Page 74 of The Bones of the Cursed
Before I can thank her, she fades into nothing.
A man with long brown hair and deep brown eyes snaps his head up as we enter the room. He bares his teeth at me. If it weren’t for the lack of sharp canines and pointed ears, I would assume he was Fae with the growl he lets loose as I approach Alanis. He fights against his chains as I kneel in front of her. She is out of it. Knocked unconscious by whatever that monster did to her.
Kailu heads to the man and begins working on the shackles.
“You Elion?” he asks.
The man glares at him. “Depends who’s asking.”
Despite the circumstances, I laugh. “He is definitely herbrother. Can’t you tell by the matching sass?”
Elion grunts, but I catch the quirk of his lips. I manage to get Alanis free of her shackles and push her hair back behind her shoulders.
The tension that has been overtaking me instantly calms.
I trace my finger softly over her jaw and collarbone, praying she’ll wake. My finger runs over something and my eyes are drawn to a red welt on both sides of her chest.
The air in my lungs evaporates. My ears ring. I didn’t feel it when she was injured.
“You must be the mate she mentioned,” Elion says.
I look at him when he stops beside me, heavily favoring the leg soaked in blood. He must read the confusion and anger radiating behind my eyes, for he nods.
“Why isn’t she waking up?” Kailu asks, concern evident in his tone.
Elion is silent, but the truth is there. I see it in his expression.
“He fucking used electrokinesis on her.”
Kailu curses and Elion’s eyes tighten in pain. Pain for his sister. She might not share his blood, but the love they share is no less powerful.
Alanis was wrong about one thing. Even though she never felt loved or wanted, it’s clear as day that her brother loves her, and likely always has.
Alanis is a force to be reckoned with, and I know without a doubt that I’m in love with her. Not just because of the mating bond, but because of who she is. She is impossible not to love, and anyone who has not chosen her didn’t deserve her in the first place.
I cradle her in my arms, my soul finding peace now that she has come back to me.
I will spend the rest of my days making her see that she is worth more than anything in this Godsforsaken world. Andanyone who tries to take her from me will die a slow, painful death. This world can try to take her, but I will burn the fucking thing to the ground before I let that happen.
28
- MALAKAI -
UNVEILING THE TRUTH
The floor beneath us shakes. Carrying Alanis back through the corridor in my arms, Kailu and her brother follow close behind with weapons drawn. Just as we reach the vestibule, the sound of footsteps echo through the stone hallway. We need to get down that hall to the portal, but I carry Alanis down the far left hallway instead, Kailu and Elion protecting my back. Footsteps sound from this way, too.
We are boxed in.
I quickly duck through a doorway on the right of the hall, unsure of what lies inside or where it leads, but it’s the only way to avoid confrontation. We all stand quietly, not even willing to breathe while the footsteps thunder past. When silence greets us, I realize the room we’re in seems to be a bedroom—at least until I see what lays in the bed. I swallow down the gasp. Alanis starts to shift in my arms, her ice blue eyes slowly opening and locking onto me.
“Mal,” she whispers, her voice hoarse.
I give her a smile and press a hard kiss to her head. “I got you, firecracker.”
“Where are we? Where’s Elion?”
“I’m here, sis,” he says, gently brushing a hand over her hair. “And I’m not quite sure where we are exactly. Nowhere good, I can tell you that much.”
