And then I saw her, down on her hands and knees, her mouth open wide as she stared into my eyes and screamed.
I tried with one last surge of power to get up, and all I kept thinking was… I have tae protect her. I have tae make sure she’s safe.
That was the last thing I was conscious of right before something hard slammed against the back of my skull, and everything went dark.
When I came back around, the sun had already set, and the scent of blood filled my head. I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned, confused at first about what was happening. I lay naked in my human body, bloodied and bruised, stabbed and with bones broken.
Slowly, the events filtered back in, and my strength returned as the pain and panic consumed me.
They took her.
They’d taken what was mine and left me. I had no idea why they didn’t kill me, why they didn’t take me as well. But it didn’t matter, because now I had to seek vengeance. I knew what it felt like to have my mate close, to know what she smelled like and felt like as she let me stroke her cheek… as she let me devour her mouth.
I felt my rage grow tenfold inside me.
I dug my nails into the earth and pushed my upper body up, my ribs broken and screaming, my head pounding from whatever blunt object they used to crack my skull, and the knife wounds deep and covering every inch of my body. My face was on fire, and I lifted a hand to touch my cheek, hissing when I felt the massive wound. When I pulled my hand away and looked down, I saw my fingers coated in blood.
My body would heal, but the face wound was deep, and despite my Lycan regenerating properties, some injuries were too heinous to heal fully.
But scars or not, the only thing I cared about was finding my mate.
I slowly rose and shook my head, the world spinning slightly as I stumbled, trying to catch my bearings. I focused and inhaled deeply, trying to scent her, trying to figure out what direction they’d taken her in.
But the scent of the gore from the fight, the aroma of the flora and fauna of the forest, and my disoriented head made sifting through the hundreds of scents surrounding me almost impossible.
I walked forward, weaving, feeling as if I’d drunk a barrel full of ale.
I swiped my hand out, digging claws into the bark of a nearby tree, my nostrils flaring as I breathed even harder.
And then I saw something glisten on the ground, catching the light. I froze, my disoriented mind, my unfocused vision trying to make clear what I was seeing.
With my hand still on the trunk to steady myself, I bent down and picked up the delicate chain, holding it up so I could see the pendant swing slightly.
An anchor.
I curled the necklace in my palm, tipped my head back, and roared so loudly, so ferociously, I knew those fuckers who had taken my female heard me… and would know to fear me, because I was coming for them.
I didn’t care how long it took or if it killed me in the end. I was going to find Larkin, and when I did, I was going to exact my vengeance on the ones who took her and destroy them with my bare hands.
Chapter
Two
Larkin
The present
I had never experienced death myself, but I thought about it plenty of times, fantasized about closing my eyes and never opening them again.
And many times over the years, I felt like I was close, that the pain was too much, too bone-crushing, too life-stealing.
Never in my life had I dreamed I’d ever wish for the sweet bliss of never taking another breath, or never feeling my heart race with excitement or happiness. But gods… I thought about it a lot.
I hated myself, cursed the feeling of wanting to take the “easy” way out. Because no matter how much they hurt me, how many bruises they gave me, how many bones they broke, I wanted to survive.
Because I wanted to see him again. Sometime in my life—if fate, or destiny, or the will of the gods decreed it—I wanted to see Odhran again.
Because that one short moment in time that I spent with him all those years ago wasn’t enough. How funny life was, that one interaction with him so long ago would change me so much.