Page 65 of Dawn Unearthed

Lightning and electricity shocked my system as I touched the dagger. I growled again. “What is this?”

“Damn it, Faith is siphoning her power,” Ash said.

Jaxton was there, putting his fingers to Penelope’s neck. He met my gaze and shook his head. Pain shocked me, the loss staggering. Penelope was dead. I could sense the other woman here. I knew that Faith had been the one to do it. She had killed Penelope.

A latent witch, a kind woman, someone who had been at our sides for as long as I could remember. Now, she was dead, and given their positions, I had a feeling she had died to save Sage.

“How do I stop it?” I growled, my voice so bear, I knew I was one second away from shifting.

“Mark her,” Ash said, and I looked up at him.

“What?” I snapped.

“Mark her. The bond will help her push out the dagger by giving her that boost of your strength and will help her keep her magic. It’ll drain you slightly, but you’ll be able to keep steady and recuperate. You’re strong enough for this. You’re alpha.”

“You can take power from me, too,” Trace said.

“All of your pack will help,” Jaxton said, though I didn’t know if that was quite the truth. Most of the pack would, but not everybody.

“I can’t take her choice from her,” I growled, my bear so close to the surface, I would shift and prove that I wasn’t strong enough to be alpha.

Ash snarled. “If you mark her, you’ll save her.”

“It’s her choice,” I growled.

“She can’t choose if she’s dead,” Ash said, a hint of anger in his tone. For a man who rarely showed emotion, that was something.

“Do it. Sage will understand,” Rowen whispered as she supported Laurel. Laurel was still bleeding, probably from the pain it had caused her to use magic, and then Trace was there, keeping her steady.

Rowen looked around, her entire body shaking. “Faith is gone. But she’ll pay for this. She’ll pay for all of it. But we can’t do anything unless we have Sage. Save her, Rome. She’s our only hope.”

I looked down at the woman in my arms, her eyes closed, her breaths coming in shallow pants as her magic and life seeped out of her.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

I let my fangs elongate and pulled her neck closer to me.

Marking was how our kind mated one another. It was passionate, private. Emotional. It was an intense and personal moment. And now, everyone would watch. They would see that I would take this choice from her by force. I would take away her will. I didn’t deserve to be alpha; I didn’t deserve to be her mate.

But I couldn’t let her die.

And so, without looking at anyone else, I slowly slid my fangs into her neck and winced as she let out a shocked gasp. Electricity shocked through my fangs, and I knew it was the magic of the dagger. Penelope’s blade was coated in Faith’s dark, necromancy magic.

It was killing my mate, and I couldn’t let that happen. I needed to save her, even if it took part of my soul to do it.

I bit down harder, and my bear roared. A bond between Sage and me finally snapped into place. It was pure life, energy. Magic. It wrapped around my soul, and I could feel it do the same to Sage’s as we became one in every way.

She was my future, my past, my present. She was everything in my life that mattered, that would prove who I could be and the man I would become.

And at that moment, nothing else mattered but her.

She was my power, my salvation.

She was everything.

I could feel her. I could feel everything.

Her eyes shot open, the gold around them echoing mine for just an instant as my bear pushed into her, saving her.

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