AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A debilitating need to cut the coercion from his body nearly blinded him, and it was only his drive to keep it from Ava that had him halting it in its path.
Remmus could never tell her the truth. He could never tell her that he was the one responsible for what had happened to her family.
But to purposefully keep her in the dark was an unforgivable betrayal. While he could claim it was for her own protection, the truth of it was that it’d be to protect himself. She would continue chasing her revenge against Ciru, not knowing he was the man she called her mate.
Remmus couldn’t live a lie, regardless of what his parents had wanted for him.
Failure.
His mother’s coercion iced through his veins, the inky shadow reaching into his mind and yanking on his sanity. What followed in its wake was a rising swell of darkness that nearly undid him.
Remmus loosened his hold on Ava’s fingers before his control snapped. A bite of sharp pain lanced into his palm, the demand to satisfy the coercion growing more impatient with every passing moment.
“Ava, should we return to the den?”
As he suspected, Ava would attribute the coarseness in his voice to anger on her behalf, and when she gave a quick confirmation, Remmus counted his blessings.
Avelina was here. Alive. Thriving. In the wake of his betrayal, she hadn’t perished after a tragic mortal life; she’d bloomed. She hadn’t needed him to be successful; she’d become an amazing woman without him.
Failure.
Weakness.
Ineptitude.
Laden with the sins of his past, Remmus rode the rising tide of coercion as it began to drown him. His teeth grit together, his muscles locking in his right arm. It wasn’t long before his other hand clamped shut, mirroring the other extremity as his body tried to ineffectually dispel the compulsion.
He quickly teleported them back to her quarters. With every ounce of adoration and apology he possessed, he picked her up and gently set her in bed, finally realizing why she never had blankets there.
Ava had felt trapped, suffocated beneath the layer of blankets. She’d watched her entire village be murdered while underneath them, likely associated their weight with what had likely been the worst day of her life.
The last day she’d seen Ciru. Remmus.
He both loved and hated the fact that she clung to him like a lifeline.
“I’m sorry, Ava,” he whispered, his nails biting into his palm. “I can’t—I need time. To process.”
She nodded, tearful but understanding. “Come back to me when you’re able.”
Though he’d have longed to hold her through the worst of her nightmares, he couldn’t be here. He wasn’t this man she thought him to be—especially not when he was the one she yearned to snuff out.
He tenderly kissed her cheek, then teleported to his quarters. The teleport, however, was so weak he ended up splayed on the ground instead of on his feet by his blade. He’d taken one step toward it when he received the telepathic knock on his mind. Though he was burning with the need to cut the coercion from his body, he answered the call.
Zeke.
Aidan said you’d completed your mission with the packs.
Mentally jerking away from the impatience in the sovereign’s telepathic voice, Remmus cringed. Yes, but we’re still working on the St. Louis plant.
We can’t afford to dawdle, Remmus. We need more intel on the human’s Raeth before they escalate another attack. The Citizens won’t respect the post-Heat peace. With so many new and vulnerable clan members, we are at too much risk.
Remmus’ fingers dug further into his palm at the veiled reprimand. While he could skirt his own mind’s accusations for a nominal period of time, an authority figure’s rebuke often proved ruinous. The one time that Nina had done so before she knew his story had nearly resulted in his exsanguination.
Even connected to Zeke as he was, Remmus hadn’t explained his situation to the other sovereign. He simply hadn’t felt comfortable enough yet, and now that error was proving disastrous.
Forgive me. I’ll find the Raeth.
The addition of Remmus’ apology made him crumple to his knees, the heavy toll of his curse banging the drum inside his mind.
