Page 92 of These Eternal Bones

“Will your master kill you once he learns of what I’ve done?”

My head turns toward her. It feels like another blade to my chest to take my eyes off my mate.

My domination pulses.

How had I missed it?

I fed from her. Sick pools alongside every other terrible thing in my gut.

“It’s her last death, vampire.” She laughs, her eyes wild. “There is no coming back, no next life. Your mate is gone. Your golden boy helped me; he’s been slipping the tonic for the reversal in her food since she arrived.”

“You lie!” I roar. “That’s impossible!”

“Is it?” she laughs. “Are you willing to bet your mate on it?”

The fox rages against her, but she barely bats an eye, the entire weight of her coven's power bearing down on what I’d once considered a frail form.

Panic rears inside me, a guttural sound torn from deep in my chest as I clutch Molly tighter.

From behind me, Cartiel stumbles closer as I make another pass on her soft hair, my palm slick with her blood. “It’s not possible,” I choke out.

My dominion whips from me like a willow branch, slicing through the clearing. Striking form after form as it lances, twists, and pulls. My hands knot in her dress as I suffocate on my own emotion. I can feel them, their blood, as my power delivers blow after blow. Tien, Cartiel, the Fox,everyone.A rage, a power like this makes no distinction between friend or foe. My thoughts are panicked, muddy, and I can’t–

My Molly.

A death that sticks…

“Please, forgive me, my love. Please, I cannot–”

“Do it vampire! Damn her alongside you!”

A savage burst of heat hits me from behind, razing and melting my clothes to my flesh, but I don’t flinch, resting my forehead on hers, peppering soft kisses on her cooling cheeks. “Forgive me, I am sorry. We were so close, my syringa. So close.”

“No!” Cartiel bellows. “Let her rest!”

The sound that leaves me is unlike one I’ve made before. A life without her…I am not ready. I am not the man she deserves. I am scared and fucking selfish. “My beautiful mate.”

Another blinding heat hits me, my skin bubbling as I sink my fangs into her, my body trembling with the weight of my emotions as I fill my fangs. My stomach roils with each pump of my horrid venom.

I am sorry. I am so sorry. I repeat it until my bloody, shaking hand finds her wrist. Something hard impacts my side, jarring me, a stabbing, lancing blow. But I don’t budge because there’s the faintest hint of black behind her tanned skin. The weight of what I’ve done, of the crime I’ve committed, settles heavy on me, weighing me down and blanking my mind, that voice speaking for the first time since I left the town.

She’ll never forgive you.

You’re a monster.

Selfish.

Evil.

Cursed.

Trapped.

Forever.

I brush my tears from her face as I settle her down softly in the snow. Getting to my feet feels impossible. I stumble, the pain in my back and side second to the one in my chest, as I level my eyes on the witch.

Her smile is sick, triumphant. For as long as it lasts.