So I cry.

And I take the rings. Because at the end of it all, I still want to live.

I inwardly thank her for the rings and commit her unusual name to memory. Andhrbrhnth. His name—Mhrfnswth. I’ll remember them.

Then I put the rings together, holding them aloft, and the inscription glows.

To create the impenetrable mist wall about your domain, wear both rings upon one finger and recite the word of power.

An endless mist wall about Honori Hold.

It’s exactly what my father needs.

FORTY-TWO HAWK

Mine.

Find Aspeth. Knot her. Claim her.

Fill her belly with your seed.

The thoughts echo and repeat inside my foggy mind. I’d had the presence of mind to grab both Magpie and Barnabus before they could escape and bound them together before hauling them down to the guild, but the Conquest Moon has now risen and I can barely think. I’m dimly aware that I’m still at the guild hall. Still listening to the order question both Barnabus and Magpie, and all the while, the hand of the god tightens upon my cock, my knot throbbing.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

I don’t have to look at the sky to know that the Conquest Moon is blazing across the heavens. I can feel it in every beat of my pulse.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

I move through a fog of red haze, my cock hard and throbbing. It’s intolerable right now, but by tonight, I’ll be insensible. I have things to do before I completely lose myself. I try to focus. I head to the nearest room and take myself in hand, imagining Aspeth’s creamy breasts spilling from her bodice. I come hard, milking my knot as best I can, but it rises just as quickly once more, leaving me unsatisfied.

Fuck. This is going to be a long day.

I grab a curtain and rip it from its moorings, using it to clean off the mess I’ve made. Normal-thinking Hawk would be horrified. Conquest Moon–crazed Hawk doesn’t give a fuck. I tuck my sensitive cock into my pants and make my way back to the guild magistrate’s office, where Magpie and Barnabus are being questioned separately.

Find her.

Knot her.

Fill her with your seed.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

Rooster appears in the fog and I snarl at him. He backs up a step, but remains close. “It appears that Drop Thirteen has been collapsed.”

“She told you that?” Mine. Mine. Mine.

Find Aspeth.

Get her squirming on your knot.

“No. But we’ve done a cursory check of the drops and Thirteen looks as if it’s been tampered with. We had a man stationed there and he hasn’t reported back. This is terrible. Just terrible.” He peers at me. “Are your eyes…red?”

Mine. Mine.

Aspeth. Where is Aspeth?

Aspeth’s cunt clenching around my knot. Aspeth panting and rocking against me. The scent of her in my nose.

Find her.

Knot her.

“…going?”

The word barely penetrates the haze. I look up and I’m outside. Not sure how I got there. Not sure why Rooster’s following me. Bad idea to follow a Taurian on the edge of rut.

“Hawk?” he demands again. “Where are you going?”

Where am I going? I consider for a moment, but one word beats inside my head over and over again. Mine. Mine. Mine.

Mine.

I push past the humans. “Find Aspeth…Drop Thirteen.”

“It’s not safe. Wait until we can send a rescue team….” He continues on, chattering, but I barely hear him. “…file an emergency order…no Taurians…patience…”

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

“Not waiting,” I grit out. “I’ll find her.” They say a Taurian with the god’s hand upon him can pick up the smell of his female from a thousand yents. We’ll see if that’s true. Even now I’m sniffing the air, trying to find her scent.

“…you…sent a missive to Lord Honori…in danger…coup…his daughter is here…” Rooster continues rambling, walking at my side even as I stride toward the drop zone. “Wait up,” he calls. “Hawk—”

I turn. Grab him by his collar. Lift him into the air. Red hazes my vision. Red is everywhere. My pulse is in my ears.

Mine.

Mine.

“Are you trying to stop me from finding my wife?”

His eyes widen and his fear smells acrid on the air. First time I’ve ever smelled fear. Huh. “N-no. Of course not.”

I pull him closer to me, his nose practically pressed to mine. “You see…Conquest Moon…in the sky?”

He blinks. Nods.

“You know what that means?” When he nods again, I set him down as carefully as I can, because I still need a job. “I’m finding my wife.”

Mine.

Mine.

“Your wife is in trouble with the guild,” Rooster continues, oblivious to the danger he’s in. “If Magpie’s side of things is correct, she was stealing.”

Mine.

Mine.

“That can’t go unpunished—”

I’m barely aware that I’m lunging at him. He dodges, fast for a squat little turd like him, and I snarl in frustration.

Rooster puts his hands up. “You’re not yourself right now, Hawk. We can put you with a nice sex worker, get you taken care of—”

“Wife,” I growl. “Finding my wife.”

And I turn toward the drop center once more. I don’t have a pass. I don’t have flags to demarcate where I’m going. No one stops me, though. They get out of my mucking way and avoid me. Good.

I’m barely aware of finding the drop. Of pushing past guards and climbing into the basket to be lowered. Of snarling at the drop attendant until he lowers the basket with just me instead of a Five.

The red haze in my vision grows thicker. My cock is painful in how tight it is, how much the knot around the base of my shaft aches. I’m barely aware of digging into the rubble that covers the tunnels into Drop Thirteen.

Barely aware of flinging aside a boulder as if it weighs nothing.

Mine.

Mine.

She’s in there, and she’s mine.

I don’t know how long I dig. The red haze covers everything. I should take my cock out, jerk off again, try to cool the heat that seems to have lodged itself directly into my groin…but Aspeth is here. Somewhere. I can scent the faint tang of her on the air.

I want my wife on my knot. Nothing else will satisfy.

I’m only vaguely aware that there’s a team behind me, keeping its distance. I sometimes hear them mutter, but it doesn’t stop me in my mission. They’re staying away from me, as they should. A moonstruck Taurian is a dangerous creature, and if I don’t find my wife by the time the Conquest Moon crosses the smaller moon, I’m going to turn and fuck one of them. I won’t be able to wait any longer. I’ll lose control of myself.

I’m barely in control now.

I break through the rocks and then I rush forward down the empty tunnel. Then another. And another. The scent of Aspeth is old here, but lingering, and a primeval sound escapes me.

“Wait,” someone calls from far behind.

I ignore him. My mate is close. My mate is here.

Mine.

Mine.

Dimly, I’m aware of charging through a broken wall into a ratling nest. The others call out a warning but I grab the ratlings as they try to swarm me, snapping necks and tossing them aside as if they’re nothing.