Archaic (Reverse Harem 2)

Recognition crawls over his face as agony writes itself in his eyes. He drops to his knees, crying out in horror as he holds his dead mate in his arms. Penny’s lifeless body cradles against his, like he’s snapping out of some kind of trance. My jaw is quivering as he kisses her face. Over and over again until his lips are stained red with her blood.

Then he lifts the sword from her head and falls onto it, taking his own life as he falls alongside his mate.

That was what I should have done.

Fallen on my sword the night of my wedding so Kyle didn’t have to die alone.

I’m lying on my side, helpless to the tears streaming down my face. I can feel my naked body being lifted as Penny and Gus slowly fade from view. I’m staring at the ceiling, listening to the wild carnage around me fade. The fighting is ceasing, and men are gurgling on their own blood, and heartbeats all around me are fading into dust.

Into darkness.

The kind of darkness I was born into.

“I’ve got you.”

I look up into Sebastian’s eyes, feeling his chest twitch against my skin as he cradles me close.

“We have to get out of here,” Theo says.

“Has anyone seen Penny?” Toshi asks.

My nose crinkles as heaving sobs leave my lips. I’m trembling. No longer able to resist the emotion filling my chest. It feels like I’m going to burst. It feels like I’m about to drown in the ocean I’ve been treading for so long. Memories of Kyle came rushing back to me as Sebastian carries me into the dark. Memories of his lips against my neck and his smile invading my eyesight in the mornings. Of coffee mugs in my hands while we watch the sun rise above the trees. Trips to the Amazon we would never take again and vacations to the beach we would never get to enjoy.

“I should’ve died with him,” I say breathlessly.

“Stop,” Sebastian says.

“I should have died with him.”

“No.”

“He died alone. In agony and cold. I should have died with him. I should have died with him. I should have died with him.”

Sebastian cradles me closer than I’ve ever been held. I can hear his growl of frustration rumbling his chest. I curl into him, my naked body hovering against his skin as I shake.

Tremble.

Sob.

I’m cold. I’m empty. I’m sad, and I’m angry. I’m full of revenge but not full of the energy to enact it. Sebastian starts sprinting. Trying to get all of us out of the building before it’s too late. Before the warriors who are still alive come after us and try to spear me while I’m vulnerable.

We barrel out the door, and the cold overtakes me. I’m shivering violently as snow swirls around my naked skin.

“Give her to me,” Theo says.

“Not a fucking chance,” Sebastian growls.

“I’m the warmest. She’ll die of hypothermia before we can get her anywhere else. Hand her over.”

I feel Sebastian pull me closer to him, my body still fighting off the abrasive chill settling in.

Then, Sebastian does something unlike him. Something that goes against every protective instinct he’s had from the beginning.

That grinds at every gear he has and tosses out every rule he’s ever lived by.

He fights the animal inside him again and hands me to Theo.

And my body stops shivering immediately.