“Maybe we did, princess.The question is, what the fuck do we do now?”
I open my mouth to respond, but a flaming arrow hits me right between my breasts.
“Victor!”I shriek, and then I crumple to the ground.
26
Scorching.Hot and scorching.My skin melts as the arrow burns through me.
My eyelids flutter shut.
This is the end.Already I know this.My fucking stepfather got his way.It’s the end of me, at the hand of his minions.
Only darkness exists for me now.Darkness… Darkness and the growl that makes the earth beneath me vibrate.
In my mind’s eye I see the end.The beginning and the end.I see my childhood—the good parts of my childhood.
My father—before I knew who he really was—taking me to the movies when Larissa was just a baby.Taking me to the old-fashioned drugstore counter for a root beer float.
The bad parts?They’re not gone.I remember them.I remember his emotional abuse, his nasty comments, his torment.But none of that matters anymore.Only the good things…
The good things… The good things flow through my mind, capture me, take me away, making the bad things meaningless.
I’m drifting now.Still the ground rumbles beneath me, and in some other lifetime, I hear the sounds of battle.
When I open my eyes, I’m above it all.Demons, red eyed and ferocious, battling my wolf.
I want to reach out.
But my body lies limp, the arrow still burning through me.
Until—
I plummet back into my body and suck in a breath.Pain lances through me.
Rogan, his eyes still feral, has yanked the arrow from my breast.
Have the demons gone?I want to ask, but I can’t seem to get my vocal cords in my mouth to work in synchrony.
“Princess.”Rogan’s voice.His not quite human voice.“Stay still.I’m going to stop the bleeding.”
I try to will my lips to move, but still they don’t.
Pressure on my chest.It’s Rogan.Using what’s left of my tattered clothes to try to stop the bleeding.
“Damn it, princess,” he growls.“You will not die on me.”
Can’t die. Don’t want to leave Rogan.
Don’t want to leave…
When I lose consciousness, I welcome the respite.
PRINCESS…Princess…
Rogan’s kisses.Harsh against my body.Harsh and sizzling and powerful.Yes… More… Can’t get enough…
My eyes pop open.No one’s kissing me.