I watched in horrified fascination as Bal’s nails grew and he cleaved open Shane’s chest.
“Oh, my gods…” I gagged.
Bal worked aside some of Shane’s ribs, and it took everything I had not to throw up. Seeing Shane pulled apart was too much. “Bal… stop…Please, stop.”
He glanced at me, his face tight and pale. I’d never seen the cool and collected Balthazar Rossi look anything but in control, but it was clear he was only just holding it together. He might try to appear aloof, but I’d seen the intimacy between him and Shane. Going through bloodlust together had been intense, and unless he was made of stone, and I knew now that he wasn’t, it had to have changed him. He cared for Shane. So did I. And they both needed me. I had no idea if what Bal said about me was the truth, but he had no reason to lie. What good would that do?
I straightened my spine and nodded, swallowing back my nausea at the sight of Shane’s insides. “You’re right. We can do this.”
“Good girl. I need to make an incision in your wrist. He needs your blood.”
I trembled as I held out my right arm, but I kept my eyes on Bal, not Shane’s bloody chest. “Do it.”
There was a vicious sting, then he gently pulled me forward. I shuffled on my knees so that I didn’t lose my balance and fall onto Shane.
“Squeeze and release your fist.”
I did as he said, aware my blood was running directly into Shane.
“That’s it, little witch. You’re doing so well.”
I risked a glance down. Holy crap, Bal had laid open Shane’s heart, and my blood dripped into those still chambers. I couldn’t tear my gaze away.
“Keep pumping.”
I did as Bal instructed, watching with morbid fascination as he gripped the unnaturally black, bloody muscle together in his large fist and squeezed, over and over, pumping my blood into Shane’s body.
I gasped as that blackened flesh slowly began to change, flushing with a pinker hue. My body started to shake, but I kept going until Bal released a quiet curse, his attention fixated on Shane’s heart.
“That’s it, fledgling, heal yourself.”
He pulled his hand free of Shane’s chest, and as soon as Shane sucked in a shuddering breath, lanced his own wrist and pumped it over Shane’s mouth. I wrapped my other hand around my cut, staunching the bleeding, but Bal took my hand in his and lifted it to his mouth. “Let me heal you, sweet witch. Then lay down with my wolf and rest.”
There was no point in arguing. I was confused about my identity and had a million questions, but I was utterly exhausted. Whatever poison had been used on me had been neutralised, and clearly was of no danger to vampires, but losing a large amount of blood on top of that was my limit. The room spun, and I swallowed hard, not wanting to throw up and give Bal another patient to deal with.
He smiled gently. ”It’s okay, Sor, you’ll both be fine now. Rest. I’ll keep watch over you.”
The softness of the pillows was heaven under my heavy head. Tears pricked my eyes as this powerful and beautiful vampire licked my wound, healing me, as he fed Shane.
“I know. But who watches over you?”
His eyes flashed with a light I couldn’t decipher. “I don’t need anyone to watch over me.”
I lifted a heavy hand and cupped his wickedly handsome face. “Everyone needs someone sometimes.”
My eyes fluttered closed, and my hand dropped onto Shane’s already healed chest. Perhaps it was my mind that conjured his whispered words.
“Maybe, sweet witch, but no matter how much I want to lie down with you both and never let you go, I can’t need anyone. Not yet. Not until the world is safe from the evil that will end us all.…”
25
Shane
It tookthree days of rest and regular feedings from Bal and Sor before I had enough energy to get out of bed. For the first day after the attack, if Bal wasn’t by my side, then Sor was. Bal hadn’t said much. I’d expected questions about what had happened, but he hadn’t asked anything. I wasn’t fooled. No matter the gentleness of his touch when he fed me, or the soft kisses he dropped on mine and Sor’s foreheads before he left to do vampire lord shit, there was a storm brewing behind his eyes. I could almost taste his fury in the air. But more than that, I could see an emotion I never thought I’d see in his eyes. Guilt. And that bothered me more than almost dying. None of what had happened was his doing.
I stared down into the park that was separated from the block of stupidly expensive apartments by a busy London road. Mothers meandered along a gravel pathway with pushchairs, their little ones toddling behind. Joggers continued on their merry way, and tourists enjoyed the open space, oblivious to themonster watching their progress from the one-way glass of the penthouse window.
Warm lips kissed my bare shoulder, distracting me from the outside world. A smile stretched my mouth as Sor’s small hands encircled my bare waist. My heart flipped, and my wolf rumbled his contentment at her nearness. I hadn’t claimed her as a wolf typically would, with my fangs sunk in her neck, but she was still my mate in every way that mattered. One day, when she felt safe and secure, and her time with Nicolai no longer gave her nightmares, I would ask her. Until then, I was happy by her side.
