by A. K. Koonce
“Where is she?” It isn’t a question but a demand.
Aisha’s plain skirts long since disappeared through her tiny window.
Bear follows my gaze to her fluttering curtains. “She’ll pay for this.” His jaw clenched hard.
His attention lingers there on the small window before he slowly unties my wrists. I relax into the chair.
“I was right,” I whisper, more saddened by the confirmation than victorious in the fact that I had guessed the plague’s cause.
“Right about what?” The remains of the fiery glow cast over his skin subtly dims a little more as he strokes his warm fingers down my cheek.
“Aisha is poisoning the entire kingdom. I—,” I let out a long sigh, “I don’t know how exactly, but she’s the one doing it. She’s working with someone. She said we . . . I don’t know.”
“Why?” Iri growls, sliding an arm under my legs and then my shoulders, cradling me close to his body.
“Some master plan,” The edges of my vision blur, my body trembling, “to get herself on the throne. A plan to . . .” My heavy eyelids weigh down so much, they become impossible to open. “Marry you.”
I can feel everything in my body become sluggish, like the fires that drive me are being forcibly extinguished even as I fight to keep them going.
“She loves you,” I say in a hushed tone. “But you’re mine.”
“Syren. You stay with me. You open your eyes. Syren.” I can feel his panic seeping through the bond. Fear and love becoming his driving force as he holds me tighter. “Get a physician. Get him now!” Iri roars down the hall, though I hadn’t noticed anyone in the room but him. He’ll be the only person in every room for me for the rest of my life. My only love for as long as I live. Even if that’s only for moments longer.
Everything fades. What little strength I had leaves me, and I am unable to even hold up my head.
“No, no, no, no. I just got you.” His momentum stops, his warm arms exchange for a cold hard surface. His hands cup either side of my face.
I try. I really try to open my eyes, if only to catch one more glimpse of his face. My eyelids flutter, his sorrow-filled features hardly recognizable.
He lowers his face, pressing a kiss to my lips, another to my cheek, and three more along my jaw. His face nestles into my neck, making my neck damp with the heat of his breath.
“I just got you,” he whispers. “You cannot leave me. I love you. I love you. You will not leave me.” His words grow louder even as they sound muffled like they’ve been canned in a glass jar. “You will not leave this world without me, Syren Hakan.”
Hakan. My new name. My slowing heart skips a beat at the sound of it.
Before the wedding I was so adamant that someone caused the pain of this kingdom. I was right. And I even found her.
I was just too late.
Hazy and black unconsciousness comes to swallow me whole. What awareness I had of my presence around me dims to nothing.
We will find Aisha, and we will save our people. But I can only do it if you are here with me. We will do it all, and we will do it all together.
Together. Iri repeats.
And then my heart stops.
The End.
Thank you so much for reading Syren and Bear’s twisted story. Their last book, The Crowned Fae Queen is on the way!!!
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Also by A.K. Koonce
Reverse Harem Books
Origins of the Six
Academy of Six
Control of Five
Destruction of Two
Wrath of One
The Hopeless Series
Hopeless Magic
Hopeless Kingdom
Hopeless Realm
Hopeless Sacrifice
The To Tame a Shifter Series
Taming
Claiming
Maiming
Sustaining
Reigning
The Royal Harem Series
The Hundred Year Curse
The Curse of the Sea
The Legend of the Cursed Princess
The Severed Souls Series
Darkness Rising
Darkness Consuming
Darkness Colliding
The Huntress Series
An Assassin’s Death
An Assassin’s Deception
An Assassin’s Destiny
The Villainous Wonderland Series
Into the Madness
Within the Wonder
Under the Lies
The Monsters and Miseries Series
Hellish Fae
Stand Alone Contemporary Romance
Hate Me Like You Do
The Mortals and Mystics Series
Fate of the Hybrid, Prequel
When Fate Aligns, Book one
When Fate Unravels, Book two
When Fate Prevails, Book three
Resurrection Island
Also By Rebecca Grey
Stand Alone Contemporary Romance
Hate Me Like You Do
About A.K. Koonce
A.K. Koonce is a USA Today bestselling author. She’s a mom by day and a fantasy and paranormal romance writer by night. She keeps her fantastical stories in her mind on an endless loop while she tries her best to focus on her actual life and not that of the spectacular, but demanding, fictional characters who always fill her thoughts.
If you want more A.K. Koonce updates, deleted scenes, and giveaways, join her Newsletter or Facebook Reader Group!
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About Rebecca Grey
Rebecca Grey is a mom and wife, but also a Friends nerd. When she’s not writing she spends her time binge watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers while making her husband crazy.