Chapter 71
Chapter 71
Eden
I wake up from the sex dream with a gasp. It wasn’t a nightmare, yet my chest is heaving since I already miss the mate that was in it. My lungs scream for air, and since my mate is no longer here, my vision blurs with tears.
“Azriel…” I whisper into the dark.
It takes a moment to realize I’m safe. Not in Mara’s dungeon. Not in his arms. Just…here. Back in my old house with the creaky floorboards.
A strong, brown arm slides around my back, pulling me against solid warmth.
“I’ve got you,” Axel murmurs, voice rough from sleep but calm, grounding. “You’re safe, Eden. Just breathe.”
I know I shouldn’t take advantage of Axel. But I need someone to hold. Someone to hug. I sink into him without hesitation. My face pressed into the firm plane of his magnificent chest. His hand moves slowly up and down my spine. Anchoring me. Soothing me.
Still, there’s no fighting away my tears. “I miss him,” I whisper, voice cracking. “Gods, I miss him so much that it’s physically painful!”
“I know.” Axel’s voice is soft. “I know, Eden.”
I pull back slightly, needing to look at him. His green eyes are gentle but unreadable.
“I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Does not matter to me.” He shrugs. “You were having a nightmare, and I would rather help than continue
sleeping. I… I hate seeing you in pain.”
My throat tightens. “I hate being in pain.”
Silence settles over us like fog. Not uncomfortable, but heavy. My hands are still on his chest, and only now do l
realize how close we are. His skin is warm beneath my palms, his body hard with muscle. Too hard. Too real.
I jerk away. “I need a shower.”
Axel sits up, rubbing his face with one hand. “Yeah. Probably a good idea.”
He throws off the covers, and I instantly regret looking.
Oh gods.
He’s shirtless.
And his sweatpants are… oh no.
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Chapter 71
That erection is fucking hugel
I Immediately whip my head to the side, cheeks on fire. “You couldn’t have grabbed a blanket first?”
He knows I mean his cock, and groans.
“Okay. It’s not like I planned for this to happen, but you were hugging me!” he grabs a towel and wraps it around himself. “I might be your best friend, but… I just woke up, Eden. Morning wood isn’t exactly optional, especially not when your friend is hugging you like you’re her teddy bear!”
I press a hand to my face. “You’re disgusting.”
“You’re the one who was staring at it,” he says with a teasing lilt in his voice. “You were practically drooling a the sight as well.”
I shriek. “I was not!”
“You were also touching me.”
“Oh my god, I HUGGED you!”
“Do all hugs include squeezing pecs, or is it just your hugs that are perverted?”
“I’m going to murder you!”
“You and what army?”
“Gah, you’re so cocky!”
reven
He chuckles, that low, rumbling sound that somehow makes my face heat even more. I grab a change of clothes
and all but sprint toward the bathroom.
But then-
“Eden?”
Axel and I both freeze at the sound of Evlira’s voice from downstairs.
“Uh… I think we have company!”
Axel and I exchange a look and rush to the window. Outside, through the curtain of snow, a line of figures stands just at the edge of the woods.
Tall. Pale. Cloaked in shadows.
My stomach drops. “Fae.”
“Mara’s soldiers,” Axel growls.
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Chapter 71
For one insane second, I think of how safe the Alpha mansion might’ve been. Then I shove that thought away. We didn’t come this far just to be hunted like animals again.
“We don’t have time to run,” I say.
“We’re not running,” Axel replies, already shifting. His bones crack, fur bursting from his skin.
My breath catches at the sight of him. His wolf form is beautiful and massive, taller than any I’ve ever seen with it’s
back hitting the ceiling.
“You couldn’t wait until we were outside?”
Axel chuffs and head for the door. I follow him downstairs. Elvira is staring at the door downstairs.
“They want you,” she says, eyes traveling to mine.
I give her a fierce smile. “Then let’s give them hell.”
Outside, it’s snowy and cold, and the fight begins instantly.
It’s a blur of violence. My fox instincts take over and then I’m fighting like an assassin. I duck, spin in human form, but I have nine tails to help me. Axel barrels through two soldiers at once in wolf form, teeth sinking into a fae’s
throat with a horrible crunch.
Elvira is in her wolf form too. Faster than I remember and moving like a storm.
But there are too many.
A blade slips past Axel’s guard and buries itself in his side. He howls in agony, the sound ripping through the trees.
“Axel!” I scream.
He stumbles, blood soaking his fur, and more soldiers converge on him.
I tear through one of them, desperation making my magic surge. I scream and my tails wrap around a fae, choking him to death. Another falls when Elvira bites him to death.
But Axel is still on the ground.
He snarls, trying to rise, but he’s hit again. This time in the shoulder. He crashes down, blood dark in the snow.
“No!” I rush to him, falling to my knees.
His green eyes meet mine. He growls, trying to stand, trying to protect me.
“I’m not leaving you,” I whisper, touching his fur. “You stay with me, Axel. Please.”
More fae close in.
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I stand, power building in my chest.
But before I can unleash it the air shifts. The snow stills.
There’s a person with a hood in the forest, approaching my mother’s old house. A tall shadow moving through the tree. Is it…Azriel? No. It can’t be.
Maybe this is… Azriel’s friend?
A gust of wind kicks up, but it doesn’t carry snow. It carries water. A strange, swirling vapor, salty like ocean spray.
I kneel by Axel, pressing my hands against his wounds, shaking. “Please stay with me, Axel,” I whisper. “You’re my
best friend and not allowed to die on me!”
His breath is shallow. The fight has cost him too much.
And then I feel it–magic in the air. Not Azriel’s, but something just as old. I look in the direction and witness the stranger summon a wall of water from nowhere. It rises like a tsunami, towering over the remaining fae soldiers.
They scatter, but it’s too late. The water crashes down, sweeping them away with terrifying force.
I shield Axel with my body, but the water parts around us like we’re surrounded by an invisible bubble.
The hooded figure approaches through the parting waves, and I can finally see him clearly.
He’s slender like fae, but if that isn’t a dead giveaway, the rest is. Silver–blue hair is braided back from a face too
beautiful to be human. His skin has an almost pearlescent quality. He is tall. Strong. And around his neck hangs a
small seashell that glows with inner light. Blue tattoos swirl down his neck and disappear into his cloak.
This man is a vision.
“You must be Eden,” he says, voice melodic like waves lapping at a shore. “I’m Cedar. Azriel sent me.”
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