Predator

Part Twenty Two✔️

There she was. She had burst through the trees with the same aura she always bounced into the rooms with despite this horrible night. Her eyes landed on him, back leaned against a tree with his legs stretched in front of him, hand covering a bloody gash on his stomach. She paused, that peaceful and happy air around her gone and in its place was despair. He watched her approach him with her big teary eyes.

"Maksim." That honey sweet voice filled his ears and all his pain was gone with just her voice. "What has he done to you, my love?"

He could hear Grey's voice mixing in with his unconscious memories, her voice was far away as she called out his name frantically. He could feel a hand holding his own, resting on his cheek, but he couldn't tell who was touching him or whether it was real or not. He tried to move, tried to yell but his body was paralyzed with pain. In and out he drifted into the land of dreams and reality.

"Maksim, come on baby." He hadn't heard her voice in years, it encouraged him to focus on his memories that now seemed like dreams. He faded far away from Grey and came to her.

"Emilie?"

He opened his eyes and everything was hazy. Nothing but the morning sky was visible through the morning mist. He swore he had heard her voice but no one was there. He blinked a few times but the haze wouldn't go away around the edges of his vision, so with shaky, weak arms he pushed himself up to sit.

And there was Alexei, looking at him as if he'd seen a ghost. His eyes were wide and his mouth stuttered as if he wanted to speak. Blood coated his fingertips up to his forearms and he shook violently. He had just shifted back, Maksim could tell by the way his wolf's pelt lay on the ground not far away.

"Alexei?"

"I'm so sorry."

Maksim frowned. "What?"

"I should've stopped him. I should've tried to stop him but I just watched him do it." Alexei looked absolutely insane. "He was too strong. The moon was so full and the pull was too strong. I couldn't stop him-I didn't even try, brother. I'm so sorry."

"What are you talking about?"

Alexei froze, his hand slowly moving into the air as he pointed a shaky red finger to the left of his brother. Turning his head slowly in the direction he pointed, Maksim felt his heart stop.

Scrambling over to her, he forgot his own wounds as he muttered denials under his breath and gathered her limp body into his arms. The first thing he noticed was how cold she was, her skin no longer glowed with warmth and instead it looked dull and ghostly pale under the morning light. He didn't even feel the sparks like he did just hours before. Her eyes were closed, mouth parted, she looked like she was asleep and Maksim would've thought that, had a chunk of her throat not been missing. Scratches littered her body from his brother's claws but that bite to her neck had been the finishing moving. Emilie was dead. She was dead and it was all Alexei's fault.

• • •

His hands were everywhere. They left a scorching trail of heat up and down Grey's sides and even down to the back pockets of her jeans where his dangerous hands seemed to linger the most. She knew he was still a beast even if he looked like a human seeing as though the moon still hung high in the sky, but everything he was doing felt so right. She could feel how much he wanted her and she was somewhat relieved that he wanted her just as much as she did him.

Grey suddenly pulled away, holding his face in place by placing firm hands on his cheeks, closing her eyes and resting her forehead against his. She took a few moments to calm her racing heart by breathing in deep and slow. She was still clouded with lust towards this beast of a man.