Page 132 of Taming His Vampire Mate

None of it mattered, except that Thierry was safe.

It was worth it. He was worth it.

I tried to suck in another breath. My body wouldn’t obey. Black dots crept into my vision.

I was slipping away.

But with these creatures slain, at least he’d be safe for the moment. My beautiful, kind, infuriating vampire. He would touch thousands of lives. He had an eternity. He’d save them all.

Then he was back, kneeling over me. Though I couldn’t feel it, I knew through the blood bond that he held my hand.Jeremy, stay with me. Please, you stupid, foolish wolf! I cannot lose you!

Thierry… I’m sorry. I love you.

He sobbed a breath. “No.”

But it was happening. My body knew it, even if he wouldn’t accept it.

My vision dimmed. Peace washed over me, horrible and final. I looked up, wanting his face to be the last thing I saw.

“No,” Thierry snarled, yanking his wrist to his mouth. His fangs flashed, his lips stained a red so dark it was almost black. “You’re not dying tonight.”

He pressed his wrist to my lips.

Warmth and copper flooded my mouth.

And suddenly, I understood. He wasn’t healing me. I was too far gone for that. He was trying to turn me.

But wolves couldn’t become vampires. Nowhere in pack lore was there even a hint of it. It wasn’t possible.

“Please don’t leave me,” Thierry begged, voice ragged, tears burning down his cheeks. “I love you. Stay with me.”

You are love,I told him silently. I couldn’t speak aloud, but I pushed the words into the bond. I prayed he could hear me.

The world seemed further away than it should have been. As though I was rising up from the ground, reality slipping throughmy grasp, making it feel like nothing mattered anymore and never would again.

But I wasn’t moving. And it did matter. Thierry mattered.

I would do anything for you,I told him.Always.

Then, with the last trace of my willpower, I swallowed.

And the world went black.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX || THIERRY

Ihad never truly seen it before—not like this—but Jeremy was stunning. Not merely handsome or strong or sexy, but achingly, hauntingly beautiful. His rugged face held curves and shadows I could spend lifetimes memorizing, if only I were allowed the chance. His eyes, though closed now, were piercing and dark blue, deep as the ocean. And his hair—gods, how had I never noticed the strands of red mixed with the dozen shades of gold that caught the light just so?

It had been hours. Many, many hours since the bond had gone silent. If Jeremy still existed anywhere at all, I couldn’t tell. His mind was no longer pressed to mine. No comforting hum of thought, no reminder that his heart still beat, that he was still there. Strange, wasn’t it? How afraid I had been of opening myself to him in the beginning, of being vulnerable. Now I would have traded anything I had to bring that vulnerability back.

I held his hand long after it went cold.

His pack gathered first, an hour before dawn. They came in human form, dressed, some carrying white, glass-encased candles. The flames danced against the dark. Reed must have shifted back and told them what had happened. I hadn’t even noticed him leave.

They didn’t try to take Jeremy from me. Instead, they sat in a wide circle around us. No one spoke. There was only the sound of weeping. Emma sobbed openly. She had helped raise him, had guided him when he first became alpha. Her tears made perfect sense. Lindsey, too, her broken sobs shredding the silence. And behind me, one man’s ragged breathing gave him away—he was crying without sound. Reed, most likely. Jeremy’s best friend since childhood.

I didn’t look up.

I couldn’t.