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Ollie released a low, strangled sound that cut Dante to the depths of his damned soul.

“I don’t believe you.” Luc’s eyes glowed red and he beat his wings, fingers flexing against the pale skin of Ollie’s neck. “We will never find our mates. We’ve known that for well over a thousand years. Yet, you expect me to believe you and Ash have suddenly found yours?”

“Yes. It’s true. I don’t know how they’re here after so long…

” Dante’s fingertips tingled and his mouth went dry.

Ollie looked at him like he’d been betrayed, cutting Dante deeper than anything.

He took an unsteady breath. “You’re holding my mate by the throat, Luc.

It’s a crime to act like this. The highest offense.

You know this. Please, let him go. Even after all this time, you know the bond is sacred. You can’t come between us. ”

Luc pressed his lips to Ollie’s ear, whispering too low for Dante to hear over the waves crashing on the rocks behind them. Ollie’s wide eyes filled with tears.

“Luc! Stop!” Dante yelled as the tears spilled down Ollie’s cheeks.

The Devil’s fire-red eyes fixed on Dante.

“There is no bond between you two. If there was, you wouldn’t be pissing yourself right now.

If you were bonded, I wouldn’t be able to kill him so easily.

” The nails on Luc’s hand lengthened into lethal points, pricking Ollie’s throat.

Luc’s face twisted as if something pleasing occurred to him.

“There is one way to know for sure if you’re telling the truth. ”

“ No! ” Dante screamed, launching forward at full speed, wings erupting from his back.

But he wasn’t fast enough. He couldn’t cross the rocks faster than Luc could flick his wrist.

Lucifer dragged his nails across Ollie’s throat, cutting so deep his fingers disappeared into Ollie’s flesh. Blood burst from the gash, Ollie’s eyes popping wide in horror as he choked and grabbed at his neck, his body dissolving into convulsions as blood poured over his fingers.

Luc tossed Ollie away as Dante reached him. He caught his mate, holding tight. Instantly, Ollie’s blood coated Dante’s arms and chest. There was so much. Everywhere but where it needed to be, safe inside his mate.

Everything in Dante’s body screamed. He shook as he clutched Ollie. No. Not this. Not Ollie. He can’t die. Not yet, and not like this.

Dante may never see his mate again if he passed into the Eternal Realm. His soul could be held captive. Dante wouldn’t risk it. He had to save him. But would the bond be enough? It was too soon.

Dante ripped his trembling wrist open with his teeth and pressed it to Ollie’s slack mouth as he bent and licked some of the blood from Ollie’s chest.

Tears filled Dante’s eyes and spilled down his cheeks. No sound reached his ears except the horrible gurgling coming from Ollie’s throat. He tasted nothing—felt nothing but emptiness—as he swallowed his mate’s blood and began the incantation to bind their souls together forever.

If cemented properly, the mating bond would give Ollie Dante’s demon healing powers. It was the only way to save him from a fatal wound, as long as the wound didn’t kill him before Dante finished the spell.

Magic flared around Dante, grating on his frayed nerves like acid on his skin. Cold seawater chilled his legs, and he realized he’d fallen to his knees in the tidepool. The water was red with blood, dark and desolate, Ollie’s life force staining the rocks.

Ollie turned cold in Dante’s arms, his eyes glassy and chest barely moving as horrible sounds ripped from his mangled throat.

Dante chanted the mating spell with everything he had, pouring magic and thousands of years’ worth of longing into the ritual. Anything for Ollie. Please don’t let it be too late .

As Dante’s chant faded, the spell complete, he rested his forehead against Ollie’s, tears falling onto Ollie’s clammy skin.

Ollie’s heartbeat was so faint Dante could barely make it out over his own. The rhythm slowed, then stopped. Dante’s stopped too, his muscles locking up. It was as if his body no longer belonged to him, but he’d rather die than come away from this without Ollie.

With a shudder that went down to his toes, Dante’s heart restarted, and when it did, so did Ollie’s, stronger now, beating in sync with Dante’s.

The connection between them flared. Magic raced through Dante’s veins, pulling power out of him and toward Ollie in a blinding pain so sharp it drowned everything out, stealing Dante’s vision in a flash of light.

Everything hurt, Dante’s body screaming in silent agony.

He welcomed Ollie’s pain. He called it to him, taking it away from Ollie. Dante’s throat felt ripped open, his lungs heavy like he was drowning, but it was okay. Dante would take any pain if it meant Ollie was still here.

Ollie remained limp in Dante’s arms. Why was it taking so long? Maybe it was a mercy Ollie wasn’t conscious and had been spared the pain, but he’d wake eventually, right? Please . It had worked, hadn’t it?

At last, through the agony, Dante felt Ollie’s body healing, stitching back together.

Dante’s heavy lungs cleared and he drew in a choked breath. The numbness in his limbs faded and the weight of Ollie in his arms became solid. Dante brushed Ollie’s hair from his forehead, leaving a smear of blood behind.

The sight made Dante’s battered throat close. Ollie’s whole body, from the neck down, was drenched in blood. Flecks of red marred his cheeks. Dante wiped them away, but his hands were so bloody he made it worse.

Irrational anger at dirtying his mate’s face burned inside him. This wasn’t right .

Ollie’s body was healing, but Dante’s mind wasn’t. It broke over the rocks and sand. Red filled his vision, burning his eyes. He’d crumble into nothing.

Dante brushed the healing gash on Ollie’s throat. His world had been bled dry. He couldn’t do this. It wasn’t fair.

But Ollie needed him to get through this.

Dante focused on their shared heartbeats, letting the sound hold him steady. Ollie would wake. He would be okay.

“Is he really…?” A choked sound cut through the thudding of Dante’s and Ollie’s twin heartbeats. “He…he…? ”

Dante looked up, surprised to find Lucifer standing before him, splattered with his mate’s blood.

He hadn’t fled? The Devil’s miserable face had the audacity to twist in horror as he gazed down at Ollie like he hadn’t been the one to do this.

“ I will kill you ,” Dante vowed, so much venom in his tone he didn’t recognize his own voice.

Lucifer turned a hollow gaze on Dante. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then blinked out of existence.

Fine. Dante could wait. There was nowhere Luc could go to be safe now. Dante would hunt Luc to the ends of the known universe. He would punish Luc for this, but he was fucking busy right now. He had Ollie to take care of. His mate was more important than vengeance. More important than anything.

And after today, nothing would ever be the same.