Page 49 of Blood Bonds

She squirmed as heat spread from her center to each limb. Her fingers tingled with the need to explore him, while her tongue desired something far more decadent.

What is wrong with me? Never in her existence had she yearned for such a thing.

It was as if Sethios had flipped a hormonal switch inside of her, and she couldn’t figure out how to turn it off.

At least her headache was gone.

Caro focused on her breathing, matching Sethios’s calming pattern. His body was so relaxed against hers that it lulled her into an addicting sense of comfort.

Her heart slowed. Her muscles unwound. Potential dreams scattered through her mind.

And crashed as a lethal presence stung her senses.

She didn’t move. Didn’t react outwardly. But she felt it.

Something cruel—an aura that didn’t belong.

How is that possible?

Doesn’t matter. Just run.

Sethios remained behind her, unaffected, yet she sensed his alertness.

He knows.

And if he doesn’t? her nerves asked, fraying at the ends.

No. She couldn’t think about that now.

They needed to move, and quickly.

But, God, if she was wrong…

She engaged her instincts and misted them to their backup-plan location—a random home in the middle of Montana. Sethios’s arms closed around her as his mouth latched onto her neck, pulling her essence in quick, violent pulls.

Caro cried out at the invasion but understood the purpose and need. Her gift had worn off, allowing an evil presence to find them.

Osiris.

Sethios finished as fast as he began and pressed his forehead to her shoulder, his inhale harsh against her skin. “Fuck,” he breathed. “Too fucking close.”

“How did he find us?”

He shook his head, either because he didn’t know or because he couldn’t formulate a response yet. Her misting seemed to weaken him, perhaps because it went against the natural order to carry him with her. He wasn’t a Seraphim. Not completely, anyway.

Caro remained alert, waiting for the evil aura to appear again, but silence surrounded them. That could be deceiving, however, as she shouldn’t have been able to feel Osiris’s misting approach to begin with. Yet, somehow, she did.

My abilities are shifting.

Why?

That didn’t happen when she birthed Gabriel. Why would this new child be any different?

Sethios.

The thought clicked on a gasp. “I sensed him because your blood is inside me. In the child.” She blinked, shocked by the obvious connection. “Our baby saved us.”

That was the mark of a great power. Unnatural. Amazing. Mind-blowing.