Page 34 of What Whispers in the Dark (Promises of the Marked)

T halon couldn’t break his stare from the window as he fell, bursting around Garrik into a storm of deathly light, amethyst and navy colliding in flame.

Alora clung to him as his back slammed into the snowy slopes of the mountain, digging her fingers into his neck as they tumbled. Around them, smears of blacks, and browns, and icy whites flashed by, but he could only focus on keeping Alora in his arms.

Until that damned boulder separated them. Throwing him forward, away from her. Out of reach.

Hopeless, Thalon watched the female his brother entrusted him with desperately struggle to cling to something— anything .

But she kept tumbling.

He kept tumbling.

Seconds—he had seconds to reach for her. To try something. To call on his magic, plead for it to work.

But the only thing he could do was turn his head?—

Before it slammed into a rock.

This bonus chapter is nestled within Chapter Thirteen, following the steamy night Garrik and Alora shared in the wintry barn.

While they enjoyed each other’s warmth, Jade, Aiden, and Thalon were forced to find shelter of their own …

warmth of their own. With dawn rising, snow melting into spring, and a pirate snuggled up close …

horrified, Thalon learns the lengths Aiden will go to keep him alive.