of one-hundred-fifty years, however, since you have not murdered an innocent human or supernatural in the past two months—a remarkable achievement never before seen in a rogue, even though it was not definitively proven that you’ve been reformed—you will be spared leeching and are hereby committed to life in prison without the chance of parole.” She picks up her gavel and slams it once on her bench. An eruption of magical sparks flare around her seat. “Court is adjourned. Your sentencing begins today.”
My knees give out, but my grandparents catch me before I fall. Everyone else is gasping and whispering to each other, their surprise as great as mine.
He won’t die. He won’t die. Tears fill my eyes and trail down my cheeks as I sob in gratefulness, but even though my relief is so intense that I can’t speak, the women’s testimony comes back to haunt me.
I need to know that Collin and I are truly fated mates.
I need to speak with him.
“Collin!” I jolt to a stand and call to him, but instead of reacting to my call, Collin slams his head against his bars. A large cut splits his forehead, and blood gushes out.
I gasp in shock just as a flash of blue clothing streaks across my vision. Daria’s running toward the front of the room, her pregnant form approaching Collin before anyone can stop her.
“Daria!” her husband yells, but his large body is blocked by a group of attendees.
The healer reaches my mate and slips her hands between the bars of Collin’s cage. The witch who’s in charge of Collin’s cage rushes forward, but Daria is quick. She lies her palm across my mate’s forehead, and Collin’s cut is healed before anyone can stop her.
She pulls her hand out just as the witch reaches her. Everyone is so consumed with the spectacle Daria is making that they don’t see me sprint along the wall and approach his cage.
“Collin.” I leap the remaining distance to him and grasp the cage’s bars. Magic thrums through my palms, heating my hands, but I don’t let go. Collin’s only two feet away from me, the closest we’ve been in weeks. “My love. Look at me.”
My tone is pleading and desperate. It mirrors what I’m feeling within, but when he turns to meet my gaze, his eyes are empty.
My lips part. “Collin?”
He sighs and an irritated expression washes over his features. “Brianna, go home.”
His words are like a punch to my gut. I bend forward, my stomach concaving, as if I took an actual blow. “What? How can you say that? Please, talk to me, touch me. Tell me that what we have is true. Please! Just tell me, and I’ll stay by your side. I’ll believe you. Just tell me that none of them mattered. Tell me that I am your fated mate!”
A commotion comes from behind me. I know I’ve been spotted. We only have seconds until the bailiffs reach me.
“Collin!” I plead.
Collin clenches his teeth and glares at me. “Stay by my side? Why would I want that? I had hoped by abducting you and showing the SF that I was capable of not killing that I’d be set free, but that didn’t work. Now I’m stuck behind bars for life.”
A wave of dizziness hits me. What the hell is he talking about?
Before I can ask, Collin levels me with an icy stare. “I don’t love you, Brianna. I never did.” He laughs bitterly. “You’re not my fated mate, just like none of those women were, but my plan didn’t work. Even though I’ll be left alive, I’ll spend the rest of my days rotting in a cell. Thanks for that.”
His words cut me so deep it feels as though I’m sliced in two. I stand, reeling, feeling as if the earth has tilted off its axis when he growls, “Go home, Brianna. You don’t belong here, and you don’t belong with me.”
“Collin…” My heart pounds as I wait for a flicker of something, anything, to flash in his eyes. “Why are you saying these things?”
He snarls and lunges toward me, just as hands enclose around my biceps and pull me away. “Don’t you get it!” He seethes. “You were an easy fuck and a human shield. Why do you think I took you? I knew they were going to catch me. They’d been closing in, and I needed a way to stay alive.” He laughs as a dark light fills his eyes. “You played your role perfectly,