Something was wrong.
The air in Darius’s chambers was heavy with the scent of medicine, blood, and sweat. He lay sprawled across his bed, his chest bare and glistening with perspiration. Each ragged breath he drew in made the muscles of his abdomen flex and ripple. His lips were curled in a vicious snarl, like even in sleep, he was fighting his beast from coming out.
That same invisible pull that had dragged me here grew stronger, urging me toward him. He groaned, the sound more wolf than man, and every hair on my body rose.
Still, I kept going until I was so close, I could touch him.
“No,” I whispered, forcing myself to move a step back. “This isn’t my problem. I need to go back. I need to…”
“Estella?”
My heart almost stopped when his blood-red eyes snapped open, and he reached for
