The Beast I Am

Chapter 13

Luther stared at me, and I stared at him.

The other boy in the picture...

Rhazien's voice was a haze, "... not impervious to physical harm..."

I stared at Luther, and he blinked back at me, his tail tightening slightly on my wrist.

How Luther had been able to move freely throughout the home... As if he had lived here... as if he knew...

My hand shot back from the table.

"–Fire and beheadings will still commit you to perish in final death..."

Luther's whiskers twitched, his round eyes shifting to glance at Rhazien–his Brother.

It's how Rhazien knew how to find me...

"Just because you're running solo doesn't mean others won't try to ask me for favors on your behalf. So, don't be stupid and get yourself staked by the Princ– Hello? Are you listening to me?"

I shot back from the table, my hands rocking in an obsessive fan as I processed, Luther's eyes still unblinking. His nose twitched as my vision blurred, the room pink and suddenly too hot.

Unblinking, unblinking, unblinking, unbreathing, unliving...

A force that ached of familiarity attempted to wrap my panic in a silk embrace. I shut my eyes, my hands fluttering to cover them—the same sensation as when I was alone with Luther—so many times alone...

Even Rhazien could not be so oblivious to my panic, his footsteps hard as he crossed the room. His wide hand was forceful as he took my chin, jerking me to look up at him. A scorching exasperation clouded his features in a furrow, the words all but ground out behind his teeth.

"No. You do not get to panic now. This is it. You will not escape, run, and hide; you will face this head-on. I command you to still your Beast."

It's like I could feel his words in my blood– forcing it to slow, to calm. My cloudy vision blinking bleary tears away but leaving my fuming– whatever the hell he was– in one place. It was only when I could calm my breath that his hand skimmed down my throat, where it hovered, brushing me ever so slightly.

His touch felt branded on my skin, his words so quickly activating a long-acting blood bond. I had been foolish to think one feeding would overdue the weeks I had been feasting on a tainted supply. The years, I had been hooked to one.

I shoved Rhazien away from me, his broad frame stumbling to jostle the table enough and disturb the water centerpieces, his frown deepening further.

"Do not touch me. You haven't earned that right."

Luther bound down from the table, settling so he could look up at his Brother. Rhazien's mound between his brow smoothened as he receded his hands into the air in virtual surrender. His lips were drawn tight as he poured two glasses, knowing better than to order me to do something twice.

I snatched it off the table, eager to drown out the thunder of him in my blood. The drink quick to numb a burning in my throat, my panic bubbling for just another moment as Rhazien and Luther looked at each other, as if they were... conversing...

I gripped my glass tighter as the thoughts tumbled through my mind: How much did he know? How much had Luther already told his Brother?

Rhazien's jaw clicked, his rage smoldering and contained like a kiln in those punishing eyes... No... They hadn't been on good terms for some time now...