Page 76 of Memories Like Fangs
The others approached after they finished doing a sweep of the barn in case Lilah was lying. Cody confirmed, “We’re clear. No trace of Cooper or Lilah or any kind of a trap.”
“How is she?” Everett asked, bending down on the other side of Byrd alongside Talli and Maisie.
“Why aren’t her wounds healing?” Maisie asked.
“She’s lost a lot of blood,” Talli said, inspecting each wound.
When I finally got her ropes cut off and away from her skin, I could see why. Her wrists and ankles were cut so deeply I could see glimpses of bone. My breath caught at the sight, while everyone else gasped or hissed. Her body did seem like it was trying to patch itself back together, but it was slow.
Too slow.
“Quinn, give her your bloodnow. You are fated mates. It should work to cure her.” Talli commanded.
“And if it doesn’t?”
“We don’t have time for your skepticism, Everett! Byrd needs her fated mate, and you need to get over it,” Talli shouted. I heard Everett’s mouth snap shut.
It was about time someone shut his ass up.
I took Amy and sliced my wrist horizontally along a vein. Before the blood could start seeping from the cut, I put it to Byrd’s mouth.
At first, nothing happened. I could feel my blood filling her mouth, yet she wasn’t moving or anything. Fear chilled my spine.
“Come back to me,mi tesoro, please,” I begged, kissing the top of her head. I caressed her along her arm, encouraging her to drink. To stay with me. To not leave me alone. Not when I had found her at last.
“Come on, kiddo,” Everett pleaded. Then, he whispered low enough for only me, Talli, and Byrd to hear since we were close to her. “Who’s going to help pick out a ring if not you? You have to pull through this.”
My blood continued dripping onto her tongue. I worried my lip as the seconds ticked on. What if we were too late? What if my blood couldn’t pull her back in time? What?—?
Just as I was about to pull away so my blood wouldn’t drown her, I saw her throat move to swallow. Byrd’s taloned hands went up to my forearm and held me close there like a lifeline. After her first initial swallows, she drank deeply from me. I could see color return to her skin and scales. Her wounds started to heal faster, stopping their bleeding and stitching themselves closed. Her missing scales grew back. The bags under her eyes lightened, her body filled out more, and her lips started regaining their lively color. Her wings and tail even began twitching with life. As I felt her come to life in my arms, I felt her light brighten through our bond. The more she drank from me, the more she returned to me. Even as I felt myself weakening, darkness encroaching on the edges of my vision, I could not care less.
Byrd was back in my arms.
She was going to live and be okay.
That was all I could ever ask for.
“Byrdie-bee, that’s enough,” Talli said, her voice patient and steady like a mother guiding her child. “If you take much more, you risk hurting Quinn.”
Take as much as you need, mi vida. I would happily die for you any day of the week,I thought as I nestled my nose on top of her head. She was even smelling healthier and more like herself, more like honey, caramel, oatmeal, with an undercurrent of something fruity.
No one is dying today, Knightmaiden,her voice came through my head, so much stronger than before.
Byrd’s eyes opened for the first time. Instead of that mole brown that I adored, they were periwinkle blue with lilac purple along their edges and thin black slitted pupils. They were sovibrant and full of life as they looked up at me. My heart squeezed into my throat. Then, Byrd licked the wound on my wrist with her forked tongue before releasing my arm, making the cut seal and heal itself.
I kissed her forehead while I raised my eyebrow in curiosity.Knightmaiden?
Byrd licked my blood from her lips, easily one of the hottest things I had ever seen, which was definitely not something I should be thinking about right now, but who cared? Then, Byrd smiled up at me, this one much stronger than the last.She shrugged half-heartedly.I am still workshopping names, okay? Would you prefer Lady Stabbington or Lady Blade?
Both sound more like sex toys, to be honest.
Well, if the name fits…
I laughed out loud, startling everyone who hadn’t heard our private conversation. But I didn’t care. As far as I was concerned, it was just me and Byrd in our own bubble. I peppered her with enough kisses to elicit a giggle of pure joy. I had missed this more than words could say, more than my heart could withstand.
A world withoutmi vidawas a world I never wanted to be a part of ever again.
Holster
