He gathers me in his arms. I melt against his chest as I feel his warmth and smell his familiar scent.
I am going to die. But I am glad he is here with me.
Holding me closely, delicately, Callum looks at Blake once more. Confused. Or perhaps he is conflicted about leaving his savior alone with his physically stronger brother.
“Now!” roars Blake.
Callum turns, and he runs.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
The air is thick with the scent of pine and darkness.
Somewhere, an animal is whimpering.
I push through the undergrowth toward it. Thorns snag my clothes, and brambles squish beneath my bare feet. I emerge into a moonlit clearing.
A wolf the color of moonlight lies in the center, but blood tarnishes her fur. She is injured. Her foot is caught in a trap.
She snarls as I approach, but I cannot leave her to die.
“Shh,” I whisper. “It’s going to be okay.”
I prize open the jaws of the trap, my fingers bleeding and slipping on the harsh metal teeth.
The wolf cries. She stumbles free, turning to face me.
For a moment, we stare at one another.
“Don’t go,” I say. “I need you.”
She turns. She flees.
“No!”
I’m plunged into darkness.
“Come back!”
The wind no longer whispers through the trees, and the moon is snuffed out. Shadows creep through the undergrowth, and slither through the grass like snakes.
“Don’t leave me!” I scream. “Please!”
I am lost.
I am empty.
I am alone.
The darkness swallows me.
But I hear a voice in the distance.
“Stay with me.”
***
“Stay with me, Princess. Please.”
Pain crashes through me. I force my eyelids to open but they are heavy.
Everything is blurry. There’s something soft beneath me. I scrunch my fingers and feel wet grass.
Callum’s face comes into focus.
His eyes are panicked and covered in a watery film. His dirty-blond hair is tangled, and there is blood on his neck and chest.
He’s leaning over me, and his hand is pressed into my side.
“Oh, Goddess.” His voice breaks. “I’m so sorry, Aurora. I’m so sorry. I never should have left you.”
“You’re here.” My words are weak and they’re carried away on the breeze.
“I’m here.” A tear rolls down his face. I want to reach for him, to brush it away, but he is too far away. My body is too heavy. He touches my cheek. “I’m here.”
I smile.
He makes a sound in his throat, a sob. “You’re going to be okay.”
And I know then that he thinks I’m going to die.
There’s something important I want to tell him, but my brain is fuzzy. I cannot find the words.
My eyelids flicker. The world dulls.
“Stay with me, Princess. You have to fight this. Please—”
Callum stiffens and looks over his shoulder. A second later, someone crashes to their knees beside him.
“Move aside.” A sharp male voice cuts through the darkness.
Callum keeps his hand on the bite, but shifts slightly. He takes one of my hands, and his fingers curl tightly around mine as if he can stop me from falling away.
“Can you save her?” Callum’s voice is small. Afraid.
Even though I’m so far away right now, I know that his voice should not sound that way. He is strong and certain—a warrior. He does not fear anything.
“I don’t know.” Blake’s face swims into focus.
He is a monstrous vision. His neck and chest are crimson with blood, and there’s mud caked in his hair. His expression is serious, and that, too, seems wrong.
Where is the mockery? Where is the smirk on his lips?
I close my eyes.
He taps my cheek. “Look at me.”
My eyelids are seared shut. I do not want to look at him, anyway.
“I should have known you were too weak,” says Blake. “Or perhaps it is not weakness, perhaps you are simply too ashamed to face me. Do you remember when you slapped me, little rabbit? Back in my chambers? I was on my knees before you. Do you know what I think? I think you were angry with me because you were imagining riding my face. And you liked it.”
My eyes flicker open. Shock and irritation ripple through me.
“What the fuck—” snarls Callum.
“Quiet,” snaps Blake. “Do you remember when I betrayed you, little rabbit? Had you strung up in the dungeons?”
Callum’s growl vibrates through me, but I keep my eyes fixed on Blake’s. The stars shimmer in and out of focus above him.
“I used you to get what I wanted. I made you a pawn in my games. I took you away from Callum, and had him locked up, too. I enjoyed seeing you like that, you know? Bound and chained. Defenseless. Helpless. I could have done all manner of things to you. All manner of perverse things. Would you have liked that, Aurora?”
Anger flares inside me, hot and wild and putrid. It pushes up my throat like a venomous snake, and a hiss escapes my lips. It hurts. Goddess, it hurts.
I whimper, and my eyelids flicker shut.
“Gods, Aurora!” Blake slams his hand into the ground by my head. I don’t even flinch. “Get angry! Get angry with me!”
“That’s enough, Blake!” says Callum. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but find another way. Get some herbs. Stitch her up. Just do it. Fix her!” The plea in his voice breaks my heart.
“She’s been bitten, Callum! The only way she survives this is if she stops suppressing it!”
“Suppressing what?”
“Her wolf!” Blake’s exasperated voice cuts through the darkness that is settling over me.
Callum falls silent for a moment. “What the fuck are you talking about? She’s not a wolf.”
“Of course she is, you fool. She’s a half-wolf, like me. And James’s bite will either force her wolf to fight back, or it’ll dominate it and kill her.” He slaps my cheek again. “Look at me. I’m not finished with you yet.”
I roll my head away, unable to make sense of anything they’re saying.
“Aurora! Damn it!” snaps Blake.
He grabs my chin.
Life is spilling out of me. I can feel my soul leaving my body, turning me back into the husk I was for so many years. Darkness fills my chest, and I’m cold. So cold.
Even Callum’s hand around mine offers no warmth anymore.
My cheeks are wet, and I wonder if I’m crying, or whether it’s blood.
Frantic male voices fill the air but they don’t make sense.
“Just do it,” Callum snarls.