Page 121 of Wanted

I need to bleed freely.

Forcing Alena’s mouth open with my bloody wrist, I can feel the blood rushing through my veins.

I’ve got a shit ton of blood in me right now from gorging myself at the church. I should be able to make it through this.

Hopefully.

A searing pain shoots down my wrist when Chloe slices my arm. Cutting through the artery.

“Raphael,” Chloe whispers, “are you trying to commit suicide?”

“I’m trying to save her,” I grunt, and pull my wrist away from Alena’s mouth.

Opening a new wound on my wrist, I shove it back against Alena’s lips.

If Alena was actively drinking from me, the wound wouldn’t close so damn fast.

Chloe’s voice quivers. “Why do you want me doing this?”

“You’ll allow me to sacrifice myself for her,” I say with certainty.

“How do you know that?” she asks angrily.

“Because you know what the Order will do to her,” I answer just as angrily.

Nothing happens to Alena. She doesn’t suddenly open her eyes or show any sign of life.

There’s only my repeated agony as I attempt to bleed myself dry.

“Is it working?” Chloe huffs as she slices me again.

The bond between Alena and me still feels firm and open, but that sickly taint persists.

“Maybe… I don’t know,” I admit. “The bond is still tainted. But… I can feel the slightest of changes.”

I want to peek deeper into the bond and follow it back into her dream.

But I can’t save her there.

So I force myself to remain in this reality.

“Tell me about the bond,” Chloe says.

Ripping my wrist open again, I force more blood into Alena.

So far, I’m holding up well. Given how much blood pours out of me and into her.

But I still fear I won’t have enough.

I’m in uncharted territory.

“Imagine the bond between you and Asher,” I tell Chloe. “How beautiful and pure it is. Like a thick living cord stretched between you both.”

“Okay.” Chloe nods. “I understand that.”

“Well, the one between Alena and I is similar…” I struggle to put it in words. “Now that her wall is no longer blocking me, it’s a thick cord connecting us. But it’s covered in a tainted rot slowly growing across it. A tainted rot trying to destroy it.”

We go through another round of slicing and biting.

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