Chapter 136

••• Damien’s POV ••• The wind howled as I tore through the forest, each step faster than the last, Eros snarling low inside me. Martin’s directions had led us south to the ruins of an old chapel hidden beneath the shadows of gnarled trees. The air was heavy with the scent of iron and ash. Her scent. I felt it like a dagger to my chest. Noah and two of my warriors flanked me, their breaths ragged with exertion. But I didn’t wait for them. I didn’t stop. I vaulted through the shattered doorway of the ruin, heart pounding, claws bared— And I saw her. She lay on the broken stone floor, blood smeared down her arm and soaking the front of her torn dress. Her skin was ghost-pale, and yet—her hand still gripped a jagged shard of tile, red dripping from its edge. Evelyn lay only a few feet away, clutching her abdomen and writhing, clearly wounded. My mate had struck her. She had fought back. “V!” I rushed forward, dropping to my knees beside her. She blinked slowly, lips trembling as if forming