Page 44 of Shifting Hearts

ELEVEN

Jas

T he angel wept as he held her in his arms. The vein in his forehead bulged as he struggled to breathe.

“Don’t cry, angel,” he comforted her as he brushed his thumb across her cheek.

“Please, drink. Take my blood. I need you,” she cried in desperation.

“No!” He roared and pushed her away. “Leave me.”

His stubborn angel shook her head. She brushed her hair off her neck and tilted her head, where her pulse beckoned him. The metallic scent of her blood was her siren song.

My mate.

He gently brushed the weak vein with a lover’s caress. If he took her up on her offer and drank her blood, she would die. If he refused her offer, he would die.

“You don’t understand what you’re offering,” he said, weakly.

“I do. I love you,” she whispered.

Jasper’s restraint broke. No preamble, no flowery words, no formality. He sunk his teeth into her. The sweet plasma delighted his tongue, as her viscous lifeforce trickled down his gullet. He moaned as he gripped her tighter.

“Jas… please…” she begged.

He couldn’t hear her. The bonding process began and he was transforming. From now on, only her blood would sate him.

He groaned in pain as the arrhythmia began. Once it found its proper rhythm, it would forever more beat in time with hers. If her heart were to ever stop, his would too.

His senses heightened. He found a new strength to defend her against any adversary. His eyes picked up every nuance of her ethereal glow. If she were on the other side of the planet, his soul would know the direction.

Jasper Conrad didn’t have a soul to save. He died a long time ago. This angel was his soul, his salvation, his very reason for being. She brought him back from the very depths of Hell. And he just doomed her for eternity.

Awareness rushed through him as she went limp in his arms. He found the strength to rise from the floor and made his way to the penthouse elevator with her broken body in his arms. They rode the lift up one floor and he walked through the sunken living room and down the hall toward his bedroom.

He laid her bloody body on top of his silk sheets. When he’d envisioned her here, this isn’t what he imagined.

“It’s okay, angel,” he said softly as he brushed her matted hair off her forehead. “You’ll be all right. I promise.”

Jasper pulled a knife from the bedside table and drew it across his wrist, causing him to bleed. He pressed the bloody wound against her lips and held it there, encouraging the blood to flow into her mouth.

The intimate exchange of blood on the brink of death would change her. He never wanted this for her, as she was too pure to carry the burden of becoming a monster. But if he didn’t force it upon her, she would die. Which was unacceptable.

In his desperation, he placed his hands on her chest and pumped it quickly, encouraging her heart to beat again. His venom needed to circulate through her body.

Hours passed and she remained still. She was dead. Her lips were blue. Her heart wasn’t beating. Jasper scratched his beard.

She’d died pure. Her soul would return to her father, while he wandered eternity without her. He’d betrayed his morals long ago, and this was punishment for his sins.

An angry archangel burst through his door.

“What the fuck did you do?” Brock bellowed.

Jasper’s brows knitted with sorrow. “Did you come for her body?”

He didn’t respond.

Powerful wings versus vampiric speed had the immortals toe-to-toe in an instant. Jas barred his fangs with a snarl while Brock’s menacing aura filled the room.

“If you touch her, I will tear the fucking wings from your back.”

“The hell you will. I’ll defang you before you have the chance.”

Instead of treating each other like the enemy, they could make a formidable team to hunt Edmund and put an end to his wave of evil.

The angel was by his sister’s side in a moment. He spread his wings, blocking Jas. His gray wings spanned the length of the mattress and then some.

“Father wants her home. You’ve caused her insurmountable pain. She’s only a baby.”

“She’s an immortal.”

“No.”

“She’s my mate. I will worship her like the goddess she is.”

Brock pressed his lips together, conveying his displeasure.

“Save her. Bring her back to me. Allow me to prove I’m worthy of her.”

“You still don’t understand the damage you’ve caused. She was created for this assignment. As far as immortals go, she is a baby.”

Jas looked at the figure on the bed once more. Brock’s revelation cut him deeply.

“The maiden the night I was turned.”

“Father gave you a chance to do right by the maiden you murdered years ago. Knowledge of that night was hidden from Seraphina, because it would unsettle her soul in its reincarnation.

“Forgive me, Father, for I failed my sisters.”

“You didn’t fail them,” Jas assured him.

Mating for his kind led to a shared emotional veil. With Seraphina’s blood freshly coursing through his veins; her secrets, inner turmoils, and desires became his. He felt her every joy and sorrow, carrying them as they were now his.

Her blood showed me.

“Don’t bullshit me. We both know your intentions have never been honorable with her.”

What could he say when the angel was right? He’d yearned for her, wanting to possess her and sought to corrupt her. His fantasies were sick and twisted before he even knew her name. He was ashamed of how he’d treated her.

After seeing her chained to his desk, he never wanted to recreate that again. In fact, he would redecorate the entire office to erase the physical space, as the memory would remain with him for eternity.

“True, but that was before.”

“You do understand that I’m an angel of justice. But it isn’t my forgiveness you need to earn. It comes from her. You’ve hurt her. If she chooses to return home, I won’t force her to stay.”

It would kill him to lose her. “I will forever put her needs before mine.”

Brock looked from the despondent vampire to his sister. Jas watched as he placed his hand over her heart, emanating light into her chest.

“She can’t live with your poison inside her.”

He waved his hand and her body jolted as though being shocked.

He repeated the movement, placing his hand over her heart again as the light entered her body, causing her heart to glow. Another wave and her body jolted.

Seraphina gasped as she inhaled sharply and her heart was in arrhythmia.

“Thank you,” Jasper said.

“Don’t thank me, vampire. I didn’t do this for you.”