ELLIOT

Her reddened lips stopped sucking on me.

I watched, exhaling deeply, as color returned to her face. Lifting my wrist, I licked the wound, tasting the faint traces of her saliva.

My heart finally settled into place, and that entity within me was calmer now that Rossella was alive.

Why was she so important to him if I knew he had once hated her?

Part of my visceral disdain for her came from his own raw emotions.

Now that the immediate danger had passed, I carefully scanned my surroundings.

I had positioned myself with my back to the forest and my front toward the cliff to block the view from any lurking spies.

I was always on guard for a sneak attack, but there seemed to be no one left nearby.

However, before I could get up and figure out how to escape this precarious situation, with threats still looming, a thunderous noise of frenzied galloping and wheels dragging something reached my ears.

My own horse, left to the side, reared up on its hind legs, neighing nervously.

"Tom, ea