Page 13 (1/2)

"Rhys," he said, trying to o," the otherI’ht The red door with the lion character on it"

Malachi hardly heard the door close He grabbed the laptop and took it to the bed, leaning against pillows tinged with a faint floral scent that ht have been her sha his cheek where hersat the stunning ies she hing at pigeons Old h her albuht his eye The album was entitled "M is a thief" He clicked on it

The first pictures wereelse Blurry Out of focus He frowned, then let out a choked laugh the farther he clicked through the scene He’d stolen her ca He’d ed to capture the top of her head in that shot Her nose in the other The edge of her smile as he tickled her ribs Then…

His breath stopped

The last picture in the set was off center and crooked Snapped as he held the caers were pressed into his inked shoulders, and his mouth took her swollen lips

"Ava," he breathed out, touching the computer screen before it blinked out Malachi tried to turn it on again, but the battery must have died He sat up and carefully placed the co it in before he stripped off his clothes and returned to the bed He wrapped himself in sheets that he knew smelled of his mate and closed his eyes

Why couldn’t he remember her?

Malachi felt broken His memories His lost talesm Confusion and weakness All of it paled in cout-deep awareness that hishim, and he could not ease her

He closed his eyes and searched for her in drea that curled and twisted around his ankles The path he folloas not clear; wet branches slapped his face as he stumbled in the dark

Where was she?

He could hear her in the distance Her cries ripped through his chest Every tiain as the path diverted hi hi him

He would not be defeated

The darkto block out the stars Damp branches laced with thorns twisted in on theed hiain, but he stopped Held his hand up

Her voice was audible now

"Please Please come back"

With a frustrated roar, he pounded on the thorns Then he spun around, looking for a way out or around or through It was a dead end There was nowhere to turn but away froain

But his mate needed hi

He plunged his hands into the thick brush that separated hinored the pain as he forced his way forward

"Please," she whispered, her voice thick with tears "I need you"