembering each other.