Thirty compressions. Tilt his head back. His lips are blue-black beneath mine as I breathe for him. Once. Twice.
Nothing.
Start again.
"Please," I beg, no longer caring who hears the desperation in my voice. "Please, Rhyland. Come back to me."
The bond is a gossamer thread now, barely there. My arms shake with exhaustion, but I push through it. I won't lose him—not to Loki, not to anyone.
"That's it," I hiss, feeling something shift beneath my hands. "Fight, damn it!"
Rhyland's body convulses suddenly, back arching off the ground. He rolls violently to his side, expelling ice water in gut-wrenching heaves. Each breath tears from his lungs, echoing across the frozen lake.
"I'm here," I soothe, hands steady on his shuddering back. "I'm right here, babe."
His eyes find mine—ocean-blue rimmed with red, wild with pain and desperation. One trembling hand reaches for me, and I'm there in an instant, crushed against his freezing body.
"Angel," he rasps, the word barely audible through chattering teeth.
I break. Tears stream down my face as I cling to him, sobbing against his chest. His arms tighten around me, each violent shiver running through us both as he buries his face in my hair.
Rhyland
66
Dani'swarmth seeps into my frozen flesh as she clings to me, her sobs vibrating through my chest. I crush her against me, breathing in her scent like it's the only fucking air left in the world. My body's still trying to remember how to function after being chained, drowned, and resurrected a thousand times over, but none of that matters. Not when my girl is in my arms.
Our bond thrums with the aftershocks of everything I went through—the pain, the confusion, the psychological mindfuck Loki put me through. But it's Dani's emotions that hit me like a tidal wave—her worry, her agony, her desperation bleeding into my own until I can't tell where I end and she begins.
"I'm okay, baby." The words scrape out of my ravaged throat, vocal cords shredded from screaming and swallowing half the fucking lake. My teeth chatter, cold still deep in my bones.
Dani's wrist presses against my lips, the steady throb of her pulse beneath my mouth. "Here. Drink."
Her eyes lock with mine, a silent command in their honey depths. I don't hesitate. My fangs slice through her delicate skin like butter, and the first rush of her blood hits my tongue like a shock to my system.
A groan tears from my throat as I pull deeply from the wound, her essence flooding my mouth, my veins, my very soul. It's ecstasy and absolution all at once—the taste of sunlight and wildfire, of everything that makes Danimine.
Power surges through me with each draw, energy crackling along my nerve endings as her blood works its magic. I lose myself in the sensation, in the intimate connection of feeding from my mate. The cold, the pain, the helplessness—all of it fades beneath the onslaught of pure, unadulterated Dani.
I pull away not wanting totake too much and Dani's hands find my face, fingers tangling in my beard as she drags my mouth to hers. I devour her like a man starved, pouring every ounce of my rage and desperation into the kiss. Her lips part for me, and I plunge my tongue inside, needing to taste her, to fill every part of her with my presence.
She breaks away, panting, her breath mingling with mine in the space between our mouths. "I love you," she whispers, a fierce declaration against my lips.
I crush her to me again, the kiss brutal and claiming. I need her warmth, love, and light to chase away the lingering shadows of what I endured.
But Dani pulls back too soon, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "We need to get you some new clothes and get the fuck back to Heimdall." Her voice wavers, but there's an undercurrent of steel. "It's Loki. He's got the stone."
For a second, my brain stalls out trying to process why that horned bastard wants the stone. But then a thought hits me like a sledgehammer, overriding everything else. "Did he hurt you?" I grip her shoulders, sitting up, searching her face. "Did he fucking touch you?"
Shadows flicker across Dani's expression—a darkness she's trying to hide. But I'll be damned if she keeps anything from me. Not now.
"Tell me, Dani."
She swipes at her eyes, taking a shuddering breath. "He—H-he pretended to be you this morning. I woke up to who I thought was you and he—"
Lightning explodes through my veins, white-hot rage vaporizing any lingering cold. I'm on my feet before I realize I've moved, steam hissing off my skin as I rip the tattered remains of my shirt away. She doesn't need to say more. I can feel it through our bond—the guilt, the confusion, the violation.
He touched her.
