All the men and women were screaming while bodies were lying dead outside the tavern. Rigel didn't wait for a single minute to start heading for Draka. In order to shorten the travel time of their journey, they entered a tunnel in the forest. Rigel, it had seemed, knew the forest like the back of his hand. He brought Lara back by the evening.

The memories of her abduction had melted away because in the end, Marcus claimed her and marked her. She threaded her fingers in his hair and yanked his head up. She pulled him up and crashed her lips on his. He opened up for her as...