Stolen By The Beast by Marstens M.J. & Ashe Sedona

Author:Marstens, M.J. & Ashe, Sedona
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sun Pressed Books
Published: 2023-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Karvik

It has been nearly seven sunrises, and what I once refused, I now embraced. I could no longer deny my need for companionship.

My decision wasn’t born of the need to perpetuate my species—how could I with another so unlike my kind? —but out of the swirling loneliness, even the darkness inside of me began to abate.

Although I knew Juniper enjoyed my company, I still struggled with the insecurity of her fully accepting me. I was a beast, whereas she was like an unstable fawn still learning the world around her.

Where she was young, I was ancient.

Where she was soft, I was savage.

Where she was human, I was monstrous.

Could the two of us bonding really ever truly be?

It didn’t matter. I had made up my mind. In the beginning, I’d shunned Juniper’s existence in my world, but I wasn’t going to push her away anymore. She herself insisted she wanted to stay, and from the smell of her, she viewed me as a mate.

But to make her one was something else altogether.

It required a gift, as she called it, a tangible symbol of my commitment. This gift would mark the beginning of our new journey together, as well as my vow of eternal protection. I would never leave her side and would forever provide for her.

Glancing down at my saroque, I acknowledged the relic of my solitary existence. It was a gift for my Chosen long ago, but that was a past I was choosing to leave behind. It was nothing but a memory of the pain and the loss I had suffered.

And so much had changed in the short time I’d been with Juniper.

I felt lighter—brighter—as if her very existence eased the black abyss eating at my insides.

With this in mind, I unsheathed my claws, and I severed my saroque. The decisive swipe cut through the bone instantly, and I braced myself for the pain. My breath quickened, and the forest seemed to hold its breath in anticipation.

The pain was sharp, but it was nothing compared to the depth of emotion that surged within me. Every sensory detail was heightened by the gravity of my decision. The metallic scent of my own blood filled the air, an acrid reminder of the sacrifice I made for my newly Chosen.

Licking my claws clean of the crimson liquid, the sharp tang lingered on my tongue. The taste was as bittersweet as the emotions welling within me and abated some of the physical sensations that seared throughout my body.

For a moment, the forest blurred around me as I clutched my severed saroque in my claw. My heart pounded loudly in my ears as I kneeled down. With trembling fingers, I began to dig into the soft earth, creating a pit.

Each scoop of soil felt like a step toward a new beginning—away from the darkness that had defined me. As if knowing this, the blackness within stirred, a shifting, nebulous force that had always been a part of me.

It was as if it echoed my own doubts and fears.

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