Page 67 of Bite of Passage
The damned prophecy replayed in his brain.But he wouldn’t watch her die.Cade turning her?He would never let that happen even if there was certainty Cade could pull off a full turn.
Her breathing became irregular.The feeble grip she had on his hand disappeared as she whispered, “I’m scared.”
Cade warned, “Five more seconds.One…two…”
With shaky hands, Skarde angled her neck and stared at the weak throbbing of her jugular vein.His canines ached to taste her.But he hesitated.He resented the magical shits who had forced both of them into this.Was biting her worth burning in hell?
“Move your pansy ass out of my way.”Cade advanced.“I’ll do it.Not to become powerful, although it’s a bonus, but she saved my life.I owe her.It’s my bed she can occupy since you obviously don’t want her in yours.”
Skarde jerked Gemma closer to him, his body forming a cage around her.As he let out a vicious warning growl, his fangs fully extended.
Cade jumped back.
Biting her was worth whatever hell waited on the other side.
“It’s not a gift.It’s a curse,” Skarde muttered, “I’ll be the one to give it to her.”
Don’t take too much.As gently as possible, so unlike any previous time he’d bitten, he pierced her skin.The flow of her blood into his mouth made his head buzz.Delicious blood flowed across his tongue.He took and took hard, drinking deep, and wanting so much more than her vein.He wanted inside her.
Stop.
He’d taken enough to infuse the toxin that would start the change.He licked to ensure the tooth wounds started healing.Biting into his wrist, he made sure the punctures were deep.He pressed the oozing holes to her lips.
“Drink,” he ordered.“Then you can be strong.”
Her lips formed an instinctual seal around his wrist and started to drink from him in earnest.A deep moan escaped her, although he wasn’t sure if she was fully conscious.Her trembling from earlier seemed to worsen until her seal over his wrist broke.He shook her, tried to get her to take more, but she didn’t wake up.Her heart still beat, but it didn’t sound any stronger.
Would his blood work?Nerves shot, Skarde held her close to keep her warm and feel her heartbeat against his chest.His mood shifted to near panic at the thought that he’d taken the leap, deciding to turn his first human ever, had gone this far and given her what he’d never given another…and now he might lose her anyway.
“How do I know if it worked?”He wiped snow off his face and glanced up at the foreboding clouds.
“Takes time.”Cade rubbed a hand down his cheek.“I only turned one successfully in all the years.”
“What?I thought you created a harem.”
Cade shook his head.“The scourge on our species is real.Any time there’s a successful turn, it gets reported.The Directorate tries to make sense of why no one has been able to make it happen in one hundred and sixteen years.”
“When is the last time you remember hearing it worked?I mean a full turn, not the initial blood poisoning minion stage?”
On a soft exhale Cade said, “I don’t remember.I was the last one who turned anyone.The Directorate is panicked.We’re on the brink of extinction.”
What had he done?Tortured by thoughts of Gemma as a mindless slave, he whispered, “Will you kill her if she only makes it halfway?”
“Yes.”Cade nodded.“I’ll do it.For what it’s worth, I think she’ll make it.She’s unusual.This whole situation is strange.Did you know she’s a medicinal?I figured it out when she freed the witch from her slave band back at the castle.”
“No.”He glanced down at her.That made sense.
“There’s never been a medicinal made into one of us.She might be able to figure out the scourge preventing us from creating more of our kind.”Cade worked his jaw like he was trying to wear down his back molars.“I don’t know what the hell any of this means.The prophecy, her being a medicinal… She fell into our world and onto my lap.Literally fell out of thin air.”
“I’ve seen it happen three times before.I crossed to her side once.This entire business has magical manipulation written all over it.”
“No shit,” Cade gritted out.“I hate magic.I despise everything about it.It always feels like cheating at life to use it.”
“Yet, you keep a witch captive.”
“That’s different.I control her situation.A witch knifed Gemma with the clear intent to force you into this.To forceyou, not me.If they simply wanted her changed, then the witch would’ve knifed her in the dungeon with me there and left us.”
“I despise being manipulated.But magic…eh.”Skarde shrugged.“I’ve dealt with enough that it doesn’t scare me.Magical shits bending destiny to suit their own objectives, though?That pisses me off.”
