Chapter 134

• Dane
• Like a maze the woods stretched with shadows and moonlight, with cold wind that bit and stung as I made my way through the trees, still feeling the thrum of my pulse at Thomas's oily excuse for a midnight run. I'd let him go, for now, but my thoughts had shifted the moment I felt the guard's mind-link: Lusia's near the woods, Alpha. Alone. I fled toward the woods, the stone walls of the castle blurring behind me, propelled by a nameless fear. She had been missing from the very room where I had left her so that I could seem to be sleeping peacefully; a thought that carved through me like an arrow was the fear of what could have happened to her.
• And here she stood. I motioned for my guards to fade back, leaving only the two of us behind in the clearing, where she'd been basking in the moonlight-naked against the soft rays, her skin coiled under a faint veil under the crescent moon; midnight hair was a tangle about her shoulders. She looked dazed and lost, the expression in her eyes suggesting she was gazing far beyond those trees. Relief crashed into something raw, something that felt too much like panic. There was no time for words; crossing the grass, the hem of my cloak brushed against the frost as I gathered her into my arms. Cold. With her trembling, I lifted her against me. Her breath hitched, but she didn’t resist, just let her head rest against my shoulder, silent as a ghost.