Page 46 of Eternally Yours

“I can try.”

Hauling my good arm over her neck and shoulders, she guided us away from the beasts. “We need to find that exit, Nic. Before they send more of them after us.”

Limping down the long passageway, we finally came upon a dead end. “Where to now?” she asked.

“Above us?” I panted, my chest hurting with every breath.

We both looked up, and sure enough, there was another wooden door. But without my strength, I didn’t know how I could pull myself out of the hole. “You’re going to have to leave me, Loren. Please. Just go.”

“What part of I’m not leaving you behind did you not understand? I didn’t just get a chunk of my back bitten off for nothing.” Pointing behind me, she said, “Look, there’s a ladder.”

Guiding my hands to one of the metal rungs, she shoved me upward. My body swayed and I lost my grip, almost sending both of us crashing down. Loren kept pushing me onward and helped me throw the hatch open. With little energy left, I hauled myself out of the hole, realizing we’d exited somewhere deep in the forest.

Without their beasts and no longer able to track Loren with their device, the Order would have a harder time following us. But we weren’t out of harm’s way yet. Assholes were still heavily equipped. With my body badly injured and without any weapons, I was dead weight.

I urged her to leave me behind, but she didn’t listen. Loren situated my arm over her shoulder and dragged us through the brush. I couldn’t believe she was able to still walk given the nasty bite from that wolf, let alone have the strength to get us both through the woods.

Blood soaked our clothes, which meant eventually they could unleash more wolves and track our scent.

“We need to hide,” I said, my words a garbled mess. Feeling lightheaded, I lost all feeling in my legs, the shift in momentum toppling us to the ground, my mind fading completely to black.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was lying flat on the ground and Loren was stripping my shirt and pants off, hands working efficiently, eyes razor-focused. “I need to stop the bleeding,” she said, mainly to herself.

My vision shifted in and out of focus. “It will stop. Eventually.” I hoped.

“No. Nic. This is different. Last time I saw you like this, you were injured just as bad, but you were able to heal. Right now, the blood is too thin. You’re not clotting. At this rate…” She ripped strips of cloth from my shirt and tied them around my thigh and arm, trying to staunch the bleeding.

I couldn’t lift my head off the floor to look at the extent of the damage. “Last time, I’d fed prior to the attack. I barely have a pint of human blood in me now.”

She cursed. “We don’t have time. If we don’t get you blood soon, you’ll bleed out.” Her gaze whipped around the small and dusty space, her desperation flashing through our bond. Bringing her face close to mine, she cradled my head in her hands. “Listen to me. You need to drink from me.”

The words alone made my vision sharpen. “What? No. I can't.”

“Yes, you fucking can.” Her voice was stern. She wasn’t giving me a choice. “It's the only way to heal you.”

“Loren—”

“Save it,” she growled. “You're not dying on me.”

Despite my protests, thinking about drinking her blood made my gums throb and my fangs descend. This went beyond my desire to taste her. My body screamed for sustenance, for survival, reducing my hunger and desire to a basal need I was not able to control.

As if she’d done this plenty of times, she bit down on her wrist and brought the flowing crimson liquid to my lips. With one last attempt to avoid drinking from her, I turned my head, but Loren was relentless and she forced her wrist into my mouth. The instant my tongue tasted her blood, my animal instincts took over.

I latched on, fangs sinking deep into her flesh. She grunted. There was no denying she felt the pain of my jaw clenching down on her. But I didn’t care. The only thought flashing in my head was drinking every last drop.

Her flavor was even more intoxicating than I’d dreamed. But more than her taste, it was what her blood did as it mixed with my own blood. I could feel every fiber of my body mending at the cellular level. Heat spread through every limb as her blood reached my heart, pumping life through every artery and vein.

Nothing ever felt as exhilarating.

I need more…

Reaching for her wrist, I gripped hard, clenching my jaw tighter and pulling gulp after gulp with fierce demand.

“Nic,” she panted, her voice heavy. “You… need to stop.”

I knew she was right. I needed to stop or I’d drain her, but a part of me couldn’t let go. I’d wanted her so badly, I’d been in agony struggling to suppress my hunger and now my beast was unrestrained.

“Enough.” This time she growled, but it was the electric shock she sent through our bond that forced me to release her wrist. I fell back, lightheaded. I tried to sit up, but invisible hands grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me down into a black hole.

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