Chapter 35 · Blood for the Monster

Vane wasn't breathing right.

I heard it before I could see him. A wet, hollow rattle, like gravel dragged around inside his chest.

"Vane." I crawled across the ice on my elbows. My ribs screamed. "Hey. Look at me."

His eyes were open. That was the worst part. The crimson was gone. What was left was flat and black, like two holes punched through his face.

Then he moved.

I didn't even see it. One second I was reaching for him. The next his hand was around my throat and my back hit the ice wall hard enough to turn my vision white.

His claws pressed into my skin. Not deep. Just enough to bruise. Just enough to say he could.

"It's me," I got out. It came out thin. "Seraphina. Say my name, you stupid bastard."

Nothing. He leaned in and breathed against my neck, right over the old scar. Right over the place he'd cut two years ago in front of the whole pack.

My whole body remembered. The burn. The humiliation. Every hair on my arms stood up.

He wasn't smelling me like a mate.