Page 74 of Seared Fates

A wave of fresh pain crashes over the skin on my chest. I pull my phone back out and, between gritted teeth, call Kai.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring

“Fuck, pick up, Kai. Pick the fuck up!”

Cursing when it goes to voicemail, I slam my fist into the door.

“Hurry, Lucero!”

Lucero zooms around a corner, the car swerving as he aims towards Kai’s towering block of flats, and I’m out of the car before it skids to a stop.

My feet pound against the ground as I run towards the door. I grab hold of the metal handle, the hinges whining when I rip the door free as easily as opening a tin can and discard it with a crashover my head as I charge upstairs. The beat of Lucero’s shoes behind me.

Halfway up, a scent pierces my senses sharper than the pain trying to rip me open—Kai’s blood. A lot of it.

Panic has me sprinting faster, and I barrel into the landing leading to Kai’s flat. Rushing towards a blood-stained number 58, where Golden and Ramy’s frantic voices stream out.

My heart beating to a wild, desperate beat, I rush into Kai’s flat to find my soulmate sprawled on his speckled carpet, wet with his pooling blood—a dark figure kneeling over him.

A roar rips out of me as I charge towards the figure.

“MAKER, STOP!” Ramy cries.

“He’s healing Kai!” Golden screams, tears in his voice.

I seize a pair of strong shoulders, ready to confront whoever dared hurt my mate—only to find myself staring at someone far too familiar.

“Sen?” My offspring I haven’t seen in years.

“Love to chat, Maker, but I’m trying to save a life here,” Sen quips.

But I have no time for him, or why the fuck he’s even here, and I drop to my knees.

“Kai. My little prince.” I lay a hand on his clammy cheek. “What happened to you?”

His eyes don’t open. Not even a finger twitches. His chest is a nightmare of blood and torn flesh, like a knife stabbed into him and wrenched down with the only purpose to do as much damage as possible. Sen’s bleeding wrist presses to his mouth, and Kai unconsciously swallows his blood.

“I got here just as he passed out,” Sen tells me. “A blood mage was attacking him.”

“Out of the way.” I push Sen’s hand away and pull Kai into my lap. My fangs slice open my wrist so I can pour my blood into hismouth. “C’mon, love. Drink my blood. Heal,” I demand, refusing to accept any other outcome. “Heal!”

“Is he healing?” Golden rushes out. “Lucero? Is Kai going to be okay?”

“Vidar’s blood is powerful, beautiful. Kai will be fine. I promise,” Lucero assures his mate.

But I hear how he hesitates. Sen’s blood is also powerful.

“Shit,” I curse when my wrist knits back together. Kai’s wound still hasn't even begun to heal.

Using my fangs, I rip out a chunk of flesh from my wrist, my blood now pouring. I tilt back Kai’s head and place my wrist over his stained lips.

Kai coughs as red floods his mouth and rushes down his throat, but as much as I hate to see his discomfort, I don’t stop until after a painfully long eight seconds—he finally stops bleeding. The air trapped in my lungs comes out in a whoosh when his skin pulls itself together, leaving behind a thin vertical scar on his bloody chest.

I haul an unconscious Kai into my arms, breathing in his calming lavender scent. “What. Happened?” I say, voice deadly low.

Chapter twenty-eight

Kai