Page 65 of An Oath at Midnight

His lips curled in a broken smile before he leaned in, pressing a kiss to my forehead. Then he shifted into his crow, retreating completely, the way he used to, and exploded into the night sky.

My shattered heart splintered into so many pieces there was no chance of ever putting it back together.

“I don’t want Asher… I want you,” I choked out.

CHAPTER 16

Bram

Talon was fucking bouncing with anticipation. Rook looked the way he always did, sinister as fuck, but tonight excitement made his onyx eyes glitter. I’d always been more like Payne, able to keep a tight hold on my control. Not now, though, and definitely not tonight.

Tonight, the blood would flow, and there was no hiding how much I craved it or the thrill of the hunt pumping through my veins.

I wanted to take all the pain and anger and helplessness I was feeling, then listen as it echoed into the night, in the screams of fuckers we’d been sent to kill.

We watched our prey laugh and drink and fuck. The smell of death surrounded their camp, so much of it that it coated the back of my throat. The hyenas were rogue and had been on another killing spree, snatching humans from the city and bringing them back here to torment and eat. Their clan had lost control of them, and other shifters in the area were getting nervous. The last thing any of us needed was the attention of the human authorities.

One of the hyenas laughed, the sound high and deranged, before he tore a piece of thigh meat from a dead male and shoved it into his wide mouth, while another two, covered in human blood, fucked on the ground beside the body.

The human part of me retreated and the predator came to the fore, taking over, dominating. I let it, relished it. It was less painful that way.

I studied my prey. I’d kill the laughing one first, the sound was grating my last nerve. His smile was pissing me off as well.

I’ll tear his tongue out before I slit his throat. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.

On the other side of the campfire, it was much the same, but my brothers could take care of them. I had dibs on the fucker stuffing his face.

“What are you thinking?” Payne asked beside me.

“Chuckles is mine.” We didn’t often hunt all together, only when there was a group like this one.

Payne nodded. “He’s yours, but that’s not what I meant.”

I didn’t look at him, my big brother was way too perceptive. “Not sure what you’re asking.”

“Something’s bothering you.”

Yeah, I wasn’t hiding shit. But then the love of my life had just shoved me away when I’d finally worked up the courage to kiss her, after six years of wanting her and fighting it. And my favorite part? When she’d looked at me like I’d lost my fucking mind for even thinking we could go there.

Mags had seen the real me. She’d seen what I truly was, and she’d pulled away so fast my fucking head spun. Her resounding “no” still rang through my mind, hammering me in the skull over and over again. I didn’t know if the outcome would have been the same if I’d tried to kiss her at a different time or place, like not right after murdering someone in front of her. I guess I’d never know. But the realization that swiftly followed had been brutal and undeniable—the female I lived and breathed for, my witch, my mate, my Magnolia, didn’t want me the way I did her.

So yeah, it was kind of hard to keep that shit locked down. Honestly? I felt like I was dying. Or maybe I wished I were dead? It was a toss-up.

“Magnolia,” Payne said. “She’s the only one capable of fucking you up like this.”

I dragged in a harsh breath. “I tried to kiss her,” I said, because they’d find out eventually. Why hide it?

He was quiet a beat. “What happened?”

“She didn’t want to be kissed…by me.”

I still didn’t turn his way, but I saw his surprise in my peripheral vision. “She turned you down?”

“Yes.” There went another one of those daggers thrusting into my chest.

After another pause, his hand came down on my shoulder. “At least now you know and can finally let her go.”

My brothers didn’t like Mags and couldn’t fathom the connection between us. “I’m her familiar, she’s my mate, whether or not she wants me is irrelevant. I can never let her go.” I’d tried to explain how it was between a witch and their familiar, and they’d struggled to grasp it, mainly because the idea of having no control over a situation freaked them the fuck out.