Page 30 of The Alpha's Forced Bride
He stared at me. “You must be joking. I failed as an alpha by not saving my pack. I fought your father instead of trying to talk it out first, and then I ran away from everything. I let my demon take over. I let it hurt you…”
He hiccupped as more tears pooled in his eyes.
“My sweet, sensitive man.” I said, in a loving voice. “Don't you get it? Don't you understand by now? I don't care if you have a demon possessing you. I accept you for who you are. In any form.”
His gaze sharpened. Then, as he looked at me, a smile crossed his lips, and he started to sit up, his wound having completely healed. He pulled me close and held me with a tenderness that made me want to fall into him. And I did. I rested my head on his shoulder. Then, I let my lips seek his throat. I searched for that very artery that he had bitten on me, the one that I wanted to mark. The place that I knew would make us official in more ways than words, chants, or rituals could. This was the mark of me, and I was ready to give it to him.
But suddenly, he choked. He fell back on the bed. His head smacked the pillow with a loud thump and his muscles started to twitch. His head shook from side to side so quickly that it looked like his face was blurring in front of me. It was like watching a digital video glitch. He convulsed, and his limbs twisted into odd angles. His mouth dropped open, and I heard a sound that sent me running from the room. But instead of running away, I went to find Clancy because he was the only one who could tell us what was going on.
Someone had to tell us what was going on. Someone had to help me save him.
Chapter 15 - Harvey
Darkness devoured me. Upon hearing Kiara’s words, my demon took over. For the first time in maybe 10 years, I could see it for what it truly was: a scraggly creature with crooked arms, pasty skin, and thin, frail muscles. Its frame was like twigs all glued together at once. Some parts of it were yellow and lime in color. Other parts of it resembled a rotten peach sitting on the ground in the sun. It stood tall with a massive hump the size of a mountain on its back that spewed various liquids.
It bowed its head, and a few scraggly pieces of hair fell in front of its face. You won't win this one.
The way its voice crackled and wavered on the air was strange. I could see the vocalizations like brain waves on a screen or on a monitor. I took a step toward it, feeling braver than ever. I'd never faced it down like this. Ever since its initial plunge into my soul, I hadn't seen it so fully formed like this—every detail was horrifying. Yet, at the same time, I felt triumphant. I could finally see it; I could finally address it as the manipulative liar that it was.
I took another step. “I think you'll find that you're the one that's not going to win this.”
It snarled. She's not going to save you. She'll never love you for who you are. You'll always be a beast to her.
I shook my head and clicked my tongue. “You don't seem to understand what the word mate means.”
She's not your mate. She doesn't think of herself as your mate. You'll never be wedded in that fashion. It tilted its head back and laughed maniacally.
In its world, it might have been powerful. But in my world, it was nothing but a thorn in my side, a tick on my belly, an invasive weed in my garden. I held up one hand and allowed the love that I had formed for Kiara to flow from my palm. It moved in waves, a soothing purple that rippled elegantly in soft lines. Clouds of periwinkle billowed about the long waves of squiggling lines, heading toward the demon in front of me. This caught its attention and the laughing ceased. Its face drooped as though it were going to melt into the ground.
That will never stop me.
I smiled. “I don't need to stop you anymore. You've already been stopped.”
It growled. You need me to win, to succeed, to get ahead of life. Your pack is nothing without me.
“That's where you're wrong. My pack is nothing without me. But without you, I am everything.”
The wild twists of periwinkle and lavender slammed into the demon. I heard a sound then, a strange long sound that reminded me of the hissing that came from a kettle on the stove that was ready to be taken off, sss. I held on to that sound, focused on it, and let it consume me. I raised my left hand and felt Kiara’s affection for me pouring out of my palm. Another sound came to me, then—an elongated stretch of a “bah” with an “L” at the end. I put them together, and both syllables poured from my lips, much like the energy that poured out of my hands.
“Cybal.”
The demon screeched. Its eyes grew wide in such a fearful fashion that I never imagined would be possible. I'd never heard it this distraught. As many tantrums as it had thrown, as many times as it had scratched the insides of my belly, it had never been this scared. How odd it was to witness my demon—the thing that possessed me, wanted to hurt me and the people around me—in this state.
After the waves of colors consumed its very being, it burst into pieces, strips of light shining out from a tattered core. It shriveled into the ground and disappeared, and I was sent back to the surface, where everything was tangible, and where Kiara was screaming for me to come back. I awoke to a cool cloth resting on my forehead. Sweat poured from my brow and soaked into my clothes. My heart was racing and my chest was heaving. As I panted for air, I reached for the first thing that I knew was nearby—her hand. This time, I was confident I would be gentle with her.
Clancy was on my left, kneeling over the bed, worriedly searching my face. His expression burst into one of joy as he looked up.
“He's awake,” he announced.
Kiara gasped and put the back of her hand to my cheek. “I think his fever has broken, too.”
Clancy laughed in disbelief. He moved back and stood next to the bed, pacing around it. He scrubbed his fingers through his hair and rubbed his hunch. He kept coming back to my side, staring at me, and then walking away. Something about him seemed irked, yet there was another side of him that was overjoyed. I could sense in him that something had broken. He pulled something out from his pocket that looked like a wand. It was an obsidian stone that had been fashioned into a stick. He came back to my side, crawled over the bed, and held the wand over my torso.
Slowly, he pulled his fingers away from the wand and reverently watched it float above my body. For a few minutes, everything was quiet. Kiara was sitting in a chair on the other side of my bed. Her hands were fixed to her knees, her body was stiff, and her eyes were wide. She just kept staring at that stone wand floating over every inch of my body. When it was done, it stopped and Clancy plucked it from the air. He studied it for quite a while, then he blinked, sat back, and let out a laugh. It sounded more like a croak than a chuckle.
“I can't believe it. The demon is gone,” he gasped.
Kiara shakily reached for my hand and grabbed it so hard I thought she might injure me. “Are you serious?”
