Page 36 (1/2)

Because I canna Because I'ht

As he stood to pace, he remembered Mam's last words more clearly She hadn't said, "Never with a succubus" She'd said, "Never with one like her"

Like Ruelle A sick, child- fiend

His breath left hi like Ruelle, but he'd treated her as if she were He'dto her And then he'd marveled when she was hesitant about a future with hiodda his mate!

As if on a movie reel, he replayed all his abuse The day of the wall alonehe'd called her a seed-feeder, telling her she was trash He'd terrified her with vicious threats, hu her in front of eneht no i-raped by Pravus h to have his bairns He'd withheld his claih would suffice for her-not his all, but enough

He'd voinity

And she'd borne it all, even giving hihtear Villain As all his actions sank in, he stood nu All uilt, horror, hatred-all warred within him The first three for how he'd treated Chloe, the last toward Ruelle

And toward hiazed at Chloe, his vision blurred

I treated ht, he bashed his fists against his head, his face twisting What is wrong with me? Sick, sick!

His beast tried to rise, to shield Will froony, needed it

Babes with Chloe? A new faure it out

Allat his hair He wished Chloe would wake to hit him, wished she'd sink another shard into hihter, scrapping for everything she'd ever gotten in life-Will would do no less for her

Bury your past, or it'll bury you He was ready to; he just didn't kno

His Instinct urged: -Wreak your vengeance upon those who deserve it-

How? Ruelle was long dead Her e between hih insane for hundreds of years

Bury, bury, burn your past

One idea ehts He strode to the line of s facing south, staring out at the blustery Woods of Murk

Burn your past, or it'll burn you There was so he could do to tear down that memory

-Go there- his Instinct commanded Suddenly, he was as desperate to breach that forest as he had been in his youth He would leave Chloe snug in their bed, warm and safe within the impervious keep of his ancestors

He'd lived for more than three hundred thousand days; he felt like his entire future rested on what the next few

-The answer lies within the forest GO!- He jerked at the Instinct's loudness

He pressed a kiss against Chloe's hair, then turned to leave At the doorway, he gazed back at his ulf hi him so much his beast stirred once ed out into the stor, he ransacked it for supplies, then sprinted toward the Woods The path to his destination was overgrown, but he would never forget the way

Once Chloe woke, he wanted to greet her as a new man One who could accept her strew, the veno about her As he ran, he identified that unknown eined himself made whole, refashioned into aher bairns and love

He felt frenzied with the need to give her these things With each step closer to his destination, his beast fought to rise Will struggled to keep it leashed, to think clearly, to reason

As the stor, trees shuddering The winds howled, disrupting Will's hearing and sense of s scents all the way from the sea

Scents that would forever reht

His worry that he'd lost Chloe was so sharp, it was like pain coursing through his body Will squinted through the tempest as he ran He could make out the object of his hatred, the one he'd soon destroy

Chapter Forty-Four

So with me

When Chloe woke she felt weak, as if she had the flu-with nausea, aches, and chills

Her bones felt like they were breaking Deep in her womb, she suffered what felt like menstrual pain fro around the roo beside her earlier She'd been half-awake, irritated that each of his words had sounded like a gong in her ears, worsening her splitting headache

Hadn't he wanted to tell her so over fro at the , his broad shoulders tense She'd wanted to ask hiain

Chloe had dreamed that she told him she loved him, but he refused to answer her He wouldn't look at her face for so many centuries that she turned invisible

Dragging herself to her feet, she crossed to the sa that saazed out in that direction, clenching his fists, tension radiating from him

Now a funnel of smoke billowed from the treetops, deep within the Woods of Murk

A fire? Was MacRieve there? The soughing winds carried that sainst Conall's indifferent walls Foreboding suffused her, a sense that he was in danger

Ta down her nausea, she pulled on jeans, a shirt, and shoes, then labored down the stairs Each step jarred the bones in her legs, sending neaves of pain

But she had to reach hith to cross the expanse of ept fields Dusk was deepening when she reached the boundary of the woods

To journey within the?

That sense of foreboding only strengthened, until she could feel it in her aching bones Fearing for MacRieve, she trudged on, following the sth of a soccer field before she had to lean against a trunk, resting her legs and catching her breath She pushed on, the scent of ser The acrid smell burned her nose and throat

By the tih to hear the crackle of fire, the trees had thinned Was there a clearing ahead? She slowed, even more cautious-