Page 5 of When Roses Burn

I’d experienced my creature’s emotions before, and it was an integral part of me. Right now, it sought to destroy anyone who dared to harm her.

Briar’s hair tore free, and strands of it still dangled from the man’s fingers as she broke away to close the distance between us. She flung herself at me; her cold arms wrapped around my neck, but I couldn’t feel her bare body as my invisible prison kept us separated.

Grasping my face, she kissed me as dozens of hands gripped her arms. “Do as they say,” she breathed against my mouth. “Or they’ll kill you.”

An arm encircled her throat, tearing her away from me.

“No!” I bellowed as they dragged her away.

She kicked and thrashed against them, but there were too many, and they quickly overpowered her. They were touching her, controlling her, hurting her.

Marina leaned closer to whisper in my ear. “Don’t let her screams fool you; we wouldn’t have known you were here if it wasn’t for her.”

“Fuck you,” I snarled, not believing her for a second.

“He’ll be a delightful addition to the harem,” another woman said. “Your daughter has wonderful taste, Marina.”

“She’s an embarrassment.”

The bones in my hand cracked as my claws extended, and my jaw broke. They said the first shift was the most agonizing, but once the animal broke free and reformed my being, the following shifts would get easier.

The pain of my change was nothing compared to the anguish of having my mate torn away from me. I’d destroy them all for that.

“Look at this young animal trying to shift early,” Marina murmured. “We can’t have that.”

She rested her hand on my forehead and started whispering words that were either gibberish, another language, or unintelligible to my transitioning ears. As she spoke, something changed within me.

My animal roared to the surface as the air binding me squeezed tighter, crushing my ribs, suffocating my animal and shoving it back down, pushing it deeper… deeper… deeper.

I screamed as my bones broke and my soul suffocated. The creature I’d always felt, but never met, shrieked as she buried it.

No, not buried… destroyed it or at least that’s what it felt like as my animal slipped away and something else rose to the forefront.

I had no idea what appeared, but Marina sucked in her breath as her eyes roamed hungrily over me. “And what have we here?” she murmured.

I had no idea what she saw, but the lust in her eyes made my blood run cold.

Briar’s words ran through my mind again. “Do as they say, or they’ll kill you.”

I didn’t know how many times I’d wish for that to happen over the following years. But while I continued to live and breathe, Seth died… and something new was born.

CHAPTER ONE

Knox

Ten years later

Laughter surrounded me as I made my way through the room full of assorted eternals. I scanned the crowd as Dromon, Lyra, and Pierce followed me.

The eternals who looked up at us shrank away when they saw me and hastily shifted their attention back to their tankards full of whatever alcohol they preferred. I was well accustomed to their reaction and barely noticed it anymore.

When we passed a table of elves, their gazes raked Lyra with keen interest. She lifted her nose disdainfully at them, but I could tell one had piqued her interest when her step slowed a little.

We’d come to No Man’s Land to blow off some steam tonight, and these elves were here because they wished to live separately from their kind—or were into shit they shouldn’t be. It wouldn’t be the first time Lyra had spent some time with them, and it wouldn’t be the last, but for now, she walked by them.

Often, after patrolling what remained of the shifter kingdom of Wildwood, we came here to fuck, fight, and, hopefully, kill. I flexed my fingers as bloodthirst hummed through my veins; while I wasn’t here for the fucking, I’d most certainly come for the killing.

The cage was a good way to forget about all we’d lost and to make those who’d taken it from us pay.