Page 107 of Beg the Night

I blinked, willing my vision to clear, desperate for the world to stop spinning.

Sinner pulled his hand away from mine, and an instant later, a second scream echoed off the trees.

This time it was Katherine.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Sinner pinned her to the ground with a hand to her throat and screamed into her face.

Beside them, Benedict dropped to his knees.

“Oh my god.” Margaret and I rushed to help him. “You’ll be fine,” I said, though I had no clue whether that was anywhere close to the truth. Especially when I caught sight of the dagger protruding from his stomach, right above his belly button. “It’s nothing.”

His face had drained of all color. “I’m so sorry,” he breathed.

“Don’t be.” Margaret was already tearing away a piece of her shirt and applying pressure to the wound. “We’re going to pull this out and you’ll be fine, okay? It’s going to be fine.”

Her words sounded oddly confident. Sinner was still shouting in my sister’s face. She, in turn, was blabbering self-righteously.

“We can’t do this!” she screamed. “We can’t!”

“Well, it’s too fucking late for that, isn’t it!” Sinner’s voice echoed off the trees around us.

Margaret gripped the handle of the dagger and pulled, and instantly, more blood gushed from the wound.

“Get over here and heal him!” I yelled.

Katherine barked a laugh. “He can’t help you! Nobody can!”

My stomach lurched. “He’s your claimed!! Why the hell would you do that?”

Her own claimed.She actually stabbed the man she was bonded to in order to stop us from jumping.

“You can take her power, right?” I asked Benedict.

His eyes had gone hazy, his head wobbling.

“Benedict, listen. You can use her healing power since the two of you are bonded.”

Katherine laughed, though the sound was cut off when Sinner put pressure on her throat.

“Not unless she lets me.” Benedict coughed, and blood seeped down his chin. “She’s had her power shut off from mesince we performed the ceremony. I can’t access it if she doesn’t want me to.”

What?I turned my attention to Katherine and Sinner. He was waiting for the signal to kill her. I knew that look.

It was a look far past anger. Far past fury.

“Heal him.” I marched over to where she was splayed out on the dirt.

Sinner backed away enough so I could tower over her.

“Heal him,” I gritted out. “He is your claimed.”

She sputtered another laugh, and I kicked her in the ribs to shut her up.

“It’s too late.” She rolled to her side, grimacing. “Good luck freeing anyone without him. You’re stuck. You’re all stuck.”

Benedict slumped against Margaret, who pressed the cloth harder against the wound. Not that it did much good. He was losing blood far too quickly.

“Athena,” she cried out. “He needs help.”

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