“I love you,” she whispered, the words sticking in her throat swollen with grief. This could be her very last moment with him, their last kiss.
He blinked, staring at her with hazy eyes.“A leannan?”
“Forgive me...”She kissed him.
Blaéz slid his hands to her bottom and dragged her over the warm metal surface closer to him. She wrapped her legs around his hips, his erection pressing into her center. The fiery expression in his eyes as he took her mouth with a ferocious need scorched her to the depths of her breaking heart. His lids lowered. She tightened her arms around his nape. Tears slipped down her face. Warm and salty, it mingled with their kiss.
Then she felt it, like the very life force being pulled from her chest. An excruciating moan tore from her.
Blaéz stilled. His eyes snapped open in confusion…then horror filled them. He grasped her arms and fought to break off the kiss, but could do little, trapped by the power of the transfer.
More tears flowed, in pain, in sorrow, as the warm light residing inside her dimmed. He finally tore free, stumbling several feet away. Darci flew back, hands flailing, and sprawled on the hood.
Chest heaving, he charged for her. Rage distorted his features, his eyes a burning cobalt blue. He grabbed her upper arms, fingers biting into her flesh and shook her hard. Her hair dislodged from the topknot, spilling down her shoulders. “What have you done?”he choked out. “What the hell have you done!”
“I saved you,” she whispered, his image blurring through the tears. But she saw, too, how fast the change in him occurred. He no longer appeared linked to the open portal.
“Now you’ll die!”
“You opened a portal,” she cried. “You would have never come back from that!”
He slammed his fists on the hood, making her jump. “You will fucking die!”
Not if she could help it. She wasn’t just going to lie down and let the damn Grim Reaper make off with her paltry soul or whatever was left of it. Breathing hard at the weakness taking hold, she grasped his gaping shirtfronts. “I didn’t die, I’m still here aren’t I? We have time. You—”
“Time?” he snarled, snatching her hand and almost crushing it in his with the intense force of his desperation. “You have none. I already feel your weakness! How much longer, Darci? Another hour, a fucking minute?”
She wrestled her hand free, balled her sore fingers, and raised her chin in determination. “Damn your stubborn hide, Blaéz. You left me no choice. I love you, I could never let you go back there, can’t you see that?”
“Don’t you dare use that damn word, don’t you dare—” His chest heaved as he pulled in a ragged breath.
God, she had to make him understand, to see past his anger. She slipped off the hood and took a step toward him. “Blaéz—”
Shaking his head, he turned away. “I won’t watch you die, I won’t!”
At his tormented words, Darci stood there, struggling to breathe against the pain rolling through her. With a shaky hand, she dashed away her tears. And knew she’d do it all over again if she had to, to save Blaéz an eternity trapped in Hell.
* * *
Christ, this can’t be happening—it just can’t!Blaéz stared at the dark silhouette of trees surrounding him, his entire being splintering with an agony he had no idea how to fix.
The tattoo on his right biceps stirred as an insidious, icy air slithered over his skin. It made little difference to him at the evil closing in—unable to deal with the unending pain. Or the emotions raging through him like a windstorm…
The portal!He spun around and waved a hand to close it.
Too late. A shadowy figure was already stepping through.
“Well, well, well. Most entertaining, I must say.” Maloch’s sly tone slithered over him like a damn serpent. “Mortal females, so weak. Pathetic little deceivers, aren’t they?”
The urge to tear through the bastard’s throat flooded Blaéz, but terror had him spinning back to Darci, who stared at Maloch in horror.
“Get into the car!” he yelled, flashing to her. Summoning his obsidian dagger, he grabbed her hand and pushed the weapon into her palm, forcing her gaze back to him. “If anyone gets near you, use it. Aim for their heart. Kill them, you got me?”
When she didn’t accept the weapon and just stared at him with bruised eyes, he fought the vicious urge to put his fist through something.
He wrapped her fingers around the hilt. As he stepped away, Blaéz realized he no longer felt that warm connection—that stirring in his gut. He no longerfelther. It was as if their bond had severed.
And when he met Maloch’s smirking gaze, his fury exploded. The urge to kill—to destroy—took hold. For the century of degradation forced on him by this bastard who lusted after him, and more for the agony inside of him that just wouldn’t quit, knowing he would soon lose Darci, Blaéz dove for Maloch, smashing his fist into the demon’s face with the impact of a jackhammer. Bones crunched, blood streamed from his broken nose. Pain vibrated up Blaéz’s hand.
