“How did we get here?”
She brushed her fingers over his face. His skin was icy to the touch and far too pale. Even for a vampire.
He was fading fast.
“I can open a portal to places inside the magic barrier,” she told him, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. Panicking wouldn’t help. Right now, it was up to her to protect Javad. “I just can’t get us out of here.”
“Good.” Relief flared through his eyes. “There has to be an exit nearby. Go.”
She wiped the blood droplets from his cheek. “No.”
“Eventually, they’re going to find us.” His voice was harsh, his face twisting with frustration. “You have to leave.”
“Not this time,” she stubbornly insisted. “I walked away once. I won’t do it again.”
“Terra.” With obvious effort, he reached up to cup her face in his hand. “You don’t belong here. You have to return to the temple.”
Terra’s jaw clenched before she managed to control her burst of anger. “I will. In time,” she promised, calmly pulling up her sleeve. “First, you need to drink.”
Javad’s hand dropped, his face blank. As if she’d just hit him with a shovel instead of offering him the elixir that would lure him back from the brink of death.
At last, he gave a stiff shake of his head. “No. I can’t.”
Stubborn vampire. She leaned forward, holding out her arm.
“I may not be capable of healing you with my magic, but my blood will help you regain your strength,” she insisted.
He turned his head, looking tragically noble with his battered body and expression of agonizing need.
“You don’t know what it means.”
Her lips twitched. She hadn’t seen this melodramatic side of Javad before. It was cute.
“That I’m your mate?”
He froze as if shocked by her blunt question. “Okay, maybe you do know.”
“I’ve always known.” And she had. From the very first time she’d seen him. But it was a knowledge she’d hidden deep in her heart. A vampire had one mate, and once he or she had taken the blood of their destined partner they were bound together for eternity. “I just couldn’t allow myself to acknowledge our bond. Not when we were destined to be separated.”
Regret shimmered in his eyes. “It’s no different now.”
“Everything is different.”
He couldn’t miss the fierce edge in her voice. “What do you mean?”
She lowered her lashes, trying to hide the dark, tangled emotions that boiled and churned like a thundercloud just waiting to burst open.
“I broke my vow,” she revealed, her voice low and carefully calm. “I hurt the guard holding me so I could escape.”
“Terra.”
She lifted her gaze to study his horrified expression. “It’s okay. Really.”
“No.” He grabbed her hand, squeezing her fingers. “Being a Seraf is who you are.”
His words whispered through the air, and Terra braced herself for the pain. From the day she was born, she’d known that she was destined to join the Serafs in the fabled temple. She was celebrated in her tribe, and her parents had been given a fine home and piles of treasure.
Even arriving at the temple had been filled with pomp and ceremony. She’d been treated as if she were the most special creature on the face of the Earth.
Having that stripped away should have been devastating.
Instead, all she felt was…peace.
“I’ll always be a Seraf, whether I’m at the temple or not,” she told him in a firm voice. “My healing abilities aren’t dependent on the Matron. Or living among other Serafs.” She pressed her hand to the center of her chest, directly over her heart. “It’s here.”
Javad shook his head in regret. “This is my fault.”
“No,” she sternly chided. “This is Vynom’s fault.”
“If I—”
“Ssh.” Terra was done arguing. Pressing her inner wrist against his mouth, she leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Drink, or I won’t have anyone to protect me when they manage to track us down.”
He paused, seemingly caught off guard by her less than subtle manipulation. “You don’t fight fair,” he complained.
She smiled. “I’m learning. Better late than never.”
“I suppose that’s true.” His fingers drifted down her arm in a light caress. “But I don’t want you to become a cynic.”
The distant thunder of running footsteps could be heard. It sounded like a hundred demons stampeding overhead.
The search was on.
“I won’t become anything if you don’t heal,” she reminded him. “We’re running out of time.”
Holding her gaze, Javad allowed his fangs to lengthen. They gleamed with a snowy whiteness despite the shadows, emphasizing the razor-sharp tips. Terra shivered, but not with fear.
There was nothing but breathless anticipation as those lethal fangs pressed against her skin. Then, with one sharp jolt of pain, they pierced through her flesh and sank deep.
She gasped, burying her face in his hair that tumbled free of the braid. His cool, enticing male scent surrounded her as the sting faded and an exquisite feeling of pleasure flooded her. She could feel each deep draw as he drank her blood, the sensation shockingly erotic. Almost as sensual as the hand that slid up her arm to wrap around her shoulder, urging her to lay down beside him.
Keeping her wrist pressed against his mouth, Terra scooted down, arching against the hard length of his body.
“Javad.” His name came out on a shaky sigh, her head cradled in the curve of his throat. Then, barely aware of what she was doing, she bit and licked away the blood that trickled down his neck.
The taste exploded as it slid down her throat, intensifying her acute awareness of the male beside her.
Already, she could sense his savage wounds healing. She wasn’t using her Seraf powers. She didn’t need to. She could feel his pain easing and his strength returning. As if they were connected... No. It was more than a mere connection. It was as if they’d become one body. One soul. One heart.
Forever intertwined.
Awareness shuddered through her, and she arched closer to his bare chest. She wanted to halt time. To savor the mating magic as it rushed through her with intoxicating intensity. Javad’s
