Page 46 of Never Run from an Immortal

We’ll be fine. Our PADs are gone, the car, and the safety vehicle.

Unit Six?

Aidan paused, considering his reply.Gone. Don’t move until nightfall. I’ll send instructions. Understood?

Of course, my lord.

He was about to object to the use of his title, but then—“You brought us to a rutok kennel?” He slid through the door Rae had wedged open for him, the feeling of a thousand tiny heartbeats washing over him.

The Witch shrugged. “It’s unmanned. No one will find us here.”

Aidan didn’t have it in him to argue. Rutoks were considered vermin to Vampires, mostly because they multiplied like nobody’s business, but also because what little blood they possessed provided absolutely no sustenance whatsoever. He knew some humans kept them as pets, probably just to piss the Vampires off.

Most rutoks were tiny, fluffy things, with pointed ears and multiple tails. Some had more dog-like features than others, though Aidan had never paid much attention to them. The kennels were all unmanned; some human-automated methods provided food and water. What happened to their waste, Aidan didn’t particularly want to know, but the kennel didn’t stink as he followed Rae down a dimly lit corridor, so at least there was that.

“Anyone follow us?” Rae asked, glancing over her shoulder at him. The rutoks on the other side of the wall chittered and huffed as if they were talking excitedly to each other. They probably were. He wondered what Baelin made of them, but he didn’t know how much longer he could stand.

He followed Rae through another door, dimly aware that she’d asked him a question. His vision spotted as she turned to face him, darkness pressing in at the edges of his vision.

Whatever words she said were muffled and far away as Aidan slid to the floor, the bullet lodging deeper.

Chapter twenty-three

“Vale?”

“I need you to cut me open,” he rasped, willing his vision to clear. “Here.” Aidan was vaguely aware of Rae moving around him as he pressed a hand to his chest, each breath like his lungs were burning hot coals as the bullet pressed against his heart.

“Cutting out your heart is a little cold, even for me, Vampire.” Rae’s fingers closed over his, easing his hand out of the way.

He tried to laugh, but the sound was choked. “There’s a bullet lodged in my chest. I think it was full of whatever tranquiliser they used on me before.”

“Okay,” Rae said, ripping his wet shirt open. “How lodged?”

“Deep. The blood healed it over.”

“Shit,” she murmured on an exhale. “I can’t believe you’re asking me to fuck up this beautiful ink.” The words were light, but he could feel her concern now that the tranquiliser was almost entirely gone from his system.

“Did you just call me beautiful, Witch?” With his back pressed against a wall, it was the only thing keeping him upright.

“The art is beautiful, smart ass.” She straddled his lap, her hand resting over his heart, and he knew she was doing it to distract him from what was coming, could feel the way she was fighting to cover up her concern. “Bite me, and Iwillcut out more than this bullet, understand?” Rae’s eyes met his, searching. Her pulse ticked in her throat, and against his better judgement, he let his gaze dip for a heartbeat before nodding.

Her hair had been blood red earlier, but now it was almost black from the rain. Without thinking, he lifted a piece stuck to her shoulder, twirling it between his fingers. “Why do you do this?”

“No one’s seen what I look like in years.” She pulled a blade from her jacket. Not the one she’d cut Daire’s throat with, but a longer, finer blade, handing it to him before shrugging out of the garment and bundling it up over his stomach. Her hips canted with the movement, and Aidan willed himself not to think about the warmth of her, of how soft she felt against him when he needed to feed. When he’d done nothing but crave the fucking taste of her blood since he’d licked it from that needle the night before. “Ready?”

“Do it.”

She didn’t meet his eyes again. With steady hands and steady breaths, Rae brought the tip of the blade to where he’d shown her, his head falling back against the wall at the first cut. It was familiar to him now, the sting of a knife, the pressure as it went deeper. Her movements were careful and precise, like she knew what she was doing.

Warm blood trickled down his chest, and Aidan let out a quiet hiss, his canines extending instinctively. His own blood meant the need to defend himself. “Anyone would think you’ve had practice at this, Farren,” he ground out.

A flicker of something from Rae—not fear—but something close as she glanced up and took in his sharp teeth. “Mhmm. You were right, it’s deep. This next part is going to hurt. A lot. You want to hold onto something?”

Aidan brought his hands to her full hips, squeezing gently as another lick of worry unfurled from her, but for him, not for her. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth to reassure her, and her lips twitched in response.

“Not exactly what I meant, Vampire,” she murmured, raising an eyebrow at him, but he didn’t dare speak again as he felt the bullet press harder against his heart.

Rae put the knife to one side. Pressed a hand to the unmarred skin on his chest beside the open wound, her skin like ice against his. She searched his face for a moment, as if she were waiting for him to stop her before she brought her other hand above the wound and closed her eyes, matching her breathing to his.

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