Page 7 of His Curse
I hear her sweet voice call out to me, call out to him to shift back, to cease his pursuit. I hear her beg Colton to come back to her, to embrace her as his mate so they can fight theothertogether. But Colton—butI—can't help her. I have no control.
Silly girl.
Naive little prey.
I growl. My wolf and I, we growl at theotherfor insulting our mate. We snarl at him for threatening her, for scaring her, for chasing her down.
And he just laughs.
Laughs at our fear, laughs at our mate.
He laughs because he is gaining on her and will soon have what he wants.
Then he does.
He gets so close that our mate's back paws send dirt and rocks flying in his face; so close that he can finally make his move.
And he does.
Theotherlunges forward and sinks his teeth into her hind leg, biting hard before he shakes his head then releases her so our mate goes skidding to a halt mid-shift—the shift back to human that he forced on her the second his fangs entered her flesh. Theotherprowls around her, circling her slowly before he brings his mangled snout toward her face, snorting and sniffing what is rightfully mine.
Mine now, wolf.My little prey.
My wolf and I howl, howl out our pain as we look into those grey and gold eyes, eyes that cry silently and look upon theotherwith bravery, and fear.
"Colton..." she whispers through her tears. "Colton, please, please don't do this. Come back to me. Shift back. We can—"
Theothergrowls in her face and leans down so close they're nose to nose.
My mate sobs but doesn't look away. No, she looks theotherin the eye, holds his stare, and doesn't back down.
My mate is fierce.
So goddamn fierce.
But that's not enough. It’s not enough to stop theother.
"Colton, please,” she whispers again. "Please... I understand why you rejected me, I do. You don't need to, though, because I know you won't hurt me. You won't hurt me because I'm your mate and you would never do anything to hurt me. I can sense it; I feel it. I know you're in there so please just come back to me."
She’s right. I would never hurt her.
Never.
That’s exactly why I rejected her in the first place; why I tried to spare her any pain at all.
I could never hurt my mate.
But I can.
Chills wrack my spine over his words, over the intent I so clearly hear, but no matter how hard I try, no matter how hard my wolf and I fight, there is nothing either of us can do. Nothing but watch until the very end.
“Colton, please,” Lark begs, her eyes searching theother’s. "Please. I love you. Don't do this. Please."
And just when this incredible joy tries to take root in my chest, when the love I feel in her words tries to live and thrive inside my chest, theothermakes his move.
He rears back, roaring with fangs bared and then—
"Brother!” Slap. “Wolf!” Slap. “Colt!"
