Page 103 of The Fated Hunter Wolf

Regret flooded the bond.

Rhys.Her voice in my head was weak, fading.I forgive you. For rejecting me.

Don’t, I sent back, but even thinking was getting harder.Save your strength.

I wanted you to reject me. I manipulated you, she continued.I was so scared of what we were. I wanted you to choose your pack over me because I thought you were fallen, soulless. I had no idea all the loyalty and love for pack in you.

The vampire’s grip loosened enough for me to gasp out, “Sable?—”

She was still talking, her mental voice growing fainter.If we die like this, at least it’s together. I can’t live without you, anyway. Can’t exist in a world where we aren’t together.

Her lips were moving, fighting to get words out through the choking.

Please, I tried to say, my only breath being quick wheezes, our shared pain making it hard to think.

She met my eyes across the chamber, and somehow, impossibly, she smiled. A broken, resigned smile that nearly undid me completely.

“Rhys Orion,” she choked out between gasps. “I love you.”

The vampire’s grip loosened.

Genuine shock rippled across his ancient features. His fingers began to tremble against my throat. His entire hand was shaking, the effort of maintaining his hold suddenly requiring visible strain. Whatever power had been flowing through him was… ebbing.

My lungs sucked in air and color returned to Sable’s face as she drew deep, shuddering breaths. The bond between us—that stubborn thing that had refused to leave us despite all our attempts to kill it—the bond pulsed with new energy, silver light peeking through the cracks like a golden glue on porcelain.

Her love hadn’t just saved us. It was healing what I’d wounded.

I could only hope it wasn’t too late to deserve it.

The vampire’s hand trembled. Sable straightened, blood in the corners of her mouth as she had wolf eyes and vampire teeth. Silver light crawled over her like dawn breaking through fog.

“Get your hands off my mate.” The command in her voice was unmistakable.

The vampire laughed—a low, cracked sound that bared his teeth more than his amusement. “Your mate? Oh, little hybrid?—”

His words strangled mid-mockery. Smoke hissed from where his hand met my throat. The scent—burnt metal and decay—hit me a heartbeat before he snarled and squeezed harder. Bone ground in my neck. The world went white around the edges.

And then shebreathed. One single, furious breath that lit the chamber like she’d pulled the sun underground. The vampire reeled backward, clutching his blistering hand. The light painted his skin in blistered cracks, his fine clothes melting into ash. I collapsed, sucking air, my throat on fire but alive.

He stared at her through the glare, lips curling. “Strong genes. But you—” His tone thickened with hunger. “You might be what I was searching for all along.”

Sable swayed, the silver around her dimming. Through the bond, I felt her magic falter—her exhaustion dragging like lead through my veins.

He felt it too. The bastard smiled. “Every weapon needs a master.”

That was the last thing he said before I shifted.

No thought. No hesitation. The wolf tore through me, claws scraping stone, the chamber filling with the sound of bones reforming and air shredding.

I hit him mid-stride. His hiss split the air as I drove him backward, teeth grazing his throat, close enough to taste the ancient rot of his blood. He flung me off with a surge of black energy that stank of grave dust, and I lost my bearings.

“No!” Sable screamed and followed it with a battle cry that rallied my wolf. Sable’s power flared as I launched onto the vampire’s back. Sunlight poured from her palms, flooding every corner of the chamber, while my paws held him in place.

The vampire screamed—a sound so high it almost wasn’t sound at all—then he managed at last to escape from under my hold and run for the tunnels, skin flaking away like ash on the wind. Beneath the shriek, my wolf caught his final message, vibrating through the stone.

I’ll come back for you.

And then he was gone.