Page 80 of Dragon's Code

“She’s trembling for me, Raphael. You should be glad I’m leaving her alive. Well…mostly alive.”

Grey bites into my neck with no preamble. No monologue. No chance to escape, to convince him that it’s not the right move. The bite stings until it hurts so bad I scream. He holds me so tight I can hardly flail or writhe in his grip.

Another man marking me. Another fucker trying to decide my fate for me.

I reach up under Grey’s hand and wrap my fingers around my locket. My mate’s heartstone. I try to pop open the locket, but it’s sealed. It’s always been sealed. I’ve tried to open it several times over the years, but figured Kash was right, it didn’t open.

But then just as I pop it open in my fingers, something warm hits my palm. I wrap my fingers around it, the locket slipping until I hear it clank under my feet that are now off the ground.

I squeeze my fist tight around the heartstone as I grow weaker by the second. It doesn’t feel like he’s just sucking the blood out of me, it feels like he’s sucking the life out of me.

I suppose that’s exactly what he’s doing.

When his fangs finally slip from my body, my head lulls back against his shoulder. I can’t move. I don’t even know if I’m alive. I feel floaty and disconnected. Then I’m moving. I can’t see well, the world is blurry as I spin and spin and spin. I shut my eyes to keep from getting more nauseated, but it doesn’t help.

My body won’t respond, won’t listen when I tell it to move. Get up, damn it, get up!

Athena? What’s wrong?Kashton’s voice fills my head.

If I could cry, I would.

Grey is here. He’s killing me, I think.I don’t mean to say it. I don’t mean to worry him, but these may be my last seconds, the last words I ever say to him.

Rage fills my mind enough to give me the power to flail. I hit Grey in the head, but it’s hardly more than a fly landing on his face.

He bats my hand away and then he’s shoving his wrist into my mouth. I try to move away from him, but my body feels so heavy. I can’t lift my arms.

A rush of warm liquid smears on my lips, drips into my mouth. It takes like copper and cinnamon. Like a Red Hot.

Grey’s blood.

Again, I tug at his wrist, try to gain some strength and leverage with my legs to get him off me. I don’t want whatever he’s giving me. I don’t want to become a vampire. I don’t want to die.

Grey’s arm is tugged out of my mouth, away from my grip, and slammed down into the ground.

Raphael and Grey are fighting. I can’t see much or hear much now. The world feels like it’s slipping away from me, leaving me in a dark tunnel. I try to reach toward the light, it looks so much like fire, but I know that’s where Kashton is, where my heart is.

Something’s still in my hand, warm and throbbing like a heartbeat.

Thump thump-thump thump thump-thump thump.

I love you, Kashton. I’m so glad I got to be with you, even if it was for such a little time.

Don’t you dare die on me, Athena. You are a goddess. Fight, my goddess. Keep fighting.

The last of the light is squeezed out leaving me in the black void of death.

ChapterTwenty-Two

KASHTON

Ishift into my human form knowing that I can end up in a worse situation and not caring. I need to get to Athena. I need to find Grey and kill him. I shift as fast as I can into my human form. The hotel crumbles around me as my shape stops holding so much of it up.

I hit the ground and quickly scramble into a cave of debris that looks like it might shelter me instead of collapsing onto me.

I pull my arms around my face and neck and curl into the fetal position until everything stops falling, cracking, breaking, and crunching around me. The dust settles and I unwind myself to look around.

By some miracle there’s a hole leading right out of the demolished building. I scrape, scratch, and tear up my human feet as I crawl out of the wreckage. I shift once I’m clear of it and try to fly.

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