“Hey, stay with me!”
Axel convulsed, forcing them both to their knees. His chest rattled, the skin around the knife darkening to grey.
“Axel, please!” Sam didn’t have any healing ability, and with every passing second Axel’s breaths slowed. “You can’t leave me now, not after making me fall for you!”
“What happened?” Lucifer dropped beside them. His hand touched the knife, only to snap back as an electrical spark shot from the end. “Fucking hell, it’s pierced his heart.”
“Help him!” Sam snarled, leaning down to press his forehead to Axel’s. Touch centred shifters, calmed their animals as Sam called on a purr, the vibration light. Axel wasn’t a shifter, but that didn’t matter, because he washis.
“I’m sorry,” Axel said, voice barely above a whisper. “Love you.”
The tears came hot and fast, the kiss wet when Sam brushed his lips to Axel’s.
“Brace yourself, this is going to fucking hurt.” Lucifer reached for the dagger, sparks trying to push him away before he pulled out the blade in one, clean movement. Blood pumped like a fountain from the wound, and Axel gasped, eyes drifting closed.
“Axel?!”
Lucifer pressed against the hole, his palms glowing as he clenched his jaw. Alice appeared over his shoulder, eyes wide as she called for Riley.
“Fuck, he’s stopped breathing.” Lucifer began to pump Axel’s chest, Alice trying to pull Sam away.
He refused to let go, needing to let Axel know he was there, for him to feel his bare skin as if the simple connection would be enough. A flicker of heat had settled in his chest, a determination that blazed hotter than any fire.
“You can’t do this! You’re fucking mine!” Sam reached for the flicker, instincts driving him to open his heart, to allow the connection he never truly understood and had never wanted.
Until now.
Sam gasped as something deep inside snapped taut.
“You’re mine Axel, do you hear me? In life, soul and everything that comes after.”
Chapter36
Epilogue
SAM
SIX WEEKS LATER
“Idon’t think I’ve ever seen you nervous,” Axel said, squeezing Sam’s hand as they stood outside the door to his grandmother’s home. “It’s fine, she’s gonna love you!”
“Maybe,” Sam muttered, pushing his hair behind his ears. He’d never had to meet the family. “But… what if she doesn’t?”
Axel laughed, rolling his eyes as he pressed the doorbell. “Then she’s a fool, but I know she’s –”
The door whipped open, revealing a tiny woman with pure white hair and dark eyes that glistened with mischief. “Who’s a fool?”
“Errr, not you Laolao!” Axel said quickly, bending down to kiss her on the cheek, but she was already pushing past him to peer up at Sam.
“There he is,” she said with such a warm smile, it was like being welcomed home, rather than meeting a stranger. “Come, come. My Axel’s told me so much about the cat who wouldn’t give him a chance.”
Sam shot Axel a pointed look, but he only shrugged in reply, a laugh shaking his chest.
Guided by the tiny woman, Sam followed her up the flight of stairs into a warm and welcoming flat. It was hard to envision both Axel and Titus growing up there, the rooms small but cosy, decorated with so many photographs of the two of them laughing. Spices and meat scented the air, along with so many teas they lined one of the back walls.
“Thank you Mrs Liu,” Sam said as he was ushered down into a chair. “You have such a beautiful home.”
Titus smirked from the seat opposite, hidden in the corner by the wall.
