CHAPTERNINETEEN
RUX
Rux could feel his body weakening from the strong strikes of the Alpha lion. He hadn’t been in a battle in a long time, so he thought that maybe he was a bit rusty. He also thought there was so much more on the line than there ever was before.
There was Dana and a sudden urge to live and thrive.
They bared teeth at one another as the clouds moved over the moonlight. He tried not to make eye contact with Dana, who was standing behind Griffin.
They had a powerful, intimate connection that Rux could only have described as celestial, whether her human mind could comprehend it or not.
He dug his claws into the soft sand, baring his fangs, ready to punch and rip flesh from his foe’s bones. Just before he did, he flicked his eyes at Dana, who gave him the most minute nod.
Her eyes, as blue as the sea, glimmered in the emerging moonlight.
Dana used both hands and grabbed hold of Griffin’s tail, then yanked it with all of her might. The lion spun its head around, enraged, and roared in Dana’s direction. Despite the deafening sound echoing through the beach air, she held onto his tail.
Rux knew that he loved her at that moment. Her bravery in the face of inevitable danger made her his fated mate.
Rux used the golden opportunity to leap forward with an immaculate pounce. He soared through the air and landed heavily on top of Griffin, pushing his thick form onto the sand below.
Dana scurried away in the nick of time as both the cats’ large bodies plummeted to the ground.
Rux summoned all of his power into pinning Griffin down, then finally, sinking his teeth deep into the lion’s flesh. He moved through thick, plush fur and then found the tendons holding his throat together.
Griffin roared in agony as Rux ripped out his vocal cords, one by one, sloshing them onto the sand with a wet slap. He writhed beneath Rux’s body, the sound eventually dimming to a pathetic hiss.
The entire time that he lay dying, he stared at Rux, shocked and appalled by what was happening to him.
No one can touch her. No one will ever hurt her again.
Griffin’s life left his body like steam rising from a kettle. He leaned his head back against the sand as blood poured out from the mangled tears in his flesh. The eyes, void of life, stared up infinitely to the night sky above.
It was a way that Rux had often thought about dying. After losing his father, he fantasized about the most romantic way to end his life. Maybe he would walk into the sea. Maybe he would run through the woods until his lungs burst.
Maybe he would lay down on the beach and look up into the stars with a revolver to his head, the stunning tapestry the final image that would carry him to the other side.
But he had let all of that go. He had a reason to live, and it often made his heart almost explode with the intensity of the feeling.
He found Dana sitting on the sand, having toppled after the battle. Her breath was heavy, and she was leaning forward onto her hands.
Rux quickly shifted back into his human form, then ran to her side, falling to his knees.
“Dana,” he whispered.
She was breathing in through her nose, then letting it out through her mouth. Rux touched her back and rubbed it, wanting to cry and plead for forgiveness for all of what he had put her through.
“Dana, I’m so sorry,” he said into the night.
She raised her head and rested it on her palms, her makeup was a disaster on her face, but she was still looking as gorgeous as ever. She smiled at him, and he wanted to take her in his arms and hold her close forever.
“It’s okay, Rux,” she said, glancing down at his naked form.
Dana raised her eyebrows and then ran her hands through his disheveled hair.
“Let’s get you something to wear first,” she said with a flicker of hope in her eyes. “Then we’ll get Dennis.”
Rux’s nudity didn’t seem to matter to anyone on the island. The various guests were all moving frantically through the mansion, trying to get a connection through their cell phones.