Chapter 32

The sound of clanging bells startles me awake. My room is utterly dark, though moonlight filters through the open shutters that I'd forgotten to close before falling asleep again. I don't even have time to try and remember what those bells mean, when the door to my rooms is thrust open, the wood clattering loudly against the stone and echoing through the room.

My heartbeat stutters over itself and the breath catches in my throat as a tall dark figure stalks from the door to my bed what has to be a second flat. The side of the intruder's face is drenched in moonlight and the terrified knot in my chest instantly loosens as recognition settles over me.

"Damion?" I rasp, my voice drenched in shock and drowsiness as I squint up through the shadows at him.

"Time to go, Princess." His voice is utterly calm, cutting through the sounds of chaos that echo around us--through the bells and shouts and a roaring growl of thunder that grows louder by the second. He doesn't wait for me to move, doesn't even wait for me to respond. Between one heartbeat and the next, his arms are scooping me up from the bed and sheltering me against his chest. He turns on his heel and bounds out of my rooms in two long strides.

The trip down the hallway is a blur of dark shapes and witch light and before my brain can catch up with what's happening, we emerge from the tunnels and out into the open air of the gardens. There are a few shadowed forms of other shifters tunneling onto the room and taking cover, but they disappear from sight when he sets me down on the soft dirt ground right past the entrance.

It's a place, I notice, where there's nothing above us, clear of anything visible that could topple onto us. Hidden in the thicket of wildflowers and wisteria, Damion props me against a curved stony wall and crouches down in front of me.

Out here in the open air, the clanging bells are deafeningly loud. The rumbling noise similar to thunder rattles through my bones and makes my teeth rattle. My one other experience in an earth storm from the last time I was here is still fresh in my mind, so I'm not the least bit surprised when Damion leans over me with his massive body, safeguarding me in the same way he did the last time.

He cages my body up against the stone wall with his own, using himself as a shield for mine against any falling debris. Out here in the open, the rumbling earth doesn't jostle as much as I remember it had last time. The rumbling earth isn't as jostling out in the open as it had been when we'd been tucked into one of the small spaces that Damion had referred to as a "safe room".

The commander's large hand is steady where it cups against the back of my head, cradling me to the hard muscles of his chest. Secured against his steady body-wedged between him and wall behind me-I barely jostle in the escalating chaos. I'm surrounded on all sides by the steady beating of his heart against my cheek and his piney scent. But it's then, as I'm pressed against his chest that I realize that it's not a shirt pressing into my cheek, but tight stretches of hot, smooth skin. Swirling lines of black tattoos curl over nearly every inch of his chest. I suddenly forget how to breathe.

He's the most striking man I've ever seen. Every inch of him begs for attention, and tucked into his chest the way I am, I can't stop my eyes from dragging and tracing over the exposed jagged ridges of muscle. Blood rushes to my face, cheeks flaming, and I'm thankful he can't see the blush fanning out over my skin. My heartbeat skyrockets in my chest and I wonder if he can hear it, can see the way my pulse is thundering under my skin.

The earth storm feels like it goes on for forever-longer than I remember it going on last time, even. But it as the ground slowly begins to steady out beneath us, I suddenly feel as if it all happened too quickly. It feels like something vital is being wrenched from me when Damion finally pulls back from where's pressed into me to gaze down into my face.

"Are you alright?" He asks, eyes raking over me, searching for any sign of injury. Now that he's pulled back a few inches, I have an even better view of the chiseled expanse of his tattooed chest and I have to force my eyes to stay locked on his and not wander and give away how distracted he's making me.

"I'm alright, thanks to you," I say, swallowing hard, sending him a grateful smile, "Thank you for coming to get me, again. Are *you* okay?"

His eyes flash, like he's startled that I'd ask, and his dark head dips into a single nod. His pale skin looks even paler in the moonlight, making the sharp cut of his cheekbones even more deadly, more beautiful as they mix with shadows.

*Get it together, Lily.*

"Are weIs it safe to get up?" I say, chewing on my lower lip.

It's like my eyes have a mind of their own and dip lower to trace the hard lines of muscle again. Of their own accord they follow the hypnotizing array of dark lines and carve their way into the sharp contrast of shadows where they dip into his body. They only drop for a second before I forcefully yank them back up to his face.

But when I focus back onto his face, his own eyes are snagged on where my bottom lip is caught between my teeth. And his eyes have shifted from black to a deep crimson.

*Does that shade of dark red mean his Berserker form is near the surface, or is it only when they turn that fiery shade of amber?* I can't remember what it is that Xavier and Arden had told me and I don't have time to either.

Because between one second and the next, those sharply carved features and deadly wine-colored eyes are leaning in until his lips are crushed against mine.