“I’ll do it.” Mom moves closer, already rolling up her sleeve. “I’m strong enough—”
“No.” I cut her off, my hand already at my throat. There’s no hesitation, no debate in my mind. Just crystal clarity. “I’ll do it.”
Mom starts to protest, but I silence her with a look. My fingers find the zipper of my jacket, pulling it down. I shrug out of it, letting it fall behind me.
“Kara, you don’t understand what this means,” Darick says. “The amount he needs…it could kill you.”
I ignore him, shifting closer to Marcus. His breathing is getting shallower, the connection between us barely a whisper now. There’s no time for discussion, no time to weigh consequences.
“I’m not letting him die.” My voice comes out steady, certain. It’s the surest I’ve felt about anything in a long time. “Not when I can save him.”
I lean down, brushing Marcus’s hair back from his forehead. His skin feels like ice under my fingers. Without another word, I tilt my head, exposing my neck.
“Drink,” I tell him, even though I’m not sure he can hear me anymore. “Take what you need.” Scooping a hand beneath his shoulders, I lift him until his face is pressed to my throat, his lips rough against my skin. For a moment, nothing happens. But then I feel it.
His fangs pierce my skin, and pain flares sharp and bright. I gasp, my fingers tightening in his hair. For a heartbeat, I think that’s all it will be – just the sting of the bite and my own thundering pulse.
Then he draws the first pull of blood, and everything changes.
Heat floods through me, starting at the bite and racing down my spine. The bond between us flares to life, no longer the fading whisper but a roaring tide. His consciousness crashes into mine, memories and feelings tangling together until I can’t tell where I end and he begins.
His first sight of me in my parents’ house, fury and fascination warring as we immediately clashed…
The way my heart raced when he stepped close in the bathroom, steam curling around us…
His fear when he felt me in danger through our bond…
My irritation at his constant presence in my mind, even as I grew to depend on it…
Each pull of blood brings another wave of shared memories, building and building, until they blur together like watercolors. His grip tightens on my arms as strength returns to his limbs. The sickly green energy pulses weakly, then starts to fade from his wounds.
I’m getting lightheaded, but I can feel him healing. The link grows stronger with each passing second, no longer the fragile thread but something deeper, more permanent. His thoughts flow freely into mine now, and beneath the desperate need for blood, I feel something else – something so warm and fierce and tender that it makes my chest ache.
His fingers stroke my back, both soothing and possessive. The dual sensation is dizzying. I can feel his pleasure, his growing strength, the way my blood sings through his veins.
Goddess help me!
The room spins, darkness flickering around my vision. Marcus’s grip on me tightens, as if he senses my growing weakness. I should pull away, but I can’t. Won’t. The choice has been made.
I feel the moment everything shifts. His thoughts become crystal clear – not just fragments or whispers, but a constant stream merging with my own consciousness. Every wall between us crumbles.
“Mine,” his thoughts echo through me. The possessiveness should frighten me, but instead, it feels right. Natural. Like the final piece of a puzzle clicking into place.
This is it. What they told me about. The blood match that I’ve been fighting against, denying, is now sealed irrevocably. There’s no going back from this – no pretending it doesn’t exist.
We’re bound forever.
His emotions wash over me – gratitude, wonder, and something else. Something that makes my heart stutter. I try to put up some kind of barrier, to shield myself from the intensity of it, but it’s impossible now. The blood match has stripped away all pretense.
I feel everything.
And it’s too late to turn back.
25
Chapter 25
Marcus
