"No," he rasps out, and a wave of purple energy blasts from his sword toward me, making me lose my balance and fall on my back. I blink slowly, confused about what's happening. Yet before I can say anything, he's by my side, lifting me up.

His lips are compressed in a hard line, his muscles bulging in his forearms.

He grips my shoulders tightly as he stares at me with a hardened expression the likes of which I have never seen before.

"Why him?" he demands in a barely subdued tone.

"What?" My lashes flutter in confusion.

His fingers dig into my skin. He clenches his jaw as veins protrude up his neck.

A rush of adrenaline goes down my back, my limbs suddenly weak in the face of danger.

"I don't understand you, Ze," I mumble weakly, pushing at his hands.

"Why him, human? Why does it have to be him?"

THIRTY-SEVEN

"You're scaring me, Ze," I whisper, blinking back tears. Fear courses through me as I take in his crazed expression. His nostrils flare as his eyes zero in on me.

A lone tear falls down my cheek, and it seems to snap him out of it. Muttering a string of foreign curses, he lets go of me and takes a few steps back.

I sway in the wind, my legs made of jelly.

After a few deep breaths, my heart is still beating like crazy in my chest, my whole body trembling. I wrap my arms around myself, stealing a glance at him.

He's pacing around like a madman, stomping his feet into the ground with a force that makes the entire earth quake.

"Ze?" I probe gently, both afraid of him and for him. Just what prompted this display?

"Why would you risk yourself for that male?" he asks on a ragged breath, a hint of purple staring my way.

"I don't understand. He's my husband. Of course I'd risk everything for him," I answer weakly.

"But why?" he repeats. "What is so special about him?"

I bite my lip as I look at his savage manner, and it suddenly strikes me that he may be confused about emotions—about what prompts someone to sacrifice themselves for another.

"Because I love him," I say, my tone more confident than before. "He might not be special to anyone else, but he's special to me."

He narrows his eyes at me.

"You wouldn't understand." I give him a small smile. "All my life I've been told how insignificant I was, how little I mattered as a person. But Nikki... He treated me like I was everything to him."

"Is that so?" He raises a brow, coming toward me. Instinctively, I take a step back. He stops right in front of me, his expression twisted. "Then are you doing this out of a sense of duty to him?"

My lashes flutter in shock.

"What—"