Page 39

CAMDEN

I shifted back, ignoring the biting cold on my body. “None of us are going through unless all of us can go through.”

The vamp gave me an annoyed look and then gestured exaggeratedly towards the portal, an aura of wavy, iridescent steam radiating off its surface.

“By all means.”

I ignored the attitude and nodded towards Julian’s wolf. “Return,” I barked.

He shifted back immediately, shaking the snow out of his hair.

“You try first,”

I commanded. “You bonded with Marlowe last and should have the least amount of Luminis in your system. If it’s not enough to pass, we’ll wait and come back.”

He nodded slowly, taking a deep breath as he stepped closer to the entrance, his hands outstretched.

And then walked straight into the rock with a small thud.

The rest of the pack shifted back, sighing in annoyance.

“How long can we wait until Julian’s charged enough?”

Elias asked. “I can probably get through, maybe Nolan, too. And definitely Kian. Let us go first, we’ll do some reconnaissance and…”

“Enough!”

I said. “We don’t even know what’s on the other side of this thing. What if it led straight into the fae king’s bathroom or some shit? We do this together, end of discussion. The more we separate, the more we put ourselves at risk, and the chances for getting Marlowe back shrink even further.”

Elias’s jaw ticked, struggling with his desire to ignore me and do whatever he wanted anyway. “Okay, fine. But what now?”

Kian inspected his nails indifferently. “You could always expedite the process.”

Julian’s ears perked up. “Yeah? How do we do that?”

Wait, he couldn’t mean…

“Drink my blood.”

We all growled at the suggestion. Well, everyone but Archer, who had taken too much of a liking to the bloodsucker for my comfort. His curiosity always won out over his prejudices, but I’d rather let the resentment fuel me.

Kian rolled his eyes and replied quickly. “I’m not saying to bite and bond with me. I mean, it’s not like I’d want to be tied down to you assholes, either. I must have way more of this ‘Luminis,’ and I can offer you a bit to drink to introduce more to your bloodstream.”

The thought of drinking vamp blood made me want to puke, but fuck, I liked the idea of waiting longer to rescue Marlowe even less. I looked towards Archer. “What do you think? Would it work?”

“I already told you my feelings on exchanging blood on the drive over here,”

he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Aside from perhaps helping us build and accumulate Luminis more quickly, I’d be interested in seeing if there were any other side effects, or powers we could exchange. So it’s worth trying, and I’m happy to go first if the rest of you are still skeptical.”

I ran my hand down my face, grumbling. “Whatever. If it helps get Marlowe back faster, it’s worth it.”

Just a few weeks ago, I’d been sitting at a Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt’s house, eating way too much turkey and texting Rachel, a beta I knew from high school who I’d been flirting with.

Now I was naked in the middle of the woods, agreeing to drink a vampyr’s blood so I could enter a portal to another dimension filled with fae who had kidnapped my omega.

She was worth enduring every trial we’d been put through so far, and would likely meet from now on. But it was still hard to come to terms with how my life had gotten to this point.

Kian’s sharpened canines elongated and he nicked the skin on his wrist with a quick swipe, offering it to Archer. “A few pulls should be enough.”

Archer grabbed his arm and tentatively took a quick sniff, carefully placing his mouth around the wound and drinking in.

My stomach revolted and I had to turn away. It was too disgusting to watch.

After a few seconds, I heard him break away, coughing and breathing heavily. Kian licked his wound closed as Archer’s chest heaved, steam rising off his heated skin.

“Well?”

Nolan asked.

Archer flexed his hands a few times and closed his eyes. “I feel… strange.”

When they opened again they flashed violet before returning to his normal brown, and the ground around us began to rumble. A column of earth erupted through the snow, followed in quick succession by several more, winding their way along the shore.

Julian stepped forward and touched one of the tall spires of dirt and rock Archer had just summoned, then turned towards the vamp with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Me next.”