Page 8 of Hitched to the Vampire King

He didn’t stir.

I cursed and shoved myself further against the bars. Thishadto work. It had to.

“Come on, Gabriel!” I hissed. “Fight. Ineedyou to fight.”

The silence that followed was deafening, every second stretching out with agonizing slowness. My heart hammered against my ribs, a relentless drumbeat of hope and desperation. I kept my blood-soaked hand in Gabriel’s cage. My entire arm ached, and the cool, damp air wasn’t helping. If anything, it made the bite sting more. But this discomfort was a small price to pay if it meant saving Gabriel.

Of course, that meant my vampire had towakethe hellup.

Growling under my breath, I pulled my arm back to my chest, then massaged the bite wound. Werewolves healed fast. If he didn’t take me up on this offer soon, I’d have to reopen the skin, and I really didn’t want to do that.

“Come on!” I snarled at Gabriel.

Then I shoved my arm back through the bars and grabbed his fingers, coating them in my blood.

“For crying out loud, you’re a fucking vampire,” I grumbled. “And I’m offering blood. So, wake up andtake it.”

I was about to unleash another string of curses when something changed.

At first, it was barely perceptible. A slight twitch in Gabriel’s fingers. For a moment, I wondered if I’d imagined it. People did that. They saw things they wanted so desperately to see. But then his whole hand moved. And when his fingers curled around mine, I knew I wasn’t imagining things.

“Yes!” I whispered.

My pulse beat with excitement. I couldn’t believe it. He was waking up! It’d worked.

Gabriel’s whole body twitched this time, his movements becoming a bit more deliberate. Then came a low, almost inaudible growl, one that had my breath catching in my throat.

Okay, I might not have thought this through. I’d been banking on the fact that Gabriel would never hurt me. But this wasn’t necessarily Gabriel. This was more the vampire dwelling within. I didn’t pull my arm back. I couldn’t. Not when we were so close.

Gabriel’s hand moved again, this time with purpose. His cold fingers wrapped around my wrist with surprising strength. The touch of his skin against mine was electrifying, and it sent a jolt of heat through my stomach.

He turned his head then. His eyes remained closed, but his face seemed almost determined. He gave a sharp pull on my arm, and my face crashed into the bars. I grunted, but still didn’t pull back.

“I can’t come any closer, Gabriel,” I told him, hoping that some part of his animalistic brain understood me.

It seemed it did because he rolled onto his side and inched toward my wrist. The second his lips brushed my skin, I jerked. My heart hammered against my ribs, partly from fear, but also from the excitement of being this close to my mate again. I forced myself to swallow, then leaned my head against the bars and closed my eyes. I needed to stay calm. Fighting this would only make things more difficult.

Movement brushed against my injured wrist, and I had to force myself not to jerk away. This was what I wanted, and what Gabriel needed. His mouth sealed around the bite, and I felt the scrape of his fangs. I counted to three in my head, knowing what would come next.

Gabriel’s fangs pierced my flesh, and I gave a choked gasp. Relief spilled through me, and I slumped against the cage, wanting to sob with relief. He was feeding. I really couldn’t ask for anything more than that.

My eyes fluttered open, and I watched as he fed ravenously from my wrist. Despite the situation’s gravity, I couldn’t help but feel a deep connection to Gabriel right now. My blood was sustaining him. Heck, it was more than sustaining him, it was bringing him back to life. Color returned to his skin, and the dark veins vanished. He almost looked like his old self again.

Except he still hadn’t opened his eyes.

“Gabriel?” I called.

His grip tightened as if in response to me calling his name. Yet there was no sign of awareness in his face, no glimmer of recognition in his actions. With every swallow, his hands—and his grip—grew stronger. He kept drinking, his fangs piercing deeper. A jolt of pain shot through me, and I nearly cried out. Only the fear of alerting everyone upstairs kept me quiet.

Gabriel kept drinking, drawing on the essence of my life, pulling himself back from the brink of death. With every swallow, he seemed to grow stronger, and relief spiraled through me, one that quickly dissipated when the world started to sway. Everything seemed to blur around me, the edges of my vision growing dark.

I rested my head against the bars and focused on breathing. Things were getting a little murky. But just as the darkness threatened to steal me away, I sensed a change. Gabriel’s feeding slowed, and after a few more moments, his grip loosened, and he released my wrist.

I lifted my head and stared at him, my whole body startling at the sight of his stormy gray eyes staring right back at me.

A weak laugh slipped past my lips and tears sprang to my eyes. I couldn’t help it. I was just so happy to see him right now.

“You’re awake,” I whispered, tears streaming down my cheeks. “You’re really awake?”

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