Claimed (20 page)

Tina ran, sliding on the wet blood in the corridor, blindly dashing along as tears stung her eyes and ran unchecked down her cheeks. The click of claws grew louder behind her dragged a whimper from deep in her chest.

“Tina, stop. You shouldn’t be running. Bavric needs to heal you.”

The deep growl from behind her forced a small squeak out of her.

He was lying. They didn’t want to heal her. They wanted to shut her away. Tina didn’t stop. She kept running, around a corner in the corridor until her feet went out from under her and she crashed to the floor with a screech of pain as her wings tangled and wrenched. Her momentum sent her sliding across the floor in the blood that coated the stone.

A great hulking shape turned at her screech and growled so low, all the hairs on her arms and neck rose in warning. Violent rage surged through her. Oh god! She stared up at the nightmare that was Sorvar coming closer and closer. Tina scrabbled across the slick polished stone floor, unable to stop herself from rushing headlong for the very male she desperately wanted to get away from.

“No,” she whispered, but she couldn’t stop herself from sliding right for the ferocious male. A sob ripped from her throat, the sound harsh in the quiet corridor.

“Tina,” he said, so low and dangerous a tremor rocked her body.

But she couldn’t talk, couldn’t respond as she shook her head up at the monster in front of her.

“She’s having a panic attack,” another voice said from behind her.

“I know. I can feel it.” The monster looked down at her. “Pavri, where have you gone? What has made you so afraid?”

Tina swallowed and shook her head. She wouldn’t tell him. If he knew what she feared, he would use it against her. Just like her father had used her fear of the dark against her. She pushed back, sliding in the wetness on the floor.

If she could just get away. If she could just find somewhere to hide, he’d eventually give up looking for her, but she didn’t get what she wanted. He reached for her, his huge clawed hands coming closer and closer as she shimmied across the floor, whimpers rising in her throat.

She slipped and twisted, rising to her knees in preparation to flee once again only to run into the second male behind her.

“No, no, no,” she chanted as she pushed against the hands that grasped her, struggling to get away.

Another set of hands pulled at Tina, claws digging into her arms, making her shriek. The rough hands smashed her against a hard chest, then they were moving at a ferocious pace back down the corridor.

It’s all right, pavri. Whatever you are afraid of, we will deal with it so you don’t have to be afraid anymore.

Tina didn’t respond, a whimper rising in her throat as she struggled, kicking and pushing against the male who wouldn’t release her. He was what she was afraid of. Him and all the other males that wanted to lock her up just like her father had done, and like his father had done, too. Her breath sawed in and out of her, the gasps loud in the quiet corridor, competing only with the rushed clicking of claws on stone.

They stopped as fast as they’d started, but before she could attempt to escape, another presence moved up to her and something cold pressed against her neck.

No. They couldn’t. But the slight sting against her neck told her they had.

He’d betrayed her. He’d promised she was safe with him, and now he was drugging her. God only knew what they would do to her while she was unconscious. Maybe she’d wake up in the little black hell hole she’d been in when she arrived.

Did it really matter? Sorvar had lied to her, just like her father always lied to her mother. Tina’s head lolled to one side resting against Sorvar’s chest, her eyelids fluttering as she desperately tried to stay awake, but the darkness inevitably sucked her under.

Chapter Thirteen

Three days had passed since Tina had laid the eggs. Sorvar was still confused about what had set off her monumental panic attack. Her emotions had been so strong inside him that he’d barely been able to fight Sinder and not drop to his knees with his head in his hands. But he’d managed to finish the fight with his brother, and he’d even taken Tina’s advice and not killed him.

He knew she was right. If he
had
killed his brother, he would have regretted it, and it would have made their situation with his father even more untenable. His brother was alive, barely, and wouldn’t be suggesting they do anything to hurt his young again.

He stared down at her where she sat on the couch in their suite, his hands resting loosely on his hips. His wings felt like a dead weight on his back, the weight of the last three days dragging them down. Tina huddled in the corner, her legs pulled up and her arms wrapped around them. She barely looked at him and didn’t respond when he spoke to her.

Sun streamed in through the tall window behind her and lit her hair on fire. The bright heavy mass hung in unbrushed messy curls down her back and over her wings. In the three months Tina had been there with him, the only time he had seen her hair in such a state was when he had carried her out of the dungeon.

The situation could not go on. He wouldn’t allow it. She hadn’t spoken to him since she’d woken from the drugged sleep Bavric had put her into. His friend and medic had healed Tina of the damage she’d suffered while delivering the eggs and had given her something to keep her calm when she woke.

But she had not been the Tina he knew and loved when she woke, and she continued to refuse to talk to him, no matter how he tried to engage her. Every time he tried to touch her or hold her, she shied away from him. She’d barely eaten, and he knew she wasn’t sleeping either.

The dull look in her eyes sent a streak of pain through his chest and clenched his stomach into a hard knot every time he managed to catch her gaze and made him feel sick to his stomach. Her emotions felt distant, as if he was feeling them through a baffle. He didn’t know what she had done to keep her emotions from him, and he didn’t like it.

Concern for her had kept him in his suite since he’d brought her back from Medical. He had been by her side for three days, making sure she had everything she needed, making sure she was comfortable and cared for.

No, it definitely couldn’t go on, but he was at a loss for what to do to bring her out of the shell she had erected around herself. He didn’t even know what had set her panic attack off, but he was going to find out.

Sorvar stepped forward, then dropped to his knees in front of Tina. He wanted to touch her, but he also didn’t want to set her off and make her panic again. Her emotions, what little he could feel of them, were heavy and bleak inside him, and the possibility that he might have been the cause of her feeling this way almost broke his heart. He’d promised her he would never hurt her, and she was hurting.

“
Pavri.”

Nothing. She didn’t respond. Sorvar gritted his teeth. There had to be
something
he could say to her to get her to respond. He scrubbed a hand down his face, rubbing at his eyes.

“Tina, I don’t understand what happened,” he said, unable to keep the emotion from his voice. “You were so pleased to see the eggs, and you never gave up hope that they were going to be all right even though Bavric said there was something wrong. You stood up to Sinder, and I was so proud of you for protecting our young.”

He took a breath and blew it out. “I knew you would be a perfect mate, and you just keep proving it to me with every little thing you do.” He reached for her, tentatively, slowly, so as not to scare her. His fingers brushed the top of her foot, just a soft touch. Nothing aggressive and grasping, nothing needy or proprietary. Just a soft slide of his fingers across her skin, then he held them there against the corded and flexed top of her foot. “Tina, I need you to tell me what happened. I want to understand, I want to mend whatever is broken between us and see you as the happy beautiful female I know you as.”

It started as a tiny point of heat in his chest and Tina yanked her foot out from under his hand. Her anger grew, feeling like it was smothered under a layer of Earth and only a gentle warmth came through, but she still refused to look at him. Sorvar ground his teeth, his jaw aching under the strain. Now she was being stubborn. How could he fix this if he didn’t know what happened? How could he fix this if she wouldn’t talk to him?

He reached for her again, sliding his hand around her foot and holding her in a light grip. “
Pavri,
if you don’t talk to me, I can’t understand.
I want
to understand. I want to know what happened after I left you with Bavric and Sedric. Did they hurt you? Or did they say something about our young?”

A small sound accompanied a swell of emotion inside, the strongest he’d felt in days. His chest tightened, making it hard to breathe, and it felt like someone had just ripped out his heart. Tina looked up at him for the first time since she woke up in Medical, and the dull empty look in her green eyes almost shredded what was left of his heart. Why couldn’t he feel everything she was feeling? Why did it feel like some unseen barrier stood between them?

“You lied, Sorvar. You
lied
to me. You’re just like my father, using what I feel for you as a way to control me. I thought you were different, but the minute you had me where you wanted me you showed exactly what kind of man you are.” For all that she spoke in a soft and almost dead voice, her words slashed a jagged wound inside him. She turned away, twisting her body away from him, but she didn’t try to remove her foot from his grasp.

Sorvar reeled, shock making him pull his hand from Tina as he stared down at her. No, it wasn’t possible. He would never lie to her. He shook his head, unable to even verbalise his disbelief. How she could ever compare him to the monster she’d told him about in the months they’d been together he didn’t know. It went against everything ingrained in them to treat a female the way her father had treated her and her mother. It was why his father and brother’s behaviour and treatment of Tina was so hard for him to understand.

For her to even suggest it sent a pain ripping through his chest. He looked at her, his mind a blank, before he pushed up from the floor and turned away stumbling a few steps before he caught himself. He shook his head. When had he lied to her? She had to be mistaken. She had to have misheard him or misunderstood something he’d said. Why hadn’t she confronted him about it?

The Tina he knew and loved would have demanded he explain himself, would have railed at him and accused him of being a bastard. The Tina he knew would not have descended into this emotionless shell of a person, hiding away and refusing to deal with the problem.

He spun around a low growl building in his chest. “When did I lie to you, Tina?”

She turned slowly, bringing her dull eyes around to look at him. Her fingers tensed where she had them wrapped around her legs, her dainty claws digging into her soft skin until little beads of blood welled around each one, but Tina didn’t react to the pain she must be inflicting upon herself.

Sorvar frowned down at her. This wasn’t right. Something was wrong with her.

“You promised me you would never hurt me, Sorvar. You told me I was safe with you, but you lied. You let them drug me so you could keep me locked up in here, so you can control me and keep me as some kind of slave. You’re no different from your father or mine.”

Sorvar jerked back. Tears ran unchecked down her face, but still, he felt almost nothing from her. She made no attempt to wipe the wetness from her face, as if she didn’t even know it was there.

He didn’t know what she was talking about. Nobody had given her any drug of any kind since Bavric had healed her, and everything he’d done was to protect her. He was only keeping her in his suite to protect her, to keep her away from his father and brother and any other male who would want to hurt her. He wasn’t interested in having some kind of slave. It was why he’d specifically chosen her instead of the submissive females his people always stole.

“
Pavri,
I never lied to you. Everything I have done is to keep you safe. I would never have allowed Bavric to sedate you unless he thought it was necessary for your safety and wellbeing.”

“Then why are you still drugging me, Sorvar? For what purpose, have you turned me into this shell of who I am, if not to control me?”

His wings flared out as he stared down at her. Her dead voice was starting to send jolts of alarm through him. Quick steps took him to her, and he dropped back to his knees. Sorvar reached for her, no hesitation this time, nothing holding him back. She was talking to him, interacting with him, and for the first time in three days hope welled in his chest.

He wrapped his hands around her calves and looked straight into her green eyes. He missed the bright glow that was ever present. He missed the amusement that flashed as she teased him.

“
Pavri,
I have
never
wanted to control you. I have never wanted a submissive female who did everything I demanded without so much as a single complaint. I love you just the way you are, and I don’t want to change you.”

Tina’s green eyes swam with tears, but when she spoke, it was still with the same dead emotionless voice. “Then why are you drugging me?”

Sorvar stared at her. Her voice echoing in his mind. Blank eyes stared back at him, not even a question in their depths. His Tina, the female he loved, had the most expressive eyes he had ever seen. She filled him with so much feeling he overflowed with it. She filled his life with laughter and teasing, with snappy comebacks when he teased her in return, and she showed him through her small touches and the warmth in her eyes when she looked at him that she cared for him and was happy to be with him.

This female was not the same female he had cared for and stroked as she delivered the eggs that would become their first three children. She was right, she was a shell of the female he had fallen in love with.

Was it possible Bavric had given her something that had an unwanted effect? Sorvar surged up to his feet, scooped Tina up in his arms and strode for the door.