Their Wife: Book 2

Fifteen (Part 3)

His arms wrapped around me and he hugged me to him tightly, making it nearly impossible to dislodge his fangs when a blood-curdling scream ripped its way out of my throat. I tried to push him away, to make the pain stop, but it was impossible to move the man. My pushes eventually turned into punches, desperate hits that I hoped would make him stop.

It hurt. So much. The others weren't this bad. Ares was setting new thresholds for limits I didn't know I could push.

In response to my attack, he tightened his hold, crushing me against him further and moulding my body to his as he dug his teeth further in.

I couldn't stop my screams from turning into sobs. Why did it hurt so much? For some reason, Ares bond was the one being forged the most painfully, but his thread of fate was also the one that was glowing the brightest, followed by Ryder's. Jaxon and Zev's on the other hand, were encased in shadows compared to the other two. I didn't notice it at first, but they were slowly growing dimmer.

Just when I thought I would pass out from the pain coursing through my veins, my hair was tightly gripped near my scalp and I was harshly pulled back. Another scream tore its way out as I felt my skin rip apart. The hand holding me wasn't able to pull me far, but it was enough to tear Ares's fangs from my flesh.

"You son of a bitch," Zev hissed from behind me, giving a face to the hand still holding my head back tightly.

Ares ran his tongue over his fangs as they slowly returned to their usual length. They were still a little longer than average, giving him a vampiric appearance.

The corner of his bloodied lips curled up. "I can't argue with that. Mother was quite the bitch."

Zevs lip curled up in contempt. He tried to pull me out of Ares's hold and force me to my feet at his side, but Ares wouldn't let me go. I grimaced at the pain of Zev's hold, Ares's bite no longer overpowering it.

Noticing pain still contortions my features, Ares's eyes narrowed on Zev's hand. He reached out and grabbed him by the wrist, twisting his hand so he was forced to choose between letting go or nursing a broken bone.

"What the fuck was that?" Jaxon asked through clenched teeth as he supported himself on a tree near us. I jumped at how close he was compared to when I had glanced over at him earlier in Thornes hold. The horse-sized wolf was sitting by Jaxon's side as he clutched his burnt side. Although he wasn't being openly hostile like before, Thorne was watching him closely with narrowed eyes.

"He just tried to erase our bonds. He flooded and weakened her system with his venom then attacked our bonds with his shadows," Zev said, his voice tight with thinly hidden rage as Ares soothed his hand over the sore patch on the back of my head.

"That's possible?" Jaxon asked in disbelief.

"No. He would have killed us all."

Ares shrugged, as he examined my neck, tilting my head to the side with gentle fingers on my chin. "I made her a promise, so I had to try. I would have stopped before any real harm could come to her. The excessive use of Venom just means there more of me in her veins."

Zevs jaw clenched tighter.

"Why does that matter?" Jaxon asked. He was standing on his two feet without support now and had stepped closer, Thorne following at his heels while Ryder still lay peacefully unaware off to the side.

Ares's eyes lite up in amusement. "Why don't you tell him, brother." Although he used the enduring term he had snapped at Zev for using earlier, his was dripping in mockery.

When Zev didn't answer immediately, Jaxon turned towards him. "Zev?"

"Fae royals are empaths. We're more attuned to shifts in nature, making it easier to read others' moods. Having more of his Venom in her veins means that he'll be able to notice smaller shifts in her emotions that we won't be able to. His bond reaches into her deeper than ours."