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Stunned. Baffled. I looked at her again, in a momentary shock, then my eyes grew wider when she lowered her head in pain.

“Zephyrine?”

“It’s the… it’s the runes,” she fought to speak, and hurriedly I reached for her dress, pulling down the strap at the back. I hadn’t even revealed much before I saw the runes glowing, crawling up to her neck.

That sight, those runes, left me shaken more than ever. I was not the one doing it, and I wondered desperately what I could do to help. She was writhing in pain, and it hurt me to see her like this.

I pulled her into my arms at once, wrapping her tenderly, and she rested against my chest, holding me tight while I caressed her, hoping it would help, hoping it would ease her pain until it happened.

My demon side and my Lycan side, the beasts within me, they wanted her too. It felt as though some connection had formed between us, something more… more unique.

I held her hand tenderly, and all of a sudden it sparked. The runes on her hand drew down to the back of her palm and passed to mine, creating a sacred symbol that seemed to bind us.