As the adrenaline ebbed away, my exhaustion hit me full force. My muscles ached, my head swam, and the hand that still clutched my dagger was wet with burst blisters.
Lifting my head, I peered through the gloom, searching the dissipating shadows for my mate.
Through the veil of shadows and rain, I spotted a dark figure lying in the mud.
My heart nearly punched through my ribs.No.
Kaden’s eyes were closed, and he was paler than I’d ever seen him. Rain pattered the ground as I crawled toward him through the mud, my hands roving over his chest.
He was cold. Too cold.
“Kaden?” My voice came out high-pitched and shaky, but he didn’t respond or even open his godsdamned eyes.
Hands shaking, I touched his face, and a cold vise clamped around my heart when I realized he wasn’t breathing.
Slamming the side of my face to his chest, I strained my ears for the steady thump of his heart, but it was as still and silent as the rest of him.
A choking panic clawed up my throat, and I racked my brain for what to do.
“No,” I mumbled, placing my palms on his chest and reaching for that familiar Coranthe magic. I could feel it hovering on the edges of my awareness, but it felt so far away.
Vaguely, I became aware of Sorsha moving nearby, but I closed my eyes and searched my memory for a rune that I could use to heal him.
It wasn’t the same as when I’d regrown Adriel’s arm. Kaden bore no physical wounds. I didn’t even know what was wrong with him.
A horrible sense of hopelessness crept in as I stared down at my mate, whose face was so pale I could see theveins through his skin. Raindrops splattered his high cheekbones, sliding down his face and over the bridge of his nose.
He couldn’t die. Not now. Not when I was soangrywith him.
Angry that he’d hidden the truth of what he was.
Angry that he’d hidden what we were to each other.
Angry that he’d likely known what the sire bond meant, and he’d made me agree to kill him.
But most of all, I was angry that Kaden had made me love him. Despite everything he’d done, everything he’d hidden, I was fuckingin lovewith him.
The realization had tears clogging my throat and snot running down my nose.
Furious, I grabbed him by the front of his leathers and gave him a hard shake. “Kaden,” I growled. “You lying sack of shit. You don’t get to keel over anddie. Not when I fucking love you.”
I wanted to scream. I wanted to pummel the bastard for having the gall to leave me like this. Without the chance to say what I felt.
Instead, I yanked him closer and pressed a hard kiss to his frozen, lifeless lips.
As I pulled away, Kaden sucked in a gasp. His eyes flew open — no longer the cold black of a demon but the swirling silver-gray that invaded my dreams. They were staring at me with a mixture of shock and awe, and my heart gave an erratic thump.
“You love me.”
“Is that all you heard?” I rasped, nearly choking on my own relief.
“No,” he croaked, studying my face as if he’d never seen me before. “But let’s pretend it was.”
And then, Kaden was moving — rolling me onto my back in the mud and slamming his mouth onto mine. His tongue deftly parted my lips, drawing a soft, shuddering moan from my throat.
Rain mixed with my tears as I kissed him back, still gripping his jacket for dear life. Part of me was afraid to let him go — afraid he’d slip away.
Kaden kissed me with a desperation that matched my own, pinning me to the ground with his weight. I welcomed the crush of him against me — the hard bar of his erection driving into my stomach as he rolled his hips. “I have waited five hundred years to hear those words.”
