Page 77 of When Ashes Fall

She was far weaker physically than I was, yet she hadn’t shown any alarm when the beast started emerging. With the touch of her hand and some words, she’d held the creature at bay.

And for the first time in ten years, I got to experience the pleasures of the flesh. I was also the one who damaged her… not the beast.

Self-hatred warred with pride in a tidal wave that hammered against me. I shouldn’t have brought her to Wildwood. But if I hadn’t, the plants would still be far sicker than they were now, and I wouldn’t know the truth of her.

I should have anticipated that Briar would affect me as much as she did. Even if I denied her, she was my mate, but I truly expected to continue despising her. If I’d been able to do that, then I wouldn’t give a shit about these bruises.

Not hating her was causing more chaos and confusion than loathing her did.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

Rolling onto my back, I stared up at the beams running across the ceiling. I had to get out of this cabin so I could hunt, kill, and unleash the beast sulking within me. It couldn’t have fun with her, but it could play in the woods.

Yet, I couldn’t leave her alone. My claws dug into the blankets, shredding them further before I released them. I rolled back to Briar and carefully extricated my arm from beneath her.

I couldn’t hunt in the woods while she remained here, but I couldn’t stay either. Despite hating what I’d done, I wanted to do it again, and again, and again. I wanted to climb on top and wake her up by slipping between her thighs and fucking her until she screamed her throat raw.

I will not be like the other casters. I will not let them make me into one of them.

Red stained the mattress beneath her head from where my blood and hers had mingled together. Rising, I stepped back to survey the damage we’d… mostly me… had unleashed.

Feathers covered the bed from the torn-open mattress and downy blanket. Blood stained the white comforter from our busted lips, and more bruises marked Briar’s thighs.

She hadn’t tried to stop my roughness with her, but I hadn’t sustained anywhere near the damage she had. In the harem, I always emerged to find myself covered in bruises and often bloody before the beatings began. The casters were careful to avoid the beast’s mouth, but they invaded the other hole in its body.

Briar wasn’t in nearly as bad of shape as I was then, but I’d still done things to her that I never should have. She looked far more like I did upon waking in the harem than she did when we were in the tunnels together.

I did this to her. I marked her as the casters marked me. And I liked it… like they did.

The realization sent me reeling. Emotions cascaded and bounced around my chest so fiercely that I couldn’t breathe as I staggered back before catching myself.

I had to get away from her, this place, and myself. I couldn’t think right now. I didn’t want to think; I only wanted to feel… and what I wanted to feel most was her.

If I stayed here, the beast might take control, and I’d never stop it from crawling onto the bed and taking what it desired, especially since the mingled scents of our sex and blood filled the air. The animal within me craved more, and so did the man.

When Briar shifted a little, she revealed one of her breasts; bruises and red marks also marred it. She murmured something before curling into a ball and shivering.

I glanced toward the windows and the pounding rain before striding back over to her. Since she was sleeping on it, I grasped the bottom of the ruined blanket and pulled it over her, then folded the sides in until she was nestled in the comforter.

I didn’t look back as I left the cabin and plunged into the storm.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Briar

I tried to ignore the pull of waking by burrowing further under the blanket, but my eyes fluttered open before I closed them again. It was probably morning, but I wasn’t going to poke my head out to check.

Why am I so sore?

As the question flitted across my mind, memories of last night battered my brain. I bit back a whimper at what I’d done, what he’d done… what we’d done.

Unwilling to move and hoping to pretend sleep, I remained in the fetal position while I assessed my aching muscles. Every part of me was sore, but especially between my legs. I felt like I did after our first time together, but it had been a decade, and Knox was bigger. It would take time to adjust to him again.

What? NO! NO adjusting. No doing this again!

Oh, that little inner voice was right; this shouldn’t happen again, but even with the soreness, I ached for more. I’d never get enough of him.

Which is why this can’t happen again! You have to get out of this kingdom!