Page 34 of Monsters of Desire and Nightmares of Passion

Khal’s voice shifts from anger to deep concern and love. This is the Shadow I shared a mating bond with. His feelings for Ivy are as real as mine.

“What happened? How is this possible? And who did this to Ivy?”

“That bitch from The Church of Light poisoned her. Draw, do something. Help her. She’s dying.”

Khal tries to keep Ivy’s head steady, holding and cradling her to his chest. Her eyes are wide open. Her lashes blink wildly, as if sending us a message, a desperate message I’m too sacred to read and understand.

I lean closer and smell her body. The poison is not of human provenience. I can taste the bitterness in Ivy’s sweat. Her scrubs are drenched in perspiration. Her heartbeat is just a flutter and her grasp on life is so fragile. She’s holding on, but only with her fingertips and is close to the abyss.

Ivy called me here. She somehow knew who I was and believed that me, Khal, and Mrez could save her. Accepting our existence is the first step. We’re bound by rules that I cannot bend. Even when appearing to her in her dreams, we can’t tell her who we are and what’s going on. We need to keep everything cryptic and mysterious, bound to rules we can only bend but never break. She had to remember on her own and, more than that, she had to accept us and her feelings for us.

Seeing my love like this on the brink of death, I know I’d trade my almost-eternal life to bring her back. The scent of the poison lets me know there is a way, but it won’t be easy for her or for us.

“Ivy, it’s me, Draw. Look at me. I need you to be brave. What I’m going to do next will hurt badly, but it’ll save you. Blink if you understand.”

Her beautiful blue eyes lock on mine. She tries to say something but fails. Mrez is also there, in solid monster form, holding her hand.

“Guys, I need you. We need to suck the poison out of her blood. We can withstand it. She can’t. I’ll bite her neck. Mrez, bite her arm. Khal, bite her leg. On three.”

The guys take their places. Ivy convulsing violently, which fills me with doubt. What if I arrived too late and can’t save her? What if I lose her?

One.

Two.

Three.

I sink my teeth that are as sharp as needles into her neck. Ivy gasps and shakes.

“Hold her down,” I mentally tell my brothers. “The poison has reached her heart. I need to get it out.”

Khal uses all his arms to press down on Ivy, like an organic restraint jacket.

Ivy’s blue eyes roll back in her head. I slap her face, trying to keep her awake.

“Ivy, stay with me.”

Her blood runs down her pale skin, spoiled by the bitter poison that The Church of Light made her drink. I focus, forcing the needle on my scorpion taal to grow. It morphs into a long, thin needle as thin as a strand of hair and as strong as Titanium. I breathe slowly and focus on what I’m about to do. I need to enter Ivy’s chest and pierce my love’s heart. It’ll take all my focus to get this right.

My needle slips between her ribs and slowly makes its way to her heart. I feel it pulsing against me tail.

Ivy gasps. Her eyes open, locking her gaze on me again.

“Don’t move, my moon, my darkness,” I whisper to her, hoping they’ll calm her. Khal and Draw continue sucking her tainted blood and cleansing her system.

Ivy’s long lashes flutter like the wings of a butterfly. Her pupils dilate and become impossibly large. The poison has reached her heart. This is the most delicate moment. I need to make a hole small enough to remove the poison. It’s precision work, and I’ve never done it before. If I screw up, I’ll kill Ivy.

The needle pierces her heart, slowly. Ivy looks at me, eyes open, now fully conscious. I slowly pump the poison out of her heart. The first taste of Ivy’s blood is bitter, like rich, dark chocolate that had been left out in the sun for too long. The second tastes slightly better. We’ll have to suck her blood and fill her veins with our healing saliva until her blood tastes like raspberry jam.

After a few minutes, Ivy stops shaking. Only she isn’t breathing either.

“Don’t stop,” I mentally command the guys, knowing that ingesting the poison will send then into a frenzied state of mind. It’s a risk we need to take. We need to clean Ivy’s blood or she’ll be forever dead.

I lean forward and plunge my teeth into Ivy’s neck, sucking the poison from her veins and pumping her with healing saliva. I continue cleansing our love for several minutes, stopping only when I feel clean blood, then pull back my stinger.

Ivy is still not breathing.

“Draw, she’s dead.” Khal cries out, her blood dripping from his mouth onto his chest. He adds under his breath, “We killed her.”

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