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Chapter twenty-three

“Vale?”

“I need you to cut me open,” he rasped, willing his vision to clear. “Here.” Aidan was vaguely aware of Rae moving around him as he pressed a hand to his chest, each breath like his lungs were burning hot coals as the bullet pressed against his heart.

“Cutting out your heart is a little cold, even for me, Vampire.” Rae’s fingers closed over his, easing his hand out of the way.

He tried to laugh, but the sound was choked. “There’s a bullet lodged in my chest. I think it was full of whatever tranquiliser they used on me before.”

“Okay,” Rae said, ripping his wet shirt open. “How lodged?”

“Deep. The blood healed it over.”

“Shit,” she murmured on an exhale. “I can’t believe you’re asking me to fuck up this beautiful ink.” The words were light, but he could feel her concern now that the tranquiliser was almost entirely gone from his system.

“Did you just call me beautiful, Witch?” With his back pressed against a wall, it was the only thing keeping him upright.

“The art is beautiful, smart ass.” She straddled his lap, her hand resting over his heart, and he knew she was doing it to distract him from what was coming, could feel the way she was fighting to cover up her concern.

“Bite me, and I will cut out more than this bullet, understand?” Rae’s eyes met his, searching.

Her pulse ticked in her throat, and against his better judgement, he let his gaze dip for a heartbeat before nodding.

Her hair had been blood red earlier, but now it was almost black from the rain. Without thinking, he lifted a piece stuck to her shoulder, twirling it between his fingers. “Why do you do this?”

“No one’s seen what I look like in years.

” She pulled a blade from her jacket. Not the one she’d cut Daire’s throat with, but a longer, finer blade, handing it to him before shrugging out of the garment and bundling it up over his stomach.

Her hips canted with the movement, and Aidan willed himself not to think about the warmth of her, of how soft she felt against him when he needed to feed.

When he’d done nothing but crave the fucking taste of her blood since he’d licked it from that needle the night before. “Ready?”

“Do it.”

She didn’t meet his eyes again. With steady hands and steady breaths, Rae brought the tip of the blade to where he’d shown her, his head falling back against the wall at the first cut.

It was familiar to him now, the sting of a knife, the pressure as it went deeper.

Her movements were careful and precise, like she knew what she was doing.

Warm blood trickled down his chest, and Aidan let out a quiet hiss, his canines extending instinctively. His own blood meant the need to defend himself. “Anyone would think you’ve had practice at this, Farren,” he ground out.

A flicker of something from Rae—not fear—but something close as she glanced up and took in his sharp teeth. “Mhmm. You were right, it’s deep. This next part is going to hurt. A lot. You want to hold onto something?”

Aidan brought his hands to her full hips, squeezing gently as another lick of worry unfurled from her, but for him, not for her. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth to reassure her, and her lips twitched in response.

“Not exactly what I meant, Vampire,” she murmured, raising an eyebrow at him, but he didn’t dare speak again as he felt the bullet press harder against his heart.

Rae put the knife to one side. Pressed a hand to the unmarred skin on his chest beside the open wound, her skin like ice against his.

She searched his face for a moment, as if she were waiting for him to stop her before she brought her other hand above the wound and closed her eyes, matching her breathing to his.

Aidan’s fingers pressed a little tighter at her hips in anticipation.

He took in the way her eyelashes fluttered, the soft curve of her nose, her lips, barely moving as she began her spell.

He didn’t trust himself to lower his gaze from her face with how much blood poured from his wound and every instinct screamed at him to feed. To take.

She’d already begun muttering when Aidan felt it—the bullet shifted.

He let out an involuntary groan, eyes focused on Rae’s mouth to stop him from digging his fingers into her harder.

Her murmuring grew louder, Aidan’s back arching against the pain, drawing Rae closer to him.

His breaths came out short and sharp with each tug of her magic, her incantation getting louder, louder.

She was shaking, just like she had been back at Cosia, and Aidan wrapped his arms around her; it was all the support he could offer.

Her breaths were ragged, every part of her trembling with effort.

Just as he was about to tell her to stop, her eyes flashed open, a bright smile lighting her face as she continued her spell, a blue haze in the air around her.

Rae was as breathless as he was, and fuck, if she wasn’t the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

With one last pull on whatever magic she was using, Aidan felt the bullet reach the skin she’d cut open; he glanced down to see silver glinting at the centre of the wound.

“Eyes on me, Vampire,” Rae told him, beads of sweat on her brow and a small quake in her voice.

He could feel the relief pouring off her and reminded himself of their agreement, that she needed him to serve her purpose.

Anything to stop him from thinking about the blood rushing to his cock, to everything else they could be doing with her seated like this, their chests heaving in time with each other’s.

He hadn’t realised she’d already pulled the bullet the rest of the way until she was holding it in her hand, glancing down at it. Aidan followed her gaze, watching as she turned it between her fingertips and then slipped it into her pocket, her hips moving again with the movement.

Exceptional didn’t even come close. He fought the urge to rest his hand over her racing heart. To slide it up her throat and crush his mouth to those soft lips, to tear every scrap of clothing off her body.

“You can let go now, Vampire,” she said with another smirk, swiping a piece of hair from her face.

Aidan’s arms fell away, but he didn’t take his eyes off her.

Couldn’t even if he tried. Rae cleared her throat, but he caught the desire leaking from her before she could shut him out, and he couldn’t help the way the corner of his mouth curled up at how she tried to hide it.

She eased off his lap, putting distance between them.

“How many rutoks would you need to eat to clear that up?” she asked, flicking her chin at the gaping wound in his chest.

For the first time since they arrived, Aidan took in the room they were in.

Some sort of staff room for the maintenance team, and Rae was pulling open cupboards, casting containers over her shoulder as she searched for something.

He was too busy watching the curve of her ass as she reached up to the top cupboards, the way—

“How many?” she repeated.

Aidan shrugged. “Fifty. Maybe more. They’re worse than human junk food. Absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever.”

“Damn it, Vale.” Rae seemed to have found what she was looking for because she ripped open a bag, pouring items out onto the counter. “I’m not killing fifty of them. Have you seen how cute they are?”

She soaked a rag slung over a cupboard door by the sink and walked back over to him, removing her blood-soaked jacket from his lap and handing him the fabric.

Right, he was covered in blood. She’d picked up her blade from the floor beside him and made her way back over to the sink.

A quick wipe against her trousers was all Rae gave the dagger before she cut deep into her palm, blood pouring into a mug she’d pulled from one of the cupboards when he wasn’t paying attention.

Even from where he sat, the sweetness of her blood overwhelmed him.

He’d only had a single drop the night before, and it had been the best fucking thing he’d tasted in as long as he could remember.

But he also recognised this for what it was, and somehow the disappointment was worse than his current predicament.

“You don’t trust me,” he said, rubbing his thumb over his bottom lip as she held out the mug for him at arm’s length.

Her eyes darted to his mouth, then back up again, but she didn’t step closer.

Aidan took the offering, his fingers brushing hers for a moment.

“I don’t trust myself,” she murmured, twisting the ring at her thumb with a finger. “Think there’s a shower here?”

“Unlikely.” Aidan tried to keep all traces of humour from his voice.

Laughing when she’d just saved his life didn’t seem like an appropriate way to show gratitude.

He finished her blood in one eager swallow, fighting back the groan at the taste of it, the urge to sigh like a sated youth.

The magic of his Order came alive with her Witch blood, his skin knitting itself back together, his body repairing itself.

He watched as Rae poured liquid over her hand with a hiss, wrapped a bandage around it, and tied it with her teeth. He didn’t trust himself to help her either. Not yet. “Are you—” he began, an ache in his voice he hoped she couldn’t hear.

She took the empty cup from him, discarding it on the counter.

“Nothing’s broken, as far as I can tell, just sore.

Using my magic that way healed me a little too.

” There was something in her tone, a hint of something that she seemed to swallow down too quickly for him to discern.

A scrap of fabric hung on the back of the door, and Rae lifted it off the hook with a glare.

“An apron,” she said with a disapproving tone.

“Couldn’t it have at least been a jacket? ”

Aidan huffed a quiet laugh. “Sit.” He tapped the floor beside him.

She was made of strong stuff, he’d seen enough to know that by now, but she’d been in a car accident, soaked through in the rain, and expelled a lot of magic to heal him, all in the past few hours.

He could feel the exhaustion tumbling from her.

Something told him she’d used him as a source to heal herself, but her body still needed rest.

Rae hesitated for only a moment before slumping down beside him, covering herself with the apron to keep warm. “Sleep. I’ll keep watch,” she said, staring straight ahead as if she were too wired to sleep. Whatever she was feeling besides her exhaustion, she’d locked it in tight.

“I don’t sleep. I don’t need to now anyway.” Because of her magic. Her blood. She’d needed to remove the bullet, but she hadn’t needed to give him her blood. He’d have healed. Much slower, granted, but he’d have healed.

Rae’s head fell back against the wall, but she still kept her gaze fixed ahead of her. “Fine. Then tell me what that was back there.”

Aidan sighed, rubbing a hand across his new scar. “A test subject. He called himself Daire.”

“Go back a step. The car?”

“Hmm. I got shot. Must have been a sniper because there was no one else besides Daire. I think a bit of the tranquiliser released as it hit—I lost control for a second.”

Rae’s shoulders shook.

“What?”

She met his eyes, hers still bright with laughter. “That’s the worst apology I’ve ever heard.”

“Apology for what?”

“I had to cut myself out of your car, Vale, after saving your ass.”

Aidan gestured to the bloody mess that was his torso, despite his best efforts to clean himself up. “I was a little busy.”

“All-powerful Vampire Lord, my ass,” she said on a huff of air, elbowing him lightly.

“Thank you,” he told her, holding her gaze.

Rae barely dipped her chin in acknowledgement, the tiniest hint of colour staining her cheeks. “Now tell me about Daire, the test subject .”

Aidan filled her in, all too aware of how much worse the situation could have been if the Fae and humans were further along with their testing. “Daire had Thaumas abilities, I’m certain of it.”

“How is that even possible? I thought the last of them were wiped out before I was born?”

So did he. “Either they found a store of blood… or there are Thaumas in hiding.” Aidan wondered if his uncle had known, if any of the council knew.

“Fuck,” was all Rae said, a rutok crying somewhere deep inside the kennel accompanying the sentiment. And then after a moment of silence, she asked, “Nim’s gone, isn’t she?”

He owed her the truth. He owed her a lot more than that, but he could give her the truth. Dark green eyes met his and he wished he had more information to give her. “She was wounded, but alive.”

Her relief was palpable, but there was sadness too. Regret. “You lost a lot of your team tonight. Baelin and the others?”

“They’re fine.”

Rae blew out a breath. “And now we just wait it out here?”

“No one’s getting close to this building unless I want them to now. Thanks to you.”

She relaxed a little at that but covered it up with a quiet chuckle. “Your thanks are almost as shit as your apologies, my lord .” The words were sharp, though Aidan felt her weariness; there was no hiding her exhaustion now.

“Get some rest,” he told her. Rae didn’t reply, and Aidan made a point of staring out the window opposite into the dark as her breaths slowed and deepened.

He owed his life to a Witch, and as morning broke, he realised he didn’t mind at all.