The Beast And The Blessed

Eighty-One: Killian

Killian's P.O.V.

Natalie was looking down the hallway. Her green eyes, which I adored, had turned light blue. Her skin washed of its usual pink hue, leaving her the color of snow. The blue and purple shade of her lips made me want to pull her into my arms and hold her until she was warm again.

She was fighting. I could see the struggle as her arms tightened around her torso, but our mate bond was empty.

I had woken up with it empty, and none of the guards had seen her leave. She had just disappeared, and the entire castle and city had searched for her for hours. It was early afternoon when I felt a flicker of her presence in our bond.

As it disappeared again, the maid yelling for a healer caught my attention. Several guards immediately alerted me that my mate had appeared in the hallway outside the infirmary.

Only she wasn't entirely there. Her image was solid but would periodically flicker like a poor-quality hologram.

Her ghostly complexion ripped at my heart. I wanted to save her, protect her. But I didn't know how to save someone from something I couldn't see. Was it possible?

"No!" She cried out, throwing her hands up as her figure solidified, sending everyone flying back against the wall. I growled, the drywall crumbling as I pulled myself out of the hole.

Something was attacking my mate, and I couldn't do anything about it. I turned to her mother, my body morphing and shifting as I transformed into my Lycan. "She shares your magic! You save her! Bring her back!”

"If I could, I would have." Her calm statement was met with my fury as I grabbed her arm and spun her around to face me.

I was ready to beg and plead for my mate to be returned to me so I could hold her in my arms and protect her from the world around us. I would take on every enemy and every threat I could to keep her safe. She would never have to deal with this again if I had my way.

she glared at me. My hands began to burn as my grip tightened on her arm until I had no choice but to release her. "If we touch her while she is in the other realm, we could be taken there with

back to my mate, watching with horror as breath after breath resulted in a foggy puff of air leaving her lips in the warm corridor. "And

fast.” Aurora shouted as I walked around her and crouched before my mate. "You

breath went from thick

reached out, wrapping my arms around her frozen body, pulling her

much distance between us as possible, but I wasn't going to let go. Not now, and

I spoke, the

body went still, and I held on tighter as she shivered aggressively and began to cry, releasing loud, racking sobs. The

whimpering and shoving her body as close to mine as possible. I let out a

his head in submission before moving away but staying close enough that he

we had just seen of her. I couldn't imagine what she had just gone through. As she calmed, I held her tight

until her breathing had begun to normalize, and her body felt warmer to the touch before I spoke. "Natalie, what

pulled back, shaking her head with a horrified look

she heard a voice talking to her while I was in the shower. I had sensed no one near us, and no new or dark magic had been in the air. It was only hers. But someone had been there, so close to her while she was sleeping, vulnerable.

and I would torture them

"What voice?" Charlie asked.

He was talking last night, but I couldn't hear what he was saying." Natalie looked over my shoulder. I turned to see which guard she turned to, but they moved aside, and her gaze held steady, locked on