Page 97 of Unveil

Mist stalks lowly through the trees, and I can’t see more than a few feet in front of me. Sound, though, comes from all directions, disorienting as it permeates the fog.

And yet, I can’t hearhimanymore.

I go still as water ripples in a gentle current toward me and around my calves. My body shakes from fear and anticipation. The predator in the dark tugs at something deep in my core.

A man’s low growl rumbles through me, all the warning I get.

An adrenaline-fueled scream tears from my burning throat, and I turn to sprint through the watery sludge, but I’m scooped up from behind, strong arms like iron caging me in before we collapse into shallower water. A large hand cradles my head in the fall, but cold water seeps over my shoulders. sending my body into full panic.

I’m going to drown. I’m going to die here. I can’t die here. I can’t. I can’t. Ican’tIcan’tIcan’t.

I slam my fists against a steel chest, blindly kicking and thrashing, until a scarred hand pins my wrists above my head and easily stretches me the few inches necessary to get up and over a soft bed of moss. Another hand clamps around my throat, squeezing and cutting off my scream. Warmth presses over me as he lays on top of me, keeping me from hurting us both.

“Shh,” he murmurs low, letting go of my neck to wrap tightly around my waist and hold me to him. “Shh, little bird, I’ve got you.”

“Orion,” I whimper, and he squeezes tighter.

“You ran.” His teeth graze the sensitive skin under my ear, making me shiver and curl into him. “Good girl.”

He buries his nose into the crook between my neck and collarbone, breathing me in like my scent is all the oxygen he needs. Relief and terror still hammer against my sternum, and I writhe, unable to stop struggling underneath him.

“Fuck… don’t fight me, baby,” he groans through ragged breaths. “Not right now, or I swear to God I’m gonna fucking lose it.”

His feral rasp coils tightly in my belly. As soon as I melt in his arms, his mouth crushes mine, teeth scraping in a brutal kissthat makes me cry out. He lifts me into his chest, and I kiss him just as needily until tangy blood stains my tongue.

Lightning flashes, outlining his massive form above me, his chest rising and falling in heaving breaths that heat the air between us. But my relief curdles in my stomach at the seeping, bloody hole in his shirt right over his heart.

“You’re… you’re hurt,” I whisper, fresh tears burning my eyes and fear splitting my chest wide open. My head shakes, first slowly, then violently. “No, no,no. Not you too,please.”

Not again. Not someone else I love dying for me.

He follows my gaze, then fixes his back on me as he moves to cup my cheek.

“Luna,” his voice gentles. “Baby, I’m okay. Don’t go there.”

But I’ve already slipped out from underneath him, scrambling up on trembling limbs to escape the truth.

“Not you too,” I repeat over and over, focused solely on his wound as I stagger backward until a tree stops me. Benoit’s last breath floods my mind and my vision swims. Sobs tear through me. “Please.Not you, Orion, notyou. Ican’t. I can’t loseyou.”

He cages me in against the bark, shielding me from the terrifyingly cruel world with one arm around my waist and the other braced by my head on the tree trunk like a wall, keeping me from running.

“Luna, stop. I’m right here.”

“You’re hurt, you’re hurt, you’re hurt.” I choke, doubling over and clutching his shirt like I can tether him to this world, my body racked with soul-deep agony. “What if you die too? I can’t lose you. I can’t, Orion, I just can’t.Please. Don’t l-leave me.”

He curses low and grips me harder, forcing me upright.

“Hey, Luna? Hey, hey, hey. Listen.” He moves to cradle my head, tilting my gaze upward as he towers over me, becoming all I see.

“Listento me, baby,” he commands, giving me a little shake that makes me hiccup. His grip on my waist and the back of my head tighten, his voice fierce. “I willneverleave you.Never. I promise. See?”

He shrugs out of his jacket, tossing it to the side, and yanks his shirt over his head with one hand to join it. My cries deepen at the sight of the bloody gash.

“No!” I try to wrench away, but he snatches my hand and slams it against the cut cleaving his skull birthmark in two.

Blood warms my palm, and his grip on my waist turns punishing to keep me still.

“Feel me, Luna. I’malive.Wearealive.”