Page 16 of The Accidental Assassin's Mate

“You’re going to have to mark him. Force the other bond to break.”

Everything stopped. The only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat and the faint breaths from my mate.

“Mark him? He’s barely lucid. He hasn’t spoken in days. How am I supposed to…”

Sebastian put away his tools and nonsense and sat on the chair on the other side of the bed. “Without his permission.”

“That’s…no. How is that any different than the forced bond of the other alpha. Forcing omegas to bond and breed.” I growled loud and angrily. “It would make me no better than the alphas we’re fighting to protect these omegas from.”

“That’s not true,” Tyrus interjected. “I’ve got an idea.”

He sent a text and, in minutes, his mate, Sloan, came in. Oh, he was calling in the big guns.

“What is it?” Sloan asked with big eyes.

“They want me to mark Raven without his permission. He’s not conscious,” I said

Tyrus cleared his throat. “Sutton thinks that makes him no different than Raven’s first alpha.”

Sloan took a moment, looking between Raven and me. “He is yours. He risked his life to get here to you, Sutton. This isn’t the same as last time. That alpha forced an unwanted bond on Raven. Your bond would be welcome, and we already know Fate has blessed it. Think about the turns of events around here. He walked into his death for the chance to find you. If he wasn’t your mate, I have no doubt that King or Aziz would’ve killed him.”

Sebastian leaned back in his chair. “If you don’t do this, your mate will die. The pain and agony he’s in…it’s only a matter of time.”

“What’s the risk?” I asked.

“I can’t see a physical risk. He may be angry with you for forcing the bond while he was unconscious, but I fully believed that a fated bond will overtake and erase the unnatural one.”

Sebastian stood up. He’d said his peace and was now leaving.

“So, he would be healthy, but he might hate me. He wouldn’t be in pain, but he could leave me behind.”

Tyrus clapped me on the shoulder. “He would be alive and free, but there’s a chance it would be without you.”

“Get out. All of you. Sloan, thank you for your words. Tyrus, you have one hell of a mate. Sebastian. Thank you.”

“Will you…” The healer asked.

“I would do anything in my power to have him live. What kind of fucking alpha would I be if I didn’t?”

Once they were gone, I cleaned my mate up, wiping his skin with a clean cloth. Once he was in clean pants again, I sighed. He was so damned beautiful.

Goddess, if you’re listening, please let this work. Even if he hates me.

Let him live.

I let my bear take over, biting down on his shoulder. His blood filled my mouth, and my bear reached out telepathically, trying to forge our bond further. It was only a sliver of a thing so far, but hopefully my mark would change all of that.

Pulling back, I swiped the blood from my mouth with the back of my hand. “Forgive me, Raven. Forgive me, omega.”

He didn’t wake. Didn’t stir. Nothing happened.

Damn it. I’d failed him. The one person in this world I wasn’t supposed to fail.

Chapter Twelve

Raven

The pain. Never in my life had I experienced anything as intense and awful, and that was saying a lot given what I’d been through. There had been times when I’d prayed for the sweet release of death. But I refused to let go. Sutton had been so insistent on the healer not letting me suffer, to the point where he was actively kicking him out when he thought he could save me the torture I’d just lived through. He made it impossible for me to not fight with everything I had to come out of this stronger than ever.

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