“Almost there. Hold on.”
He rushed to the back when the stone bed appeared, setting her down as gently as he was able.
Glassy eyes stared back at him, almost black as blown pupils swallowed the normally vibrant blue of her irises—until she spasmed and they rolled back into her skull.
Terror seized him. “Don’t you fucking dare!” he shouted, his colossal hand grotesque against her pale shoulder as he jostled her. “Don’t do this, little moon. Don’t do this to me.”
With no idea of what else to do, Brand bit down, tore a gash in his wrist, and grabbed her face. He held his bleeding arm over her open mouth and watched his blood trickled into her, stray droplets hitting her lips and chin.
When absolutely nothing happened, he roared to the cave ceiling, slumping over her limp and lifeless form when there was no breath left in him. “I swear to the stars, Luna,” he croaked, “I will follow you into the Veil myself if you don’t come back to me right now.”
He pushed her hair away from her face and begged the Sisters to help him.
That was when the anger came. The blinding, consuming fury at the sheer injustice of it.
“What the fuck were you doing? When will you learn to bloody well stop and think?”
The last word echoed.Think, think, think.
“Fuck.” He pried her mouth open to expose her fangs, shoving their razored points down into the meat of his hand. “It’s a gift, damn you. Freely given.Take it.”
He massaged her throat, coaxing her to swallow, to force it down—ignoring how still her chest was, how sickeningly fucking silent she was.
It had to work. Ithadto.
A tear dropped from his lashes and landed on her face, sliding down to disappear into her hair. “You stubborn fool. All I wanted was for you to care as much for yourself as you do for the rest of the fucking world.” He kissed her brow. “Please.” Her cheeks. “I never even had the chance to tell you?—”
On a shrieking gasp, she jolted upright, narrowly avoiding his curling horns. Brand rolled back to give her room, leaning as she scrambled up. He couldn’t help his laugh. The burn in his hand, the way her fangs had sliced away, was the most wonderful pain in all of Bordoroth.
Her shoulders heaved as she stood there, facing away, the sound of her heavy breaths filling the silence. It was music. It waseverything.
Brand sat up, planting his feet on the floor, and laid a hand on her back. “Luna?”
She whipped around to face him, hissing, her sharp, white fangs longer than before and flashing in the dim lighting. Drops of his blood dripped from her chin to land on her chest, blending with the mess that was already there. But, beneath the shredded forest linen of her dress, he watched her flesh pulling and knitting. The holes sealing themselves back together, as if they’d never happened.
Somehow, he could hardly be bothered to notice.
Brand was too stunned by the fact that the whole of her eyes had changed into a swirling vortex of silver and white. That every inch of her exposed skin was glowing. Humming.
Luna stilled when she saw him, tilting her head like a curious animal. Her gaze roamed over him, hooded and heavy, until shelicked one fang and groaned, a look of ecstasy sweeping over her features.
Lids lifting slowly, she stared straight into his eyes and rasped,“Mate.”
A boltof lightning shot down Brand’s spine and something within him was unleashed.
Mate.
It didn’t matter that he’d already suspected.Known.It was a shock to hear that boldly-spoken word on her lips—an immediate claiming of his soul.
Like a flash, Luna hopped up onto the platform to stand between his spread legs. She gripped the sharp ends of his curling horns and jerked his head down to hers, her strength astonishing.
Brand leaned into the contact when she nuzzled his cheek with her own and sighed, the relief overwhelming.
“Does my mate have a gift for me?”
She was alive. She was well. She washis.
“Anything,” Brand rasped.
