I turn my attention back to Cosima, to the pool of blood spreading beneath her body.
Too much. Too fucking much.
"You have to mark her," Raven says to me, his voice shaking. "You're her mate too. I can see it. The way you react to her, the way you've been with her… you're a scent match even if you can't smell it yourself."
"What?" The word comes out more defensive than intended. "I'm not?—"
"Stop being so fucking stubborn," Raven cuts me off sharply. "Mark her, Geo. Strengthen the pack bond. Give Knight's mark more power to work with when he bites her."
The words hit like a punch to the solar plexus.
Scent match?
Mate?
Me?
It's not like I haven't considered the possibility. The pull she has on me. The fact that even muted, even with a sense of smell as broken as the rest of me, her scent calls to me. But I never thought the gods would give her someone like me as a mate.
"If you mark her first," Raven continues, his voice urgent, "it might be enough to save her without Knight needing to mark her, too. And without needing—" He glances at Azarel, then away.
Without needing Azarel to mark her.
Knight looks fucking defeated, his massive form hunched over Cosima like he's trying to shield her from the world. Or from himself. He glances between us, then slowly—gently—lowers Cosima to the dungeon floor and rises to his full height, taking a step back that clearly pains him.
And maybe it's just my imagination, but he seems to nod to me.
"Do it," Nikolai says.
I stare down at Cosima's pale face, at the blood still trickling from her nose. At her chest rising and falling in shallow, inadequate breaths.
I never thought I'd have a mate.
Let alone anomega.
Never thought I deserved one after everything I've done, all the violence and bloodshed that's written in the scars across my skin. Definitely never thought someone like her could belong to someone like me.
Someone strong and delicate at the same time. Someone who can gut you with words one moment and break your heart with vulnerability the next. Someone who looked at me and saw something I can't.
But if this will help her...
If this feels right...
I lean down, positioning myself carefully over her prone form. The blood has made her scent slightly stronger—moonlight and rain that I can taste rather than truly smell. Raven was right about that, too. My hands frame her beautiful face, thumbs stroking her bloodstained cheeks. I'm vaguely aware of Knight's wary growl behind me, but I don't give a shit. Right now, nothing matters buther.
"I've got you," I murmur, knowing she can't hear but needing to say it anyway. "I've got you, little one."
Then I bite.
My teeth sink into the soft flesh of her neck, finding her scent gland. Blood floods my mouth, copper and sweet and right in a way that makes my entire body lock up.
The bond snaps into place like a rubber band pulled taut and released.
Holy fucking shit.
It's not like anything I expected. A connection that goes deeper than flesh, deeper than blood, sinking into my very soul and anchoring there.
I can feel her.
