Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Enough, Sam! Enough!
The thought cuts deeper than anything else, and I have to press my hand against my mouth to hold back the sob trying to claw its way out.
I should go back inside.
Right?
I don’t even have any money with me. And oh stars, I can’t believe I’ve just realized I’m only still wearing his shirt, and sure, it’s long enough that it looks this oversized dress on me, but even so. I must have been so out of my mind that—
“Stop this, Vaughn! Don’t do this!”
The voice is hatefully, painfully, and heartbreakingly familiar.
My head jerks up.
Brandy.
I recognize her the same way we recognize whatever breaks our heart. Remember her the way we remember the last time we cried.
“Do you think you can make a fool of me so easily?”
Arguing with a man who’s also familiar...but this time, it takes me more than a few seconds to realize who he is.
Vaughn.
I’ve only seen him once. In that doomed matchmaking meeting between Hexius and me. But I remember him because everything about that day is...unforgettable.
“How many times do I have to say this? I wanted things to work between us, but I just couldn’t make myself love you!”
My heart twists in agony upon hearing Brandy’s words. If Hexius had been the one saying them, it wouldn’t have made the words any less true, and the realization brings fresh tears to my eyes. Why did no one ever tell me loving someone who didn’t love you back would hurt so, so much?
I’m about to turn around when Brandy suddenly turns my way, and her entire face whitens.
Does she...recognize me?
“What the hell are you looking—” Vaughn turns toward my direction as well, and his face also changes. But instead of turning white like Brandy’s, his face slowly distorts with rage, and I find myself backing away even though I have no idea what I’ve done to make him so furious...with me.
“You.”
Me?
I stumble back another step...just as Vaughn slowly goes down on a knee.
Like someone about to pounce.
No. Oh no.
Everything happens too, too fast after that.
Just too, too fast for a human like me.
All I catch is a blurry image of flesh ripping into fur.
A vicious growl.
And then teeth tearing into my own skin.
Chapter Fifteen
THE HOLDING ROOM WAS too small.
Or maybe it was just Hexius, his presence filling every corner of the space like a caged storm waiting to break. The L’Alliance officials had been smart enough to give him the largest secure room they had, but three magically fortified walls and bulletproof glass weren’t enough to contain what was building inside him.
Seventeen minutes.
That was how long they’d been “documenting the incident” while his mate was out there.
Alone.
Hurting.
Because he had made her believe he didn’t love her.
“Monsieur Mercier, if you could just—”
“I’ve answered your questions.” His voice came out harder than he intended, but he was past caring about diplomacy. “Three times.”
The Panthera official swallowed hard. “Yes, but protocol requires—”
“I don’t give a fuck about protocol.”
The man took a step back.
Smart.
Hexius turned away before his control slipped further, resuming the pacing that was the only thing keeping him from shifting right here and tearing through the walls. His leopard was clawing beneath his skin, demanding action, demanding her.
Samira.
The memory of her face—devastated, disbelieving—played on repeat in his mind. The way she’d looked at him when she asked that question. The way her voice had broken.
“If you really love me, why can’t you still read my mind?”
Because he’d been an idiot. Because he’d been so focused on what the bond meant politically, strategically, that he’d missed what it meant personally. Because by the time he’d figured out he loved her—truly loved her, not just wanted her or needed her but loved her—it was too late.
She was already running.
And now—
His hands clenched into fists.
Now she was out there somewhere, believing he didn’t want her. Believing the mating bond was just biology. Believing she meant nothing.
The door opened.
Hexius spun, ready to snarl at whoever dared interrupt, but the words died when he saw who’d entered.
Etienne Hirsche stepped in first, his Caro features carefully neutral in that way that meant he was here on official business. Behind him came Alphonse, and the look on his brother’s face—
No.
No.
No, fuck, no.
“I’m sorry, Hexius—”
Samira.
He knew right away that something had happened to his mate.
Something that he had not been able to sense, locked as he was in a prison reinforced by spells that prevented him from sensing her presence.
“Where. Is. My. Mate.”
“Samira was attacked—”
Those were the last words Hexius heard before going berserk.
And if they thought they had seen something earlier, the moment Hexius realized that Samira was walking away from him because he had broken her heart—
It was nothing—nothing at all!—compared to the sight of the Leopard King bursting out of his prison.
It was the most frighteningly violent sight.
But also the most heartbreaking.