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Hunger slammed into him like a thunderbolt. He ached to taste her, to prove to himself she was alive, but he stopped himself. She was weaker than him. He checked the mating bond, the light of which had returned to its previous thickness.

He smoothed a hand from her shoulder down the curve of her waist to her butt, giving in to the urge to touch her.

She was alive. They were both alive.

The realization rang louder with more excitement and disbelief the second time.

Her eyes opened with the same confusion swimming through him. The moment they landed on him, the world fell away, leaving only the two of them behind.

She lifted an arm, amazed, before cupping his face, and he leaned into her loving touch.

“How?” she croaked out and coughed. “What happened?”

“I tried to give you my life force. It worked,” he said before kissing her. She responded eagerly, her body curling into his as desire and happiness and utter disbelief spilled down the mating bond.

You shouldn’t have done that,she said, but any admonishment was overshadowed by her joy of simply being alive.

Of being here. Together again.

Someone coughed at the door.Leave,Marek told Nikolas. He wasn’t wasting one more moment with his mate.

I will if you want to be left to deal with the jaguars by yourself,Nikolas responded.

Marek sighed and broke the kiss. He sat up with a groan and leaned against the wall. God, he needed to feed soon. Hunger raked sharp nails over his stomach. He didn’t recall the last time he was this weak. Olivia sat up beside him and rested her head against his shoulders.

“Fine. What happened? How did we get here?” he asked.

“First, drink. You need it.” Nikolas handed him a bottle of blood.

Marek drank it, tasted puke, and spit it out, even as his stomach cramped with hunger. “What the fuck? I’m not in mood for pranks.”

Nikolas frowned in confusion. “A joke?”

“What’s wrong?” Olivia asked.

“It tastes like shit,” Marek growled and glared at the bottle. “Did you give me a bad batch or something?”

“Let me try.” Nikolas took the bottle from Marek and drank. “Tastes fine to me.”

This time, when he got the bottle back, Marek sniffed it. Maybe because he was utterly spent, but the bottle didn’t smell like blood. It didn’t smell bad, but he couldn’t detect the metallic tang and undertone he usually associated with bottled blood.

Gingerly, he lifted the bottle to his lips. The second the liquid touched his tongue, he stopped and almost gagged. “No. I can’t drink this. Give me another one.”

Nikolas disappeared and returned seconds later with an unopened one. “In case you think I tampered with it.”

Marek rolled his eyes and uncapped it. Sniffed, drank, and spat it back out. “Ugh, this one tastes worse.”

“Maybe you need fresh blood,” Olivia suggested and held out her wrist.

A growl rumbled up his throat before he could stop it. His vision reddened and all he could think about was the heavenly taste of Olivia’s blood. His throat worked as he prevented himself from latching onto her like some kind of animal.

“No, I’m not feeding from you. Not when you’re like this. Do you have bagged blood?”

“Not yet. The plane picking us up tonight will have some. Until then, we can’t go out to acquire any. The jaguars are hunting us. They’re furious with us for destroying their Ruins.”

“Destroying it?” Olivia asked and gulped.

A ghost of a smile from Nikolas. “Yes. The main tower collapsed. We dug you two out and escaped before sunrise.”