He was nothing but what his queen had made him to be.
The rage pumping through his chest collided with the power that surged out of the collar and became an unending stream of torment. Every breath he took was a razor in his lungs. Every move away from the girl was a knife that flayed him from the inside out.
He clutched his head in his hands and screamed until he was hoarse.
He had to go back. He had to. He was fire, blood, and death, and the girl’s heart was his salvation.
Salvation.
His tortured thoughts grabbed on to the word.
He was a predator, and she was his prey. Once he held her heart in his hand, he’d be saved.
He looked up. Ahead of him, the cold, clear expanse of a lake separated him from the vast reaches of the eastern Falkrains. Beyond the mountains, something beckoned him. Something like home, if he’d ever had one.
If he ran, he could be in the eastern Falkrains by nightfall.
If he ran from his prey, the pain would tear him to pieces.
Kol dug his fingers into the ground beneath him, and closed his eyes. Fought to ignore the pounding of his heart and the whispers of the collar.
He would not be a monster.
He already was.
He was a monster, and nothing would change until his took his prey’s heart.
The collar’s whispers skittered through his mind and red-hot pain poured into his veins, obliterating everything but a vicious need to hunt.
To kill.
To finally be free of this torment.
He threw his head back and roared, and the whispers became screams echoing inside his head.
He was fire, blood, and death.
And the girl was going to die.
He found her as the sun reached its midpoint in the sky. She was almost out of the mountains, almost to the open ground that led down toward the rushing river that separated the mountains from the forest that stretched between the north and his queen’s castle. The man was with her, but his blade was sheathed. The bird was hovering, and the whispers in Kol’s mind scraped until he was raw.
Identify the biggest threat.
Kill it first.
Kill them all.
The man’s weapon was a threat, but the man couldn’t run.
The bird was faster, but its beak and talons would do little but slow Kol down.
It couldn’t stop him.
Nothing could.
He was a monster, and he’d come for his salvation.
The girl froze in the act of building a fire and looked at the trees around her. Kol?
His lip curled, and his muscles tensed.
Where are you? I know you’re close. I can hear your thoughts.
Hunt . . . you. The words surfaced from the wreckage of his mind, and he curled his hands into fists. Break . . . you.
You don’t want to do that. She looked confident.
Yes. He did. It was all he wanted. All he craved with every vicious heartbeat.
“He’s back,” she said as she slowly climbed to her feet. “And he’s worse.”
Gabril grabbed his sword as he lunged to his feet.
Hunt. Kol’s voice was barely human. Kill.
I can help you. The girl’s voice was calm. No one has to die.
The collar exploded into a frenzy of blistering pain, and he rose from his hiding place to lock eyes with his prey.
“He’s coming.” The girl glanced at Gabril. “Don’t try to stop him. He’ll kill you. He’s lost control.”
“Lorelai—”
“I never questioned your training methods, because you were the expert. You don’t question me about magic.” The girl lifted her bare hands, palms facing toward Kol. His heart thundered at the sight of her unprotected chest.
Her heart was his for the taking.
His pain was almost over.
“Point your sword toward the ground, take a few steps away from me, and try not to look like a threat,” she said to Gabril. Then she gave the bird a stern look, and it shrieked at Kol as it settled into a nearby tree, its black eyes focused on him.
The man took a step back, pointed his sword to the ground, and looked like an attack dog about to come off his leash as Kol exploded out of the trees and came for the girl.
Prey. He snarled.
Come to me, she said as she lifted her hands.
Kill you.
Come.
Her voice was a balm against the searing pain in his mind, and he shuddered to a stop, his breath heaving, his body shaking. The collar whispered, murmured, screamed. The pain scoured his body until he was nothing but fire.
Blood.
Death.
He clenched his fists around the collar and tore at it, but it didn’t budge.
“Don’t touch that collar,” the man breathed. “Irina’s magic is in there, and it might be a trap.”
The girl nodded without taking her eyes from Kol’s.
Kol released the collar and closed his eyes as her scent reached him. Evergreens. Snow. Fire.
He was fire. His chest burned with every breath, and only the girl’s heart would make it better.
Come to me, she said again, and his eyes flew open.