Page 73 of Wings of Snow
Worry punched my gut when wonder, awe, then lust carved through our bond. Just a moment ago, she’d felt happy and hopeful, then reverent and enthralled, but now?—
Fuck.
An ominous feeling slid through me.
“It’s happening again!” I bit out. “At the Adrall Temple when she was acting strangely around Drachu, the same thing is happening now, only it’s?—”
I couldn’t continue. Jealousy streaked through my insides like a scorching hot flame as I raced to catch her. I knew she didn’t actually want Drachu, that she didn’t even like the tricky bastard after what he’d done to her, but it was a response I couldn’t stop.
I wanted to kill Drachu. I wanted to murder any male that made my mate’s blood heat with desire. I lusted for revenge so potently that I could taste the Lochen king’s flesh on my tongue.
Ilara was already halfway across the room when my guards and I finally caught up with her. She was headed right for the king and two females who were?—
“Mother Below, am I seeing things?” Ryder asked as Sandus’s jaw dropped.
It was only fear for my mate that made me burst forward and grab her, but considering what we were looking at, it was hard to keep my focus.
The Lochen king was currently writhing on a bed, a huge scaled dick standing on end from between his scales as one of his females bounced on top of him in an awkward-looking seated position. A pink slit was evident in her scales that the king’s cock disappeared into. The other female sat on the king’s face as she moaned and rubbed herself on him while he ate her out.
“I think I need to scrub my eyes,” Nish said. “I thought it would be...different than that.”
I snarled in their direction, even though I was inclined to agree with him. Something about seeing the Lochen in such a state that seemed more animal than fae right now and knowing that my mate desired to join them...
Rage fired through me.
Ilara squirmed in my touch, the lust from her ratcheting up through our bond as she tried to go to them.
“No,” I growled.
I couldn’t allow her to touch the Lochen king, not just because every instinct within me screamed to keep her away, but also because I couldn’t hide what they felt. My illusions masked sight and sound but not touch.
My mate fought against me more.
“Fuck,” I cursed quietly. “Ilara, stop!”
“No!” Her struggles increased, and the look on her face was so intense, so obsessed with reaching the king. She fought me more, and my grip began to slip.
“Ilara!” I snarled. I shoved a huge burst of frustration toward her on the mate bond, hoping against hope that it would get through to her.
The second my anger reached her, she stilled, then peered up at me as though she’d been asleep and had only just awoken.
Relief hit me hard, but the second her expression cleared, the fog descended anew, and she was once again struggling in my grip, trying to reach Drachu.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
Fury swallowed me. Ilara was too lost in the king’s thrall over her. Being this close to him made her entirely vulnerable. And something about being near Drachu in his fish-form seemed to be commanding her even more than he had on land.
“Sandus! Haxil!” I roared. “Hold her!”
But just as my guards reached us, Ilara ripped free and raced the remaining distance to the king using her warrior speed. Before we could stop her, Ilara’s hand slid along the king’s stomach, touching him with a lover’s caress.
Arousal coated my mate’s expression, and that response was because of Drachu, not me.
Red coated my vision.
Kill him.
Kill him.