Page 75 of Soren

He’d let fear and resentment hamper him all his adult life, and what had it gotten him? It had almost ruined his relationship with Danny permanently. It had taken away time with his mother he’d never get back. It had made him a…well, just a worse person overall.

But Soren. Soren had made Gabebetter. More open, less fearful. Gabe could accept magic in his life, if Soren came with it.

“Soren’s gonna kill me,” Jay protested. But the hand-wringing had stopped. He seemed to be getting used to the idea.

“I’ll take all the blame,” Gabe reassured him.

Jay took a deep breath, clearly bolstering himself. Gabe tried not to scream in frustration. He’d made his choice. He wouldn’t regret it. He wanted this conversation over and done with.

He held up a hand when Jay finally leaned over him. “Not the neck.”

Jay blushed. “Oh. Um. Sorry. Of course.” He gently picked up Gabe’s right wrist. “Is this okay?”

Gabe nodded. “That’s fine.”

He watched the dark head bend over his wrist. A sharp flick of pain, a surge of that now-familiar pleasure, and then a strange…lightheadedness. Gabe realized now how little Soren had taken from him, those two times, compared to the speed with which Jay was draining him now. He could feel himself slipping quickly into unconsciousness, only vaguely aware when liquid started dribbling into his mouth. Jay’s blood? And then…

Pain. Fire.Burning.

Gabe heard screaming. He was pretty sure it was him, but he was too delirious with pain to register the source. He coughed, choked, screamed some more.

Who knew dying would be so painful?

And then only darkness.

Gabe woke up quickly—apparently much more quickly than Jay had anticipated, judging by the little vampire’s startled, wide eyes.

The pain was gone. Like it had never happened at all. Maybe Gabe had dreamed it.

“I—I’ve never seen it happen so fast,” Jay stammered. “It’s only been a few hours.”

Gabe didn’t have time to wonder over it all. He’d woken with a hole in his chest. An ache. A pull.

Soren.

His mate was in trouble. Gabe felt a pulsing under his skin, a drive to find him, to help him.

Soren had been taken. Taken from Gabe.

Rage and anger rose quickly. “Going now,” he growled. Jay protested. Gabe cut him off. “I wouldn’t try to stop me.”

“What if you kill someone?”

Gabe scoffed. “Hendrick? He’d deserve it.”

Jay gave him a strange look. “No — I— Aren’t you…hungry?”

Hungry? Oh, for blood.

Feeding was the farthest thing from Gabe’s mind. “I don’t want blood. I wantSoren.”

That was the only thing Gabe was craving—to touch his mate. To hold him. There was a new beast inside him, and it needed soothing.

He needed his mate.

nineteen

Soren

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