Page 169 of Collared by the Vampire Prince

Nathaniel plunges down the roof after me, half running, half sliding as he closes the distance between us.

“Take my hand!”

He hurls himself onto his stomach, one hand shooting towards me.

I throw my arm out wildly.

His fingers brush mine—and miss.

“Kira!” He screams my name, the sound torn raw.

Broken slate skitters into the darkness.

I follow, tumbling over the edge towards the narrow stone battlement.

My ribs strike first, the parapet catching me as I land in the gap between two merlons. Pain bursts through my left side, knocking the breath from my lungs. My wings are still wrapped around me in a wet, tangled shroud as the impact folds me over the stone.

For one breath, I remain there, staring blindly out at the dark horizon as rain strikes the back of my head and runs through my hair into my eyes. I blink hard, dazed. Then slowly, horribly, my weight begins to drag me backwards over the parapet until I am hanging head-first above the terrifying drop.

Panic seizes me as I fling out both hands, claws forming as I grasp at empty air before finding stone. The angle is wrong, and they scrape uselessly across the slick surface.

Somehow, my wing talons catch, hooking around the inner edges of the merlons, wrenching me to a stop.

A strangled hiss escapes through my teeth as agony tears through my left shoulder joint. My body trembles violently, every muscle straining to keep the talons buried as they slip, grain by grain, across the wet stone.

There will be no surviving the fall. The ground will take me before I can gather my wings. A trapped sob catches in my throat. This is the end. My weight lurches down.

I scream—

Strong hands close around my waist like a vice.

“I’ve got you.”

Relief crashes through me so fiercely it almost hurts as Nathaniel hauls us upwards, my wing talons shrieking against the stone.

“Let go,” he orders.

But I cannot. I dare not release the only thing keeping me from plunging head-first to my death.

“Kira, let go. I have you.” His voice is strained and breathless, his grip tightening around me. “You’re safe with me.”

Safe? With you?!

Yet even frightened out of my wits, I believe him. He could have killed me a long time ago. What other choice do I have? I loosen my back muscles, tearing one talon free. Then the other.

My entire weight lurches down over the edge—and settles in his grasp. Nathaniel grunts, heaving against the parapet. He drags me upwards, inch by agonising inch. My ribs drag across the edge, and a sharp cry escapes me before I can swallow it.

Then my weight pitches backwards as Nathaniel hauls me through the gap, and we tumble onto the narrow gallery together.

He lands awkwardly with his back against the stone wall, and I collapse into his arms, magic rippling hot through my fingers as I melt the claws away before I can rake him.

A sob tears from me as I gasp for breath, relief and terror crashing through me so forcefully I cannot separate one from the other. His arms lock across my stomach, holding me against him while my entire body trembles.

His heart pounds beneath my cheek. One trembling hand brushes the wet hair from my face, then cups my cheek as I draw back.

Suddenly, we are looking at one another. His blue eyes search mine as though making certain I am truly alive. Several breaths pass before I realise my heart is pounding too. I slide off him to sit beside him, his arms releasing me as I move. I remain close at his side, wincing as pain throbs between my ribs, sharp enough that I have to breathe through it before I can bring myself to look around.

Only then do I understand where we are—and what he has done.