“What things? You said you would help me.” Her voice rose to a shout. “Are you instead keeping me prisoner the same as Rivian?”
He whirled on her, a snarl on his lips. His fangs had descended. His lion pushed toward the surface. “I am nothing like that male. His treachery and cruelty know no bounds. His Tribe cost me everything. I will see them all burn for what they have done.”
She didn’t flinch. Not even a blink. “Then help me go home.”
“I cannot.” The words slipped out before he could stop them. He could feel the beginnings of a mate bond forming, small tendrils winding their way through his soul. “You’re mine.”
Her eyes widened and fear replaced her anger instantaneously.
Saul wanted to grab those two words and shove them back down his throat. He hadn’t meant to say that. But the soul call was so strong. So beautiful.
It’d been so long since he’d felt anything for a female. He’d resigned himself to a life alone and he was fine with that. He didn’t want her as his responsibility, but he also couldn’t let go of her. He knew he wouldn’t.
And she couldn’t go home. She just didn’t know it yet.
The magic was soothing to his broken heart. Her magick. Being in her presence calmed him. He’d never touch her without her permission. Never pressure her into anything.
She obviously didn’t want him. And she was so hurt and in so much pain. But he could care for her. Protect her.
She opened her mouth to speak. Her lips moved, but Saul didn’t hear anything. His eyes only saw her fangs drop and her eyes spark with gold.
He forced himself not to step closer. Not to make her more uncomfortable than she already was.
“I am not yours. The soul call you see is a mistake.”
Dalmeck. But at least she saw it too. He wasn’t going crazy all on his own.
“I will not hurt you,” he repeated.
“Sure, you say that now. But I’ve apparently traded one jailer for another.”
“If I let you go, they will catch you.” His voice was bitter.
Her mouth snapped shut. Then opened. Then closed again—like she couldn’t decide what to say. At least she wouldn’t try to run out the door the second he turned his back.
At least he hoped she wouldn’t.
Rivian and his warriors were out there. The storm was excellent cover for now, but it would only be so long before the snow cleared, and they were able to hunt again.
And they would find them.
“Do you know how long Rivian has had you?” he asked, his tone hesitant.
He knew the tribe’s reputation. Rivian was a prince of the house of Ka’lagh. He knew what they were known for and it wasn’t being kind to women. They were hated on Reylea and feared.
“I don’t remember him taking me. I remember being home yesterday. And then this morning I was here in this land you call Alaska.”
Saul choked on his own tongue. “Yesterday?”
He sank to his knees on the floor. What she was saying meant she remembered nothing from the previous year here on earth. Nothing at all.
Unless females were taken as breeders, they were killed usually within weeks. He’d never heard of the Ka’lagh keeping their prisoners longer.
“Did Rivian claim you?”
Her eyes widened, she sucked in a breath. She opened her mouth to spit more harsh words at him, but then…everything went out of her.
“I was with my mate yesterday, but the guards mentioned I almost got loose yesterday. That they were beating me harder today because of it. The pieces don’t make sense in my mind.”
The vulnerability in her tone was humbling.
Mate? She’d had a mate too. She just didn’t remember losing him. She wouldn’t be seeing a soul call in him if her mate was still alive.
Fate was giving them both a second chance, but she was wasting her energies. Neither of them were ready to move on.
“I am sorry for your loss, female,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.
“My loss?” she said, almost spitting the word back at him. “I’m not sure what that means.”
Saul cringed under her hate. She was in pain. It was acceptable. Whatever she needed to say or feel. He could take it for her. He wasn’t bonded to this female, but he felt her pain as his own. It was the same pain he’d felt when he’d lost his mate back on Reylea to Rivian’s pride.
It was happening again.
History was repeating.
“I need your help to get home. Why won’t you help me?”
“You’ll die if I let you go,” he said. He wouldn’t burden her with more than that right now. His death meant nothing in the grand scheme. All that was important was her health and safety and happiness. He needed her to survive, but she wouldn’t. Not if she left him.
She shook her head. “I’ll die if they catch me. Rivian will eventually kill me to punish Tallix. He’s waiting for the right moment. And it should be my choice, not his. You have to let it be my choice.”
He stood from the floor and breathed deeply. Her sweet spicy scent filled his lungs. “You’re my responsibility. You cannot leave.”
“Dalmeck!” Her tone was bitter and full of anger again. “What’s stopping me from walking out that door right this second. Are you going to tie me up too? I am—” She stopped herself from saying her name. Saying who she was…why?
That was the last straw.
The pain was too much.
The fear of losing her was too great.
He snarled and released his beast, shifting into his lion right there in the middle of the mostly dark cabin.
He bared his teeth and roared, enough to make her shrink into the couch, trembling and afraid. He would do anything to keep her safe even pretend to threaten her if that’s what was really necessary.
His beast stretched and then sat down behind the couch where she was huddled under the blanket he’d given her.
“This doesn’t change anything.” She eyed him from over the back of the couch. “I’m a lion too.”
He stared.
He licked his lips.
Stared some more.
Her light was beautiful. He would be able to stare at her for as long as he lived. It would be enough.
Her eyes flashed for a moment, her lion rising to the surface, but it didn’t last. The glitter faded.
Fear replaced it and Saul was saddened again. Her lion was no match for his and she knew it.
He’d done that to her.
He’d made her afraid of him.
And he still didn’t even know her name.
4
Lorelei
She was in a structure.
The clothes on her body didn’t belong to her.
The scent of another male—not her mate, not Tallix—filled the air around her. Where was she? Where was her mate? Why did she hurt? Why didn’t she remember what’d happened?
“Tallix?” Her voice sounded weak and unsure. That was unlike her. She was a queen. Why was she acting like a beaten servant? Unacceptable.
She sat up slowly and took in her surroundings. It was quiet. The structure looked like a dwelling. A warm fire burned in a strange metal contraption close by. She was laying on a bed of cushions.