But then one of Merrick’s hands landed over her own.
“Everything,” he said.
Her eyes followed his hand as it moved to her face, a finger gently trailing from her temple to her chin.
Cupping it, he brushed his thumb over her heated skin. “I see you, Elessia Rantzier. I see how you fight to live through each day. I see how you fight to better yourself—whether it’s through training or understanding of others. I see how you fight to love so freely and so deeply. I see how you fight for a world that’s only mistreated you, because you believe it’s the right thing to do.”
Lessia’s pulse quickened as Merrick’s hand drew down to her neck.
Gently cradling the back of it, he pressed his thumb against the vein thrumming on the side, and her breath caught in her throat when his voice lowered, the words coming out gruff. “You wouldn’t have to fight for me. I… I can’t say it would be easy, given what we’re facing, but I’d make sure this—us—would be the one place you can rest, where you’re always safe, where you never have to put on a mask to conceal your true feelings.”
He makes you happy.
Merrick’s words slammed into her heart, and as his other hand came up to cup her face, she leaned into his touch.
His eyes asked her a question, and while thickness clogged her throat…
It wasn’t from sorrow.
He already felt like… home.
Dipping her chin, she waited.
And she wasn’t disappointed.
A smile softened his hard features.
And then… he leaned in.
Lessia closed her eyes, her body humming from the nearness, and a low moan fell from her lips when Merrick’s hot breath hit her mouth.
Then a branch snapped, and Lessia’s eyes flew open.
Merrick was already on his feet, his eyes wild as he whipped his head from side to side.
“Get up,” he hissed at Raine and Kerym. “We’re surrounded.”
Something whistled by Lessia’s ear.
As her gaze snapped toward it, she realized it was an arrow that lodged itself in the tree beside her, and vigilance had her fly to her feet at the same time as Raine and Kerym, the two males’ gazes frantic as they stared into the darkness.
“Behind me. Now!” Merrick ordered, and when she didn’t move swiftly enough, he grabbed her so forcefully she had to hold on to his jacket not to fall.
Spinning around, Merrick steadied her, and her hands gripped for her daggers when he jerked.
Her eyes shot to his, and fear struck her heart when what shone there mirrored what she’d seen when he drank the Vincere.
Merrick jolted again, his face scrunching before he caught himself, and the sound that left her throat was like nothing she’d heard before—the growl so wild and untamed she wasn’t entirely certain it was actually her own.
Ripping her gaze from his, she started overtaking him, her mind only able to focus on hurting whoever caused him pain, when a whirlwind of snow wove its way through the small clearing, its meandering path raising the hairs on Lessia’s neck even before Merrick screamed, “Get away from it!”
But it was too late.
The twirling heap of white that moved against the wind whipping across the ground surrounded her, and she screamed when white-hot pain exploded within her mind.
“Merrick, no!” Raine bellowed somewhere in the distance—somewhere far, far away from the world of torture Lessia now lived in.
Blinded, she dropped to her knees, and Lessia barely understood what happened when arms wrapped around her, shielding her from something that made the shape groan as it pressed her against the cold ground.
