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I love you, and I’m sorry,was her last thought before everything turned black.

Don’t you dare die on me!Marek shook Olivia. A gigantic void yawned open inside him, threatening to consume him whole. His chest felt like someone had smashed a hammer on it repeatedly. Marek crumpled to his knees, shudders wrecking him, his vision blurring with tears.

The magic from Olivia to the crystal had withered to a glimmer as it devoured the last bit of her life.

It can’t end like this.Marek hugged Olivia tighter, doing everything in his power to cling to her fading essence.I won’t allow you to die.

Vampire. He could turn her into a vampire. But as he watched her magic dimming, he realized it wouldn’t work. The transformation needed time, and the magic would kill her before she turned. Even if by some miracle she transformed instantly, she wasn’t dying of a physical wound. He had no idea if vampirism would save her from the magic consuming her life.

Life. Hadn’t Andrea said every living thing had a life force? That included him, right? If Olivia could transfer her life force to Betsy, then it reasoned he could transfer his to Olivia. He didn’t know how much magic or life force breaking Drakos’ seal would take. It might kill him, but he didn’t care. He hadn’t been kidding about following Olivia into the next life.

Either he walked into the sun after her, or he risked his life saving her.

Saving both of them.

Marek closed his eyes and zeroed in on the dying mating bond, especially on Olivia’s end. He didn’t know magic, but he knew how to transfer strength down the mating bond, so he started there. He poured the entirety of his being and his power into it. Everything he was. His past. His present. His hopes. His dreams.

The very essence of his soul, he emptied it into the mating bond, brightening its glow through sheer force of will.

He sensed the second the spell latched onto his life force. He no longer had to push. Instead, the magic sucked at him, draining him. The light between Olivia and the crystal strengthened back into a wide purple current with only thin streams of green. Thin, hairline cracks slowly spread along the crystal. When his essence mingled with hers, he sensed a flutter of awareness from Olivia. She wasn’t dead. Hope unfurled inside him like a flower, and he gave more.

Take it. Take it all,he begged the spell, uncaring it wasn’t sentient. The cracks grew and grew until they covered every inch of the crystal.

Olivia’s awareness strengthened.Marek? What are you doing?Fear and panic lit up her side of the bond.

I’m helping you.

Stop. You can’t do this.

How could she even ask that of him?I’ll do whatever it takes to save you.

As his life fueled the spell, strength escaped his limbs. He dropped flat on the ground and rolled over onto his back, tucking Olivia against him.

All around them, the malevolent god who’d brought them here cackled with triumph. A moment of hopeless rage filled him. If Drakos were here now, he’d snap his neck.

No, he didn’t wish to die with vengeance polluting his last thoughts. Marek buried his face in Olivia’s hair and imagined them back in Vegas, in their bed, with breakfast still warm from the kitchen. She was naked beside him, lamplight illuminating her sweat-soaked skin, her hair clinging to her neck, and love shining in her brilliant brown eyes.

That was the image he cherished in his mind as the world melted away.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Marekfloatedinasea of darkness, but it wasn’t the cold nothingness of the past seven hundred years. This darkness was alive, filled with gentle, loving warmth. Something shimmered at the edge of his vision, taking form slowly. A thick, rope-like golden light, starting from his heart and reaching into the distance.

An instinct older than time told him to follow the light, and he did. The light grew brighter and brighter until he was almost blind from its intensity.

Marek blinked. The dazzling light flickered to nothing. For a second, he stared uncomprehending at the grayness before him. He was no longer floating. No, his body weighed a ton, and he would no doubt drown immediately if dropped into water.

Every part of him ached, from his ankles to his thighs, his arms, his back, and parts of him he hadn’t felt in decades.

A ceiling, he was staring at a ceiling. Other sounds assailed him—the rumblings of vehicles outside, people shouting in a foreign language, a gentle exhale beside him.

Marek didn’t dare believe it. Olivia. He looked down. There she was, curled up against his side, her tangled brunette strands spread around her sleeping face.

Was he dreaming?

She groaned. Alive. Thank God. She was alive.

Theywere alive.