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Even as a fledgling, I wasn’t this close to stalking the shadows and ripping out the throats of unwitting tourists.
Something is wrong with me.
Part of me worries it’s a side effect of the unity bond. When I think back, that’s when it began, and it’s gotten worse each time I’ve fed from Josie.
How could something so perfect and incredible—a gift from the goddess herself—be rotting me from the inside?
Rune certainly doesn’t seem to be suffering. Last night, I got to witness firsthand how the two of them interact in private. They are an easy pairing. They laugh, freely. They play.
I enjoyed the play too.
I just had to remind myself not to gut him and rip out his entrails for touching my mate.
Our mate.
Feckin’ hell.
As if my toxic thoughts have called him into being, Rune appears at the corner and stops to allow the traffic to pass before crossing the street.
There’s something off about the Viking.
His footsteps are unusually heavy, his aura clouded with turmoil. As he nears, the set of his jaw and the furrow between his brows tell me more than words could.
I straighten, a knot of concern tightening in my chest. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
He stops at the bottom of the four stone steps that lead up to the shop, propping a boot on the tread of the second step.
When he doesn’t speak, my alarm bells chime even louder. Rune’s not one for contemplative thought. He blurts out every idea that sparks without a moment’s hesitation or concern for the consequence.
He exhales sharply. “It’s Sebastian. He… he wiped something from my memories.”
A chill slices through the humid air. “He what? Are you sure?”
He nods. “He called me in. I remember going over the street reports, we talked a little about how things went last night…and then nothing.”
“What do you think he took?”
Rune gives a bitter laugh, rubbing his temples as if he could physically coax the memories back into place. “That’s the point. I can’t fucking remember what it was about because it’s gone.”
“Of course. Sorry.”
The thought that Sebastian has slipped so far from the man we swore our love and allegiance to is both disheartening and terrifying.
The lively sounds of the city feel distant now, as if we’re wrapped in a bubble of our own, crushed under the weight that he would do something so out of bounds.
To enthrall Rune—his brother—things have devolved so much more than I imagined. “What did he say when you came out of it?”
“He was there, nose to nose, and patted me on the shoulder. He told me not to worry, that he only took what he needed and nothing more. He said it was for my safety and that things are bigger than me and my hurt feelings.”
“I agree there are things that trump personal feelings, but why doesn’t he trust us with them? He’s always told us everything.”
“There’s something seriously wrong with him, Finn. Last night, when we were going to Sloane’s lounge, he was talking to himself—no, arguing with himself—and telling the thin air to fuck off.”
“Is he hallucinating?”
“That’s what it looked like to me. A couple of dumb humans called him on it, and he nearly ripped their throats out, right there on the sidewalk.”
“Feckin’ hell.”
