Cursed Mate (Feral Shifters 3)

While I’m fighting down the dizziness and agony in my skull, Quinton clamps his jaws around one of Felicity’s back legs. He tears her leg out from underneath her, making her whole body flip through the air. I hear the sound of her leg snapping like a gunshot over the din of the battle. She yelps and hits the ground, where she flops pitifully, unable to move her broken leg.

No! I shake my head and try to get back to my feet. She’s too far away from the rest of the fight for anyone to help—I have to get to her. But my head swims furiously, and when I try to stand, I lurch sideways.

Quinton shuffles up to her, whining, his wolf clearly agitated at having injured his mate. He snuffles at her head and ears, and Felicity falls still. The two of them look into each other’s eyes, unspoken words passing between them. A sad, scared whine peals from Felicity’s throat, and Quinton nuzzles her cheek with his.

Is he… trying to soothe her? Apologize? The possibility that there’s still some humanity left in him floors me.

But then he draws back and snaps his jaws around her neck.

Felicity’s spine breaks instantly between his powerful jaws. Horrified, I can practically feel the bones breaking in my own body, feel the bite tearing through my own neck. A whining gurgle leaves her, an awful death cry, and her body jerks as blood seeps from the corner of her mouth.

Quinton opens his jaws and lets her limp body slump to the ground. Her blood paints his muzzle, and there’s a cold hardness in his eyes that sends nausea welling up inside me.

I’m frozen to the ground, half sitting, half lying, stunned by the sight before me. He killed his own mate. I thought for a moment that he wouldn’t. That the bond between them would be stronger than his greed.

But it wasn’t.

Maybe it never was.