Page 52 of Eternally Yours

Loren

Nic!

I fought against the restraints but my efforts were futile against the heavy chains. Nic’s green eyes had flashed with dread and love all at the same time as he’d collapsed beside me. But then they dimmed as his last breath left his lungs.

Muffled screams tore through me when I felt the tether of our bond snap. No. This couldn’t be happening.

Nic!I tried to call out to him, but the gag in my mouth kept me from making a coherent sound. The attackers hauled me up and out of the cave in a hurry, my feet dragging in the dirt.

No! I have to go back. He needs me.

But as we approached the entrance to the cave, a new terror scraped a sharp claw down my back.

Sunlight.

They were bringing me outside in the middle of the day without any protection. I wriggled in their arms, tried to dig my heels into the ground. More muffled screams rumbled through my chest.

Stop. Please. Don’t!

But my cries went unheard. Bracing for the burn, I shut my eyes tight, anticipating the searing heat of the sun scorching my skin, but nothing happened. Warm light bathed my face and I squinted against the rays penetrating the forest canopy.

What the…

This didn’t make sense. How was this possible?

I couldn’t dwell on that mystery too long as my heart fell to my stomach when I spotted the idling unmarked white van, back doors wide open, waiting yards from the entrance of the cave. With one last attempt to fight against their hold, I kicked and growled, but whatever drug they had given me was too strong, and my muscles fatigued fast.

Still, from their frantic words, it seemed the drugs weren’t behaving like they’d expected. My legs felt like gelatin, but I was still conscious. As I was half-dragged to the van, a heavily armed man with a fivehead and a flat nose jumped out of the passenger door. When he saw I was still conscious, he aimed his rifle.

“What happened?” he asked. “She’s supposed to be out cold.”

“We ran into some trouble,” the one holding my arms said, gritting his yellowed teeth as he shoved me forward and threw me in the back of the van, my head hitting hard against the floor.

“Did you kill the prince?” Flat-nose asked, my heart constricting at his words.

“Fucker will be dead soon enough. Took several shots to take the leech down,” Yellow-teeth replied.

The two of them jumped into the back of the van with me and sat on metal benches welded on opposite sides of the interior. I lay crumpled on my side, my hands shackled behind my back, metal chains crossing around my body. Now that the drugs had taken more effect, they removed the gag from my mouth. I guessed they no longer feared me.

They better hope these fucking chains are well secured.

Flat-nose and Yellow-teeth aimed their assault weapons at my head, ready to shoot if I made any sudden moves. Guess they did still fear me after all. Flat-nose slapped the side of the van to signal to the driver they were ready to go.

My body jostled back and forth as the van drove over rocks and uneven ground, racing down a hilled path.

Where the hell were they taking me?

That question didn’t live long in my mind because my thoughts immediately flashed back to Nic.

Fuck wherever it was they were taking me, the only thing that mattered was the clamoring inside my chest. I needed to get back to Nic because I refused to believe he was dead despite my inability to feel the tether.

As my body bounced and slammed inside the moving van, I squirmed with disgust—at myself. At my actions. All of this was my fault. They’d found us because of me. I should’ve never lit that fire. We shouldn’t have…

I couldn’t finish my thought. Being with Nic had been earth-shattering. When he’d fed from me and made me his, my entire being transmuted. We were connected in a way I never knew possible. It was beyond love. That word seemed insignificant compared to what we’d shared and what we’d become. I now understood the magnitude of what it meant to be bloodmated. Why Nic had been so afraid of it.

Compared to the bloodbond, being bloodmated was on a completely different spectrum. The bloodbond, which was acquired through the sharing of blood, allowed you to tap into each other's emotions. But that was simply the precursor that led two individuals to consummate their affection for each other.

Once our bodies united, the seal was corporeal, like we’d been bound to one another by an invisible energy force. A fierce and overpowering possessiveness sunk into my core. We’d become one. I knew it the instant he came inside me. As long as we lived, there would never be another vampire who could fulfill me. Not physically. Not emotionally. No one else’s blood could satisfy me like his. My body would reject anyone else. It was as he’d said, a bond only breakable by death.

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