“I see you,” she whispered. Alice refocused her attention on the only thing blocking her from going to the beast. “Cicero, please. I can help him!”

“No one can help Bast.” He struggled to hold her against him, but Alice was not going to give up without a fight.

The men who lived and died for the same cause beneath his command, the men who called themselves allies, surrounded Sebastian on all sides. All had guns drawn. They didn’t appear ready to gun him down, not just yet, but their protectiveness over the Council could not be questioned.

She stopped struggling, swallowing down fear for her lover, and tried to speak calmly to one of his greatest rivals. “He’s not a threat to anyone like this. Sebastian’s hurting really badly right now, I promise. Let me go to him and help. I’ve done it before.”

“My duty is to protect the Council. Not him.”

“Then let me take him away. Let me go and I’ll get him to leave without a fuss. But I can’t help if you keep me here.” Alice thought she felt a little hesitation, the slightest give in the tension of his arms. Perhaps a little uncertainty on his part, so she pressed on. “Protecting the Council should mean getting them away from him. Which is easier? To move one man, or to move seven people with their staff and companions?”

God, please see the logic in her argument. Sebastian looked so lost and alone while he lifted one hand to his face. The claws that had replaced his long, graceful fingers flexed and unfurled, as if he tested whether the things truly were extensions of his own body. If her own fear both of and for him was ratcheted so high, she couldn’t imagine what he must have been feeling.

An interminable stretch of silence passed, during which Cicero seemed to be weighing the consequences of her words. If Bast was worth the aggravation. What was the best course of action for all of them.

“If he makes one wrong move toward any of the Council, I will kill him. Go.” Cicero’s arms dropped, the pain of his previous grip still sending ripples of sensation over her arms.

Stunned, Alice couldn’t find the commands to get her feet to move just yet. She was certain he would change his mind and pull her away before she could take one step forward. When one foot landed in front of the other, and then repeated without interference, she quickly flushed away all thoughts of Cicero to see to Sebastian.

The sudden parch in her throat made swallowing difficult, so she chose not to verbally excuse herself through bodies she pushed roughly past. Face it, most of them wanted to move in the opposite direction of where she headed anyway.

“Do you know me?” she called, her voice box silently screaming in agony. A swift headache tapped at her temples, probably Morse code for do not do this, stupid.

He lifted his head, and Alice bit back a gasp. The scarlet-hued eyes she could deal with. Even the new swirling decoration of scales could be ignored. Something about the way his face had elongated, twisting his masculine jaw into something more reptilian, brought tears to her eyes.

“Baby, it’s me,” she said softly, heart breaking all the while. Regardless of what he looked like, the creature—the man—was still Sebastian. She would not abandon him now.

The look in his eyes—so much confusion—stole her breath. Blood raced through her veins as she moved closer to him without saying another word. She didn’t need to speak to this tormented giant, not when her actions could express so very much.

When they stood face-to-face, almost close enough to touch, she opened her trembling arms to embrace him. Apprehension flittered through Sebastian’s eyes, echoing the sensation swimming within her. What would those scales feel like beneath her fingers?

Once, Richard had taken her to a friend’s house where an albino python resided. On a dare, she’d petted the thing, expecting to meet slime and ick but instead finding cool sleekness. Something told her Sebastian’s scales would be like the snake’s and her tentative fear of touching him would be unfounded. It helped settle frayed nerves a fraction.

His mouth dropped open and agonized sound grated out of his throat. It made her heated blood run cold almost immediately and she reconsidered her stance. How much of him was still in there? How much of his intelligence and passion? Was the man she’d started to develop deep feelings for even aware that she accepted him in all iterations, including this one? Her heart no longer simply pounded. It quivered with indecision.




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