The Luna's Bodyguard [a mature werewolf romance]

Ch 49: Knife Point

In my mind's eye, the bonds between us wound together, three threads forming a rope. I knew that one day, when they were ready, it would span between their minds, too. But for now, the were content to connect through me, as they had with their bodies, and it was enough.

The after care was so gentle and considered that threatened to melt my heart all over again. Utterly spent, I let them carry me into the bathroom in a daze, taking turns holding me upright in the shower and washing me clean, every swipe of the wash cloth loving, reverent. We all chuckled at how far their loads seemed to have spread; there was even some in my hair.

By the time we returned, the bed was stripped. Evidence, no doubt, collected by one of the servants outside. My head sagged against Nate's shoulder as he held me like the bride I was, walking in killing circles as Fallon found new sheets and tucked them over the mattress.

I was all but asleep when they lay me down, each prince settling on either side. I snuggled into their heat, their heady scents intertwining as I drifted off, more relaxed — more safe — than I had ever felt in my entire life.

Amber. Sea salt.

Woodsmoke.

***

A low hiss undercut the quiet of our minds as we lay in a tangled heap. At some point, we'd gotten all turned around; I was on the out, now, snuggled into Nate as he snuggled into Fallon, face smushed into the body guard's armpit. Fallon was sleeping on his back, now, a bulging bicep cast over his eyes to block out the tender light straining through there gap in the curtains.

Dawn.

They were both out cold, satiated to the point of oblivion. I should have been out cold along with them, but something itched at the corner of my mind, hurting more and more as I tried to scratch it out. It was like the hum of an old refrigerator, or the steady drone of wind outside a car window. Impossible to ignore once you picked it out.

I flopped over, seeking the cool side of the pillow. Instead I experienced a jolt of electricity as my pinky brushed the signet ring still lying on the bedside table, so strong that it clamped my jaw and locked my arm in place.

What the fuck? I thought, trying to yank my arm back.

Nothing moved. The quartz simply glowed with the faint light of dawn, growing hotter and hotter with every passing second.

Painfully hot. I went to gasp, but my lungs had cramped as tight as my throat as the ring started to melt, burning the ever-loving fuck out of my hand as molten rivulets snaked their way down, over the heel of my palm, forging a new ring around the base of my thumb. My eyes widened as it cooled and hardened, new runes scratching themselves into the surface of the gem, welling with blood from an unseen source.

"With my blood and bones I bind you."

Words — those slithering whispers were finally forming words. Terror pulsed through me as a phantom thumb dragged something hot and sticky across my brow, sealing the spell:

"You will keep Aurora away from the Pendragons, until the day she chooses to confront them herself."

I tried to shake my head, to shout a warning through the bond, but the whispers had formed a wall around my thoughts, muffling my fear and pain. Tears slipped down my cheeks as my body started moving of its own volition, puppeteered by a woman who'd sacrificed herself for this very moment a decade prior.

Carefully, quietly, the hand that was not my hand plucked a dagger from its sheath. One of Fallon's smaller blades, meant for close combat. I begged him to take note of the faint hiss of metal on leather, to knock the blade from my hand and pin me to the ground,  but he must have felt safe for the first time in a long time. He just carried on sleeping.

"And when the threads of fate pull you close to the heir and his father..."

The blade lifted higher, the point angled for Nate's heart.

He would never see it coming.

"You will slaughter them like the pigs they are."