The Night Prince (The Wolf King, #2)(5)

Dots flash before my eyes, and cold sweat beads on my skin. I try to cling onto consciousness, but a wave of darkness crashes toward me. The small bed, the fireplace laden with books, the embers in the hearth, Callum’s face—they all turn grey.

“BLAKE!” Callum sounds faraway as he leaps from the bed.

I’m sinking.

Then blackness.





Chapter Two





I’m racing down a dark endless prison corridor. I’m a crumbling statue, and vines of shadow coil around my arms and legs. Damp cells, metal scalpels, and hearts dripping black blood flash before my eyes.

I’m sprinting through a forest at night. My dress snags on branches, and thorns dig into the soles of my feet. I don’t know if I’m running toward something, or running away, but if I stop, I’ll die.

Callum’s blurry face appears before mine. “What’s wrong with her? Is it the bite?”

“It’s her wolf.” Blake sounds like dark silk and it cools my burning bones. “Aurora, darling.” A palm presses against my clammy forehead, and the beast that rages in my chest settles. “Look at me.”

I peel open my eyelids and jerk back.

Blake’s pupils dilate until they are empty black holes, and his mouth curves into a cruel smile that is too big for his face. He laughs. Harsh and cold and endless.

I know what you are, I scream inside my head.

What?

Monster.

The darkness takes me once more.

I’m trapped in a cold dark space, and there’s water as black as pitch up to my waist. A great beast carries a rabbit in his maw as he runs through a dilapidated chapel. A whip tears through my flesh as male laughter shatters my eardrums. A woman cries amid a snowstorm.

Feral amber eyes peer at me.

“Her body is assimilating.” A voice dripping honey and poison. “It wants to reject the wolf.”

“She was fine earlier.” A voice rough with worry, thick with the Northlands. “A wee bit restless, perhaps, but not like this.”

“She’ll go through phases like this until she shifts for the first time. It will pass.”

“Did this happen to you?”

“Yes.” A hand tilts back my head and pushes a chalice to my lips, filled with poison. “Drink up, little rabbit.”

No. No. No.

I swing my head against my pillow, helpless. Cold darkness trickles down my throat and spills from my lips. He bleeds into the shadows, and his voice echoes in my mind.

My pawn. My puppet. Mine.

I blink, and I’m padding through a castle. Cold air tickles my bare legs, and my naked feet slap against the flagstones. I savor the cold on my burning flesh. I savor the shadows that brush against my cheeks. My legs are weak. It’s too dark to see, but I’m attached to a leash and I follow it. My fingers squeeze around the hilt of a silver blade. Something growls in my chest.

I’m not a pawn. I’m not a puppet. I belong to no one.

I enter the room. He sleeps in a bed that’s pushed against the wall. I don’t know if I’m awake, or dreaming. Everything is hazy, yet he seems more corporeal than before. He has his arm slung above his head, and his dark hair is mussed. He looks so soft. So peaceful. So easy to kill.

I blink, and I’m straddling his torso, a blade to his throat. My thighs clench his hips. He feels solid. Hot. His fingers curl around my wrist like a shackle. He opens his eyes, and something feral looks back at me. He blinks, long eyelashes fanning his cheeks, and the beast disappears, but something just as dangerous meets my gaze. He smells like blood and dark fairytales and the depths of the forest.

“I don’t recall inviting you into my bed, Aurora, darling.”

He is carrying me. My cheek is pressed against his hard bare chest. I’m a doll, draped in his arms. A toy to be played with. A puppet to be controlled. I snarl and struggle, but he holds me tighter, and I cannot shake myself free. He passes me to someone else as if I’m nothing. Callum makes soothing sounds against my ear. I’m hot. So hot. So restless. When will it end?

“Where did you find her?” Callum’s voice is thick with sleep and worry.

“In my chambers.” I hear his amusement. “I think her wolf wants to kill me.”

“I think most Wolves want to kill you.” A pause that lasts an eternity or a heartbeat. “You speak of her wolf as if it’s separate to who she is.”

“It is.”

“The wolf is part of who we are, Blake. Perhaps if you accepted that part of yourself—”

“Callum, if I ever want your counsel, I shall ask for it. And if I ever ask for it, I truly fear for the state of the world.” Footsteps rumble like thunder through my ears. “Keep a tighter leash on your pet.”

Shadows take me once more.

I’m in a carriage with Sebastian, and he has a slit across his throat. I have strings hooked into my arms, and a faceless being is making me dance in an empty ballroom. Blake prowls toward me, eyes alight with violence.

I’m running. I’m lost. Dark corridors twist into oblivion. There’s a symbol. A key, with crescent moons in the bow.

Someone screams.

Someone sings.

Bright, blinding light.

I jolt upright.

I’m breathing hard. My hair sticks to my skin, and I’m tangled in bedsheets. I’m alone.