My breath punches out of my lungs and an unpleasant burning fills my chest. If I had to guess, he managed to puncture my lung. The joke’s on him though, because I have two sets, and a lack of oxygen isn’t going to be anywhere near enough to stop me. With one hand around his shredded, bleeding throat, I use the other to yank the dagger out of my chest.
Maggard’s eyes go wide as I raise the dagger over my head.
“Please, no, I’ll give you anything. I can give you riches beyond your wildest dreams. Dragons love shiny things, don’t they?” he tries to bargain through gurgling, rasping breaths.
I chuckle darkly and click my tongue against my teeth.
“Dragons like revenge more,” I say before plunging the dagger directly into his heart.
Maggard’s eyes roll back and he goes limp underneath me in seconds. There’s very little satisfaction in his death—not because it’s undeserved, but because the only thing I can think of now is my mate.
I clamber off his body and realize I can’t feel the connection to Xazedose anymore. I clutch at my chest while Lord and Hemingway, both covered in demon blood, rush to the table to free Mac. I cast my attention around the room until it lands on a pair of cages tucked into a dark corner. They both appear empty, and my heart sinks. If this isn’t where he was keeping Xaze, thenwhere? A small movement catches my eye and I realize that the farthest cage isn’t empty at all.
I rush across the room, dropping to my knees as soon as I reach the cage. My mate is inside, barely alive. His breathing is a stilted flutter in his chest, and his face doesn’t so much as flicker with consciousness. The spot in my chest where our connection has been growing is completely numb.
There’s a lock on the cage and I don’t have time to look for the key. The same way I tore into Maggard’s flesh, I use my teeth and claws to shred the heavy metal bars of the cage, spitting out shrapnel and ignoring the way the sharp edges cut my tongue and fill my mouth with blood. Every cut heals before I take another mouthful of metal, until the cage is lying in pieces on the floor all around me.
Every breath I drag in is painful, my lung working to mend itself as my heart thunders and my chest heaves. I wrap my arms around Xaze’s tiny, limp form and haul him into my lap. His clothes are wet and sticky with blood, but I can’t see where it's coming from. His gray and blue demon skin has an odd pale hue to it, and his head lolls back helplessly.
“No, no, no. You can’t be dead, Xaze. You’re my mate. I need you. I need you,” I sob, running my fingers through the tangle of his auburn hair. “Please wake up. Please.”
I clutch him to my chest and rock back and forth with him. The flutters of his breaths come in intervals that are further and further apart, and my dragon roars and wails inside of me, demanding we do something to save our mate.
Fire burns in the back of my throat and I look down at Xaze. I don’t know if bonding with him will save him, but I have to trysomething. We can’t get him out of the demon realm fast enough to slow the spread of the poison from the dagger, and there aren’t any other options that I’m aware of.
I take Xaze’s face in my hands and nuzzle my nose against his.
“You’re mine, Xaze. You’re going to make it through this and then I’m going to spend the rest of ourverylong lives spoiling you. We’ll travel and we’ll hoard all kinds of new memories together, and we’ll love each other so hard that every single creature in this realm or any other will be sick with jealousy over what we have. Okay, Xaze? How does that sound?”
“Tino,” Lord says anxiously behind me. “If you mate with him and it doesn’t heal him…”
“You’ll die too, dude,” Arson finishes for him.
I squeeze my eyes shut. “I don’t care. If Xaze is gone, then I’d rather be too.”
As if in agreement, the fire rises in my throat again, licking at my tongue with scorching flames as smoke pours out of my nose. Before any of them can try to talk me out of it, I seal my mouth to Xaze’s soft, pliant lips and fill him with my fire.
The flames pour down his throat, and I can feel the way they surge through his body, burning away everything that came before and binding us together irrevocably. The fire seeks out the poison leeching through his veins and cremates it, leaving nothing but microscopic ash in its wake. The flimsy bond that was there before returns full force, forged in steel this time, sturdy and unbreakable.
His lips start to move against mine as he stirs, kissing me and gulping down the flames I continue to pour into his body as our souls knit themselves together. When the fire finally dies in my throat, I break the kiss with a gasp and look down at my mate in my arms. His color is a little better, but he’s still weak. Through our bond, I can feel the pain still coursing through his body, but there’s a strength underneath that lets me know he’s going to be okay.
He opens his eyes just a slit and a smile twitches over his lips.
“Deliciae,” he murmurs, and I let out a sob.
“I’m here, Xaze, I’m here.” I hold him close again, peppering kisses all over his face.
He nods weakly. “Let’s go home.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, let’s go home.”
I glance back at my brothers, my eyes still swimming with tears, and they all rush forward, including Mac, who has a haunted look in his eyes but otherwise doesn’t seem any worse for the wear. I’m about to ask for suggestions on the best way to transport Xaze in this state, but before I can, the world squeezes around us in momentary darkness. In a blink, we’re all in my foyer.
The little burst of energy was enough to do Xaze in, and he goes limp in my arms again.
“Is he okay?” Hemingway asks nervously.
“He’s fine, he just needs to rest.” I brush Xaze’s hair off his forehead and get to my feet, still cradling my mate against me. “You can see yourselves out. And I’m glad you didn’t die, Mac.”
