Page 11 of Betrayed Pregnant Mate

No.

“Maisie,” I say, taking her by the shoulders. “Think. Think about what you saw. Think about what you know about the pathogen. I’ve never encountered it before, but there has to be something—”

“You’re immune,” she breathes, her eyes skipping up to meet mine. “So if we introduced some of your blood to him, it might—”

“Okay,” I say, nodding and flexing my arm, ready for her to draw from me. “I’m a universal donor. Let’s do this.”

Maisie shakes her head, worrying her bottom lip.

“I think—I think we don’t have time to do a transfusion,” she says, shaking her head. “But I have a different idea.”

“No,” Percy says from the floor, but I can’t see why he would object at getting something that might save his life. Besides, I’m not letting him die, even if he fights against it.

One part of my brain, the part that is endlessly traumatized by him, the part that is too rational, screams at me that being here is a bad idea. That letting Percy die would be the right choice. But the other part of my brain, the part that’s strangely and unexplainably connected to Percy, can’t handle the idea of him dying here in front of me. Or, at all.

I was angry with him when he left me. I cried and yelled and threw wadded-up tissues across the room. But, more than anything, I just wanted him to come back. For so long after he left, I would have taken him back into my life with the simplest of explanations. Being apart from him was physically painful in a way I couldn’t explain.

My elderly neighbor, Ms. Pearl, a woman I drank tea with every Wednesday, had laughed when I described the feeling, rubbing my fist over my chest.

“That,” she had said, “darling, is just plain old love.”

I look at Percy now, notice that his veins are darkening. I don’t know anything about this pathogen, but it's incredibly potent if it’s working this quickly.

“Whatever you think,” I say, nodding at Maisie, “you’re the expert. Just, please—let’s do something.”

“Percy,” Maisie says, her eyes tracking across the room, meeting with his. He’s barely conscious, his breath coming shallow and quick, his eyes struggling to focus. “We’re going to have to do a blood-bond.”

Chapter 6 - Percy

“No,” I say, as loudly and forcefully as I can, but I can tell that I barely wheeze the word out. My breath is coming harder and harder, like my lungs are shriveling up in my chest. My blood feels leaden, thick, and I can feel my heart struggling to push it through my body. If I close my eyes, I think I might be able to feel each cell inside my body folding under the weight of the venom, giving up the fight.

Pieces of me dying, one iota at a time.

Growing up, we’d all heard about vampires and why it was important to stay away from them. They’re disgusting, evil, greasy and bite-happy. They didn’t discriminate—children, women, the elderly—they would take from anyone, and once their poison made its way into your bloodstream, you were done.

And it wouldn’t be a good death, either. As a shifter, it would be total agony, the slow rotting and pain of turning to jelly inside out as the venom worked its way through your body, finally, finally making it to your brain.

For humans, it usually takes minutes. Either they turned, which was rare, or they died, which was much more common.

According to Aris, he had been on some missions where they’d found dead humans with almost all their blood left, which meant that not only were the vampires hunting humans, but they weren’t even doing it for blood. They were doing it for fun.

I wince as my lungs crush again, screaming for oxygen.

There’s a part of me, distantly, that is happy. Content with this choice. After all, I’d wanted to take my own life when I realized I’d been dosed with the serum. The team had heard what would happen to those who cam in contact with it, and I knew I’d rather die than not be able to shift.

Memories flash to my mind—shifting into my wolf form, playing in the fields with my siblings, rolling and laughing in the bright sunlight in the flower fields outside my parents’ farm. I remember shifting with Eva and running to town when we first came to Rosecreek. She was icy, but I never would have thought she had it in her to betray our team.

My mother, father, and sisters flash before my mind as I watch Maisie and Veronica talking. My vision starts to grow fuzzy, but I have to hold on and keep Maisie from doing this to her.

Veronica. The one woman I have ever loved. My mate.

I would never condemn her to a blood bond with me. Even if it saved my life. I grab my hand back from Maisie when she tries to take it from me, but I’m too weak.

Pain and panic fly over Veronica’s face in waves. It’s an unusual expression for her—normally, she is so in control, and knows exactly what to do next. I think of the first time I saw her in that ER and how composed she was about the wound on my arm.

I think what flustered her was the connection between us. My heart flutters at the memory. At least, dying now, I get to see Veronica one last time.

“Percy,” Maisie says, her voice sounding like it’s coming through water. “You are going to die!”

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