At first, Alena blinks her long lashes and stares up at me in confusion.
Then recognition fills her big blue eyes and she bites my arm in the tenderest way possible.
There’s no pain or pleasure as her fangs sink into me.
But she’s also not swallowing.
The blood is filling her mouth and just flowing out of the corners.
Drink!I scream into the bond.
But our connection is still somehow blocked off.
Fuck.
Matthias lands beside me with a savage grin and gives me a wink.
Then he races up to the prophet and raises his sword high into the air.
Gripping the hilt in both hands, he stabs the sword downwards, impaling the prophet in the chest. The blade slams through the bastard’s heart and sticks in the floor beneath him.
The prophet trapped against the floor, Matthias turns to me and screams, “Give me a blade! I need to behead this motherfucker!”
Snatching up a blade one of the hunters dropped, I toss it to him.
The happiest grin I’ve ever seen on his face turns to rage as Matthias swings the blade down.
Only for the blade to strike the floor and shatter into pieces.
The prophet disappeared into thin air…
All that remains is a puddle of blood and Matthias’s sword protruding from the floor like the famous Sword in the Stone.
The few gargoyles around us suddenly come to life. Looking up, they lift off like rockets. Breaking through the roof of the church and soaring into the night.
The hunters filled with the blood of the prophet drop to the floor where they’re standing.
Hunters without the prophet’s blood try to fight back against the rush of my brothers and shifters. But they no longer have the advantage of numbers to aid them.
“Kill them all!” Asher yells as he beheads every single body he comes across.
A quiet whisper from Alena forces my gaze to turn back to her. “Raphael?”
The bond snaps back into place, stronger than ever before.
“Shh,” I whisper just as quietly to her. “Drink.”
I push my forearm back against her mouth, and she tenderly bites down again.
But this time, the most wonderful sensation fills my soul.
A sensation of bright, everlasting love and pure eternal joy.
“You’ve learned how to better control it,”I rasp into the bond.
Her mouth curves into a bratty smirk against my arm.“Maybe, my love.”
It’s a few minutes before I’m able to help Alena stand on her own two feet.