Chapter 81: Small Liar
Chapter 81: Small Liar
Zaliver’s POV"Sleep. Grieve. Forget," I whispered.
I watched her eyes flutter closed, her lashes brushing her cheeks as her body began to give way. Before she could hit the ground, I moved. One flash, and I was there, catching her.
She felt so small against my chest. My little mate. The thought settled over me the way grief does, quiet but total.
The pain that came after was immediate, sharp, and unforgiving. I hated what I’d done. What I’d had to do. But as I stared down at her face, some selfish part of me savored the quiet, the stillness on her features. I hadn’t seen her look like this in so long, not since before I dragged her into my world.
I pulled her closer and held her, uncaring of the pack members watching. Let them watch. Let them see the Lupus Deus made quiet by a woman. There were worse things for them to witness.
I inhaled slowly, deliberately, committing her scent to memory the way you memorize something you know you’re about to lose. Then I pressed a kiss to her forehead, her cheek, and finally her lips. The same lips that had been driving me to the edge all evening, and that would haunt me through whatever came next.
Albericus approached. His footsteps were hesitant. He laid a hand on my shoulder and I didn’t acknowledge him, not yet. Not while I was still holding what I couldn’t keep.
Finally I stood.
Still holding her, I signaled to her guards. They stepped forward. Johnson reached out, and I made myself transfer her into his arms, hating every moment of it.
"Guard her with your life," I said.
They nodded. Solemn. Silent. Then they carried her away into the forest shadows, and I kept watching until there was nothing left to watch. Until the silence was all that remained, and the echo of something that had been mine and wasn’t anymore.
Then I let the mask come back down.
The beast inside me rose, dark and vicious. With every step I took into the forest, the fury built. Albericus trailed behind me, quiet, probably trying to gauge which version of me he was dealing with.