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She studied his reaction. He didn’t seem surprised, only confused. Then it hit her. “You knew, even before the shooting.”

He stared at her, tight-lipped. “I had my suspicions.”

His behavior toward her made sense now. Jericho wasn’t alone in his contempt, thanks to Queen Rayna and her quest for world domination. Alex had heard the whispers. Whispers like “a faerie’s power could corrupt even the purest heart.”

Ironically, the thing Jericho hated about her, she hated as well.

She’d deal with that later, though. For now, there were more important matters at hand. “I don’t know what Doc told you, but there’s something seriously wrong with Liam. I can’t…” She rubbed her forehead. How to explain? “I can’tfeelhim.”

“Feel him?”

She understood what Jericho was asking. What was her caste?

“I’m a sympath.” Though she avoided using her curse at all costs, an experienced sympath could both read and control emotions. Alex had little expertise with either.

Jericho winced, his golden skin turning unnaturally pale. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she caught a split second of fear rolling off of him.

Whatever. She didn’t have time for all the landmines she seemed to be tripping over. “Look, even with Liam’s psychic shields in place, I can usually sense his presence. Now, it’s like he’s at the bottom of the ocean, too deep for me to reach. I’m sure if we could just get Liam to feed from me, my blood would help him heal. I would have cut my wrist and put it to his mouth if the drugs Doc pumped into me hadn’t knocked me out.”

She’d been seconds from hitting the floor when she made it to Liam’s bed. “Doc wouldn’t listen to me. Maybe he’ll listen to you.”

Jericho’s stoic façade cracked, and he raked his hair from his forehead, mumbling something about“just getting it over with.”Why did he seem so pained? She got the sense whatever it was he’d expected from her, this conversation wasn’t going according to plan.

Dread coiled through her stomach. “Jericho, I realize you and I might have gotten off on the wrong foot. I’m not asking for a lot here, just to give him my blood. Hell, give him all of it.” The way Jericho felt about her, he may take her up on that offer.

He stood at the side of her bed, painfully still, bitter resignation on his face. “Alex…Liam can’t feed from you.”

“There must be a way, a transfusion—”

“Liam can’t feed from you,” he repeated. “You’re no longer his Chosen. You’re mine.” His whiskey eyes held her captive. In them, she registered…truth.

He isn’t bluffing.

The room dimmed, and black dots swam in her vision. Her lungs expanded, gulping air. Shit, she’d forgotten to breathe. “No… No, no, no. That’s not possible.”

“It was his final wish.” Jericho’s eyes flashed metallic, a vampiric sign of boiling emotions. “With Liam’s last breath, he bound you to me.”

She swallowed the lump at the back of her throat. “But how is that possible? He can’t. Can he?”

“Liam believed he was dying. Without his protection, he worried you’d be vulnerable.”

She choked back a snarky response, an assertion that she could damn well take care of herself. Liam had made sure of it over the years.

“This has to be some sort of mistake. With Liam, there was a ritual.”

Jericho’s scowl deepened as though he was offended she’d question his word. “After I found you in the backroom, I completed the incantation and gave you my blood to heal your injuries. I couldn’t have accomplished that if Liam hadn’t transferred the bond.”

“But Liam needs me.” Her voice rose. “I can’t be your Chosen.”

The look in Jericho’s eyes turned downright glacial. “Believe me when I say this is the last thing either of us wanted.”

She sorted through her foggy memories of the shooting. Blurry images of Jericho in Liam’s office flitted through her conscience. “No. It’s not possible. Liam wouldn’t do this to me.”

Jericho grabbed her wrist, and she gasped. “The bond is there, Alex. If I can feel it, there’s no way a sympath wouldn’t feel it too.”

Her mental barriers slammed into place. Useless. While he kept his emotions behind an impenetrable wall, the bond she shared as his Chosen refused to be hidden. Her heart seized in her chest.

She was Jericho’s Chosen.