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Panic starts to seep through the fog of pain, and I struggle weakly against him. “Soren,” I gasp out, my voice barely above a whisper. For a moment, he doesn’t respond. His body is still, his grip on my hips ironclad.
And then, I feel his lips pressing gently onto my shoulder, a soft sigh leaving them. “It’ll be over soon,” he assures me, but his normally smooth voice is rough with what seems like regret.
I want to believe him, the man whose touch turned me into a sea of simmering desire just moments ago. But the burning sensation spreading from where his fangs had sunk into me feels like it’s consuming me whole.
His hands start gliding over my body once again. His touches are soft and soothing this time, tracing languid patterns across my trembling body.
I can’t hear anything but the roar of my blood in my ears, my heart thundering in my chest. The pain is unimaginable, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. It feels like my body is being torn apart from the inside out, every nerve ending aflame and radiating with agony.
“I’ve got you,” Soren’s voice soothes. “I’ve got you.”
Time loses all meaning after that.
As the fire spreads within me, Soren’s arms are the only stable thing I can latch onto. Through it all, he continues to stroke
Chapter 197
my hair, his fingers providing an odd comfort amidst the inferno.
“Focus on me,” is all he urges, his voice a quiet murmur against my ear.
I try. By the Gods, I try to do as he says. But how can I? Everything hurts. It’s like being torn apart and sewn back together again. Caught in a storm where all I see is lightning and all I hear is thunder.
Suddenly, there’s pressure at the corner of my mouth. Soren’s fingers. They lift my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes. They’re void of any regret but full of concern. As much softness as he could muster under the circumstances reflected back at me. It’s enough to ground me a little- enough for me to realize what’s happening.
Despite the pain, something within me stirs–the primal part of me that has long since grown accustomed to Soren and his touch.
For an
agonizingly long heartbeat more, time blurs and bends around us–then everything stops and everything goes black.
Soren
I stand by Aubrey’s side as I place her on the bed after drying her off as best I can, my eyes fixed on her writhing form. Every convulsion of her body sends a spike of guilt through my chest.
“Aubrey,” I whisper, reaching out to brush a damp strand from her forehead. She flinches at my touch, a low moan of
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pain escaping her lips.
288 Wouchers
Her heart pounds wildly, each beat echoing in my ears. I can sense her pain, feel it as if it were my own. Her breaths come in ragged gasps, her chest heaving with the effort to breathe through her pain.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur, though I know she can’t hear me. “It has to be done; you don’t understand right now but you will.” I promise her, for what I have planned she can’t be vulnerable, she can’t bear his mark.
The memory of Rhett’s smug face flashes in my mind, and I clench my fists. That monster had no right to claim her. But now, watching Aubrey suffer, I wonder if I’m any better.
Her body arches suddenly, a scream tearing from her throat. I reach for her hand, holding it tightly.
“Stay with me, Aubrey,” I plead. “You’re strong. It will end.”
But even as I say the words, doubt gnaws at me. The blood- laced wine was supposed to ease her transition, make the bonding smoother. I miscalculated, and now she’s paying the price even with me feeding her my blood, I should have given her more beforehand.
I watch helplessly as another spasm wracks her body. What have I done to her? She’s becoming something new, something tied to me in ways I don’t fully comprehend. And it’s killing her. Killing who she used to be. A worry I didn’t even know existed forms, what if she hates me for what I am making her into, what if she doesn’t want me. But even as those thoughts flit through my mind, I dismiss them feeling even through her pain she is looking for me for comfort.
