"I would know it in any world, any life, any form, anywhere in time and space. I would die for these lavender eyes to glitter with warmth - anytime, anywhere."
His words constrict around my heart like golden barbs. The beauty of them excruciating.
...
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I don't hear anything, see anything. Nothing but her. With blood gushing out of her sliced open palm, and the little prick in her neck from where she tried to slit her own throat with a glass shard.
She tried to kill herself
Elle tried to kill herself
My mate tried to kill herself
Blood thunders in my ears as I run to her, blind to everything, and wrap my arms around her.
It's like my entire being jolts back to life, as her cold, frail, bloodied form melts into mine. She's cold. So cold. And my arms tighten around her.
My beast purrs, and my eyes burn from the tears that threaten to take over, as her scent concentrates the air around me, and I can't help but drag in a single, greedy breath.
Sweet, sweet lavender, but poisoned with wolfsbane - a scalding, dark tang amidst all her sweetness.
I blink to clear my vision, and draw her further into my chest, trying to warm her up from contact alone.
She shudders in my embrace, a disoriented movement, almost like a last breath of life, and nothing but a sharp breath of air leaves her. No words, not even a whimper. I rub her upper arm, and whisper, "I'm here, lavender. I'm here."
She doesn't even make a move to hold me, no sound, and I can't help but slightly pull away to look at her face - devoid of any colour, pale as porcelain, and so, so still as she works to draw in air through her barely parted, chapped lips. She looks so lifeless that I want to shake her, to beg her to look at me and to realise that whatever nightmare she has been living is over.
But before I can do any of that, a loud roar from Vance draws me back to my surroundings. I automatically shield Elle from whatever threat lurks in the doorway, with my body and twist halfway to meet a pair of pale gray-green eyes.
Pale with lifelessness.
My instincts rage and every single muscle in my body coils with tension, ready to lunge and tear out the goddamn throat of this man with a demeanour as icy as his eyes.
"Hardin Auchter. Wish I could say that it's a pleasure.", I bite out, the words icy and silken, my eyes clashing against his. I can say that his cold intimidation works on about everyone. But certainly not on me. He'll have to try his damn hardest and it still won't bloody work.
I am here to drag him to hell, and I will do that.
The warriors from my pack growl and snarl as they gather behind him, some observing the surroundings and some getting ready to attack, while I can still hear Sullivan's assassins in action. They're in charge of getting the girls out of here safely, and we'll deal with the bunch of sadistic criminals that I intend to keep alive till I torture them to death.
