Page 116 of Bound in Blood

Chapter

Sixty-One

ALEXANDROS

Is this insanity? The final desperate act of a man who has not yet accepted that his world has ended? Perhaps.

Probably.

But I would try anything to hear her say my name once more.

I dip my head and sink my fangs into her throat. The sweet nectar of her blood suffuses my mouth.Please come back to us, agápi mou. I know you are still here somewhere. Please.

Her blood trickles slowly into my mouth, filling me with everything she is. I slice a cut onto my tongue and let it flow into her vein.Ophelia. Please! We cannot live without you.

Her heart beats. Once. Twice. Or am I imagining it? Wanting it so desperately that I am hearing and feeling things that are not there?

Ophelia, I plead, allowing more of my lifeblood to slip into her vein.

“I’m here.” Her voice is a mere whisper, but she may as well have roared the declaration. I pull my teeth from her throat in time to see her eyelids flutter open.

The cries of elation from Axl, Malachi, and Xavier surround the two of us, and she blinks up at me, a small, sweet smile onher beautiful face. The relief I feel is so profound, it renders me speechless for a time. Never again, no matter how long I remain on this earth, will I take a single second of my time with her for granted.

The boys surround us, and the five of us become a single knot of unending gratitude.

I press my forehead to hers. “I thought we had lost you, little one.”

“So did I,” she rasps. “Did we do it?”

“You did it, Ophelia,” I answer. “Youkilled the wraith and closed the veil.”

Her smile grows, and I find myself grinning just as widely, and I know the boys are too. We refuse to let go of one another, remaining on the ground huddled in one mass of bodies. Whole again.

“You came back to us, baby,”Malachi says.

Her blue eyes sparkle. “Yeah, I spoke to Lucifer.”

“You had a chat with the devil, Cupcake?”

“I know. Crazy, right? He’s actually kind of sweet. Even with his giant horns.”

I cannot contain my laugh. Of course Ophelia did not find the devil even the slightest bit intimidating. She is fearless. But I am sure there are many who would disagree with her assessment.

Save your strength now, agápi mou,I tell her. Although I am desperate to learn more about how she returned to us, for I know I did not turn her. But for now, I am content to hold her in my arms.

I can still hear you in here, she says, surprised.

I rest my lips on her head. We have no idea how her powers have been affected, but she heard me calling for her, and I hoped our bond would continue to allow us to communicate.Yes, little one.

“I felt you calling me back,” she says with a contented sigh. “It was…”

Axl takes her free hand in his and laces his fingers through hers. “We’ll always bring you back to us, princess.”

I squeeze Ophelia a little too tightly, and she winces. Some of her ribs are almost certainly broken, and she is bleeding heavily from a deep laceration on her side. “I will feed you some more of my blood, little one. It will heal you quickly.”

Tears fill her striking blue eyes. “I can’t heal myself anymore, can I? I can’t feel my power.”

I suspect if she has sacrificed her light, then she has sacrificed her power too, but now is not the time to discuss it. Now is the time to heal her, to take her home and rest before we count the cost of all we have lost. I stand with her in my arms, cradling her close to my chest, and she nuzzles against me. She is too cold for my liking. As we head back to the Ruby Dragon compound, she rests a hand on my chest. My mind drifts to the losses we have experienced today, and inevitably tohim.

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