Page 29 of Until the Heart Stops (The Oylen City #1)

I screamed until my throat tore and the windows shook.

Last night when we had realized Gabrielle was gone and Lilith was in danger, the sun was already rising.

We’d barely had time to shut the door in Gabrielle’s room before the paralysis overtook us.

And tonight? The moment I’d woken, a few minutes before the others, a strange tang coated my tongue and my head swam.

Desire pulsed through my veins only to be blotted out and I’d had to breathe slowly, reaching through my emotions to discover the feeling was coming from Lilith not me.

But Mael’s followers had barricaded us inside Gabrielle’s resting chamber. It wasn’t enough to keep us out, not with my new strength and the help of Mateo and Henry, but it was enough to slow us down.

I’d known I was going to kill Mael the moment I saw him. Tonight he would die and the world would be rid of him. Once he was dead, I would hunt down each and every one of his worshippers until they were nothing but ash .

But now, as Lilith pulled his ceremonial knife from her body, I thought I wouldn’t see the day when the world would be purged of the Covenant.

Because if she was going to die then I would follow right after.

Her name was on my lips, my hand reaching out for her, before she reared back and plunged the dagger into his chest.

Mael froze with wide eyes. It was the only indication of his shock he gave. Slowly, he looked down at the hilt now protruding from his chest, staggering back a step. I surged forward as my brothers did. Mateo and I came at our maker from both sides while Henry ran toward Gabrielle.

He could not live another moment—I would not allow it.

The blade through his heart was enough to slow him down, as the barricade had been for us, and I could only hope the strength Seth had given me would be enough to do the rest. I leaped, tackled him to the floor and wrapped my hands around his head.

Using the very ends of my strength, I twisted while Mateo helped me pin his shoulders.

A screech filled the room followed by an unearthly cry, and I wrenched my hands back.

Blood exploded around us as I tore Mael’s head from his body.

His mouth moved while his eyes flicked back and forth between my own.

Mateo grunted with the effort to hold his body still as Mael’s hands tried to reach to reattach his head.

“You turned me into a weapon, you turned my mate into a pawn,” I growled. “Now I will turn you into a pyre.”

I threw his head across the room and reached out, summoning the candelabra set within one alcove.

His robes caught quickly and Mateo leapt up, shaking off the flames latching to his trousers.

Mael’s body writhed while Mateo vanished for a heartbeat, grabbed up another flame and set his head ablaze across the room.

A low gurgle caught my attention and I turned, rushed back to the table. Lilith was bent over with one hand outstretched, blood pouring from her mouth and belly. Too much blood—too much for our bond to repair fast enough. I grabbed her hand, drawing it to my lips before I cradled her face.

“Shhh, I have you,” I said. Tears streamed down her face and her attention slid to the burning body of my maker. “He’s dead, he’s dead, all thanks to you.”

Lilith’s heartbeat in my chest faltered and I slipped my arm around her until I could cradle her head. “I’m going to make it all better, my love, I promise.”

I lifted my wrist to my mouth, slashing at the vein.

Blood ran down the wound and onto her stomach.

I had to heal this first or else she would be unable to take in more.

The gash knitted and the blood from her mouth slowed as she choked and coughed.

I shushed her again, brushing my lips across her brow.

“Here it comes. Eternity here, in my arms.”

In all the centuries I had been alive I had resolved to be alone. A blood mate was a terrifying prospect until I met Lilith. And I had not been lying those months ago when I’d told her that she was the flame to which I lit the candle of my immortality.

Because immortality was nothing without her.

I cut my wrist again with my teeth, deepening the wound before holding the fount to her mouth. She closed her lips around it, eyes fluttering shut.

“That’s it, my darling,” I praised, kissing her temple. “Drink deep so you can be strong.”

When I’d woken, I’d felt betrayed by Seth.

We had raised him from his grave to destroy Mael and the Covenant.

He should have been here, should have never let Lilith leave.

But as my blood passed into her, as her body tensed and relaxed before her hands raised to grip my wrist, I thought I finally understood.

His blood was powerful enough to sustain us both.

There would be no chance of her rejecting the change, no chance of her coming into this new life as a weakling and waiting centuries to grow strong.

And perhaps the goddess had told him of this moment.

But I found I could no longer think of him, not when Lilith’s skin hardened beneath my touch.

Her heartbeat deepened, her hair took on a glossy sheen, and all traces of her blood loss and near death vanished.

The bond between us strengthened. Soft murmurs of her thoughts slipped through my mind rather than just emotion.

My face swam in her vision and now in mine.

All the markers of the bond we’d already shared, but tenfold.

The wound on my arm closed and I pulled away, but a furrow formed between her brows, even with her eyes closed.

I barely noticed when Henry lifted Gabrielle into his arms and vanished from the room. Mateo followed, holding another body close—Raya with the wound in her chest gaping. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. The fire had died out, leaving only ash on the stone floor.

I pressed a kiss to one cheek then the other before turning Lilith toward me.

She went willingly, keeping her eyes shut as she slipped her legs on either side of me.

The gauzy material of the ritual gown rippled around her perfect form, the rose peaks of her nipples straining.

I cupped the back of her head and guided her mouth to my throat.

Lilith’s hands slid up my chest and she pressed a kiss to the vein before her teeth, now as sharp and deadly as my own, pierced my skin. I groaned as she took one, deep pull, her fingers flexing on my shoulders. My cock throbbed and she shifted closer, pressing herself against me.

“Is that what you want, love? To ride my cock while you drink my blood?”

She gave a soft hum and I chuckled, reaching down to free myself from my trousers.

Though her body was not as soft, not as hot as when she had been human, it begged for me just as before.

Wet and slick and warm. I dragged the tip across her slit and she moaned, the vibration rumbling straight down into my bones.

With a shallow exhale, I thrust inside, seating myself to the hilt.

Her cunt fluttered around me and I pressed a kiss to the exposed column of her throat, sucking the vein in between my teeth.

Her hips gave small rocks, desperate for me to move, but I did not.

I needed this moment just to be surrounded by her, to be assured that she was alive and here in my arms. My fangs pressed against the artery and I paused, allowing her to take one more mouthful of my blood before I bit.

Once before I’d told her that I’d felt bliss, but it was nothing compared to this, my mouth at her throat and hers at mine.

Our blood, forever in a loop, forever sustaining.

This was an ecstasy I was sure only the gods felt—the relief Deimos experienced when Amayah finally arrived in his arms. Because of course Amayah’s sacrifice had not been in vain.

Even now she was united with her lover and they were tangled within each other’s embrace for all time.

As Lilith was in mine and as I was in hers.