A tender look crossed his features, and his thumb traced along my cheek. Heat flared in his eyes when his gaze dipped to my mouth, but something else did too. A warring emotion. A battle within.
He abruptly looked away and snarled, but I could tell that his snarl wasn’t directed at me. No, it was meant for his wolf, who was probably howling at him to stop because in his wolf’s confused world, his mate was dead.
Some of the hope inside me withered. Even though Kaillen—the man—stated that he wanted me, his wolf was in mourning and conflicted. And his wolf side would always rule him to some degree, whether he liked it or not.
“Is it as bad as I think?” I asked hesitantly as I swallowed the dryness in my throat.
The hunter let out a deep breath and dropped his hand. “Yeah. It’s been . . . hard. But dammit, Tala, I’m not letting you go.” Scarlet fire rolled in his eyes again, and I knew his demon was battling his wolf at this very second. “I know I avoided you initially after everything went down, but that was then, and this is now. I’ve had a few days to get my head around it, and I know one thing. I want you. I’ll fight for you if I have to. I’ll fight my wolf. I’ll fight the SF. I’ll fight that new fucking realm. I’ll fight whoever tries to stand in my way. I’m not letting you go.”
My stomach dipped at that fierce declaration, and I tentatively touched his waist.
For the briefest moment, he stiffened.
I hastily let go, my heart ripping at the thought that what we’d had before when our wolves had been a part of us was over, but dammit, I could be stubborn too. I wasn’t going to give up on Kaillen just because his wolf now had some issues. But I also knew it wasn’t going to be all roses, and that it could very well end in disaster.
But I was willing to try.
I gave him a small smile and kept my hands to myself, even though I itched to touch him and pull him close. “Maybe we should take this one day at a time.”
I tried to broaden my smile, tried to show him that I understood that some things were beyond one’s control, and if it became too hard for him, too unbearable to constantly be battling his wolf, that I wouldn’t hold it against him. I wouldn’t hate him for conceding to those instincts.
He closed the distance between us, drawing me to him in a fierce, possessive embrace, even though another low grumble came from him that I knew he directed inward. “A colantha to the bone.” He leaned down, running his nose along my neck. He paused, then did it again. “You still smell like you.”
“That’s because I am still me.”
“But I can also sense that you’re different.”
I squeezed him back, the sensation of his arms around me still feeling so right despite all that had happened. “I’m still me, Kaillen,” I replied softly.
“I know.” He inhaled my scent again, and something in his stance loosened, as if his greatest fear—that I was no longer me, no longer the woman he knew—had vanished. “Your scent is stronger now, though. More powerful.”
My lips tugged up in a smile. “Haven’t you heard that I was the key to another realm, and apparently, I command power from that lost world?”
“I believe I did get a memo about that.”
I lifted my face to his, wanting him to kiss me more than anything, needing to feel his mouth on mine, his taste on my tongue, his body beneath my fingers. I’d been to hell and back, and the one thing I needed right now—craved—was him. Just him. Not his wolf. Not his demon. But Kaillen, the man.
Another low grumble came from him, and he pulled back just an inch.
The hope in me diminished when I saw him battling his wolf again. I stepped out of his arms and ran a shaky hand through my hair. “It’s okay if—”
“Tala!” Tessa shrieked as she barreled out the door.
Kaillen and I both whipped our attention toward her.
A look of horror covered my sister’s face as she came to a skidding halt beside us.
“What’s wrong?” I darted a glance over her shoulder.
She panted, looking more panicked than I’d ever seen her. “I was talking to Private Merrick in the back when an alarm went off in Klebus’s office.” Tessa’s eyes widened to saucers as her harsh breaths continued. “I overheard her talking to someone, and I think it was the SF members guarding the portal.” She gripped my hands tightly, her fingers biting into my skin as my otherworldly powers swirled inside me at the mention of that void. “She said to keep them contained, Tala.”
“Keep who contained?” Kaillen growled.
“I think someone has come through the portal,” Tessa hissed.
The cold late-autumn wind bit into my cheeks as I whipped my gaze back to Kaillen. His scowl grew as a deep rumble vibrated in his chest.
“I think they’ve been summoned, Tala,” Tessa said quietly to me. “I think this was what Mom warned us about.”
“The Bone Eaters?” I felt myself pale, as Kaillen’s expression turned fierce.
But I had a feeling Tessa was right, because it all made sense. All of the missing puzzle pieces clicked into place. Our mother hadn’t wanted me revealing my power because she knew. Somehow, someway, we had ancestors from that lost realm, and she knew that I’d inherited their power—otherworldly power that could summon them back to earth, if only a connection was created. And I’d made that connection. I’d felt their power when they’d tried to suck me back to that world.
“They can’t have you,” Kaillen said in a low growl.
“Maybe not,” I replied. “But they’ve finally been summoned, and I have a feeling whether or not I like it, they’re here for me.”
∞ ∞ ∞
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Ready for the final book? Publishing October, 2022.
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Forged of Bone
Download Forged of Bone, the final book in the Supernatural Curse series!
We’ve finally uncovered the depths of Jakub’s plan, but that discovery came with consequences none of us expected.
Despite his wolf’s growls in my direction, Kaillen’s determined to prove his love. So the two of us delve into my family’s long buried past to discover the truth of who I really am.
But things don’t go as planned, and our struggles uncover an impossible choice. I can either stay on earth and accept that my hunter and I will never be mated, or I can embrace my destiny and say goodbye to the only man I’ve ever loved.