Page 107 of Blood Bound (Blood Mafia 3)

He’s running out of time.

Mazzikin saunters forward and kneels on the soot covered ground. Ash rises up in a small cloud around her. She removes my hands and presses her palms to his skin.

“It means, when I desire, I will call on a piece of you so I can shape it and wield it as a weapon to defeat my enemies.”

I look at Grayson, who shakes his head, then Colt who’s frowning. He doesn’t say no. Then I glance at Mateo. His eyes are growing glassy.

“Will it kill me?”

Mazzikin tips her head. “Not physically, but it may emotionally.”

“You don’t have to do this,” Evelyn says, placing her hand on my shoulder. “Mateo wouldn’t ask you to.”

“Don’t do it, Demi,” Mateo rasps.

“He has fifty seconds until it’ll be too late. What is your decision?” Mazzikin asks.

I pinch my eyebrows together. I have no idea if I can trust her. She’s a demon, after all. There’s no telling what she’ll take from me. What if she claims a piece of my soul? A part of my humanity? Will it change me?

I’ve already changed so much.

The bond between us begins to dull. My chest constricts.

He’s dying. Trying to imagine life without Mateo… Well it’s sort of impossible. I’ve only ever known the Blood Mafia with him. If he dies, would it even be the Blood Mafia anymore?

I glance at Colt. He’s studying me. He won’t ask me to save Mateo, but I can feel his desperation through the bond. Of course he doesn’t want Mateo to die. Grayson grimaces when I swing my gaze to him.

“It’s your choice, Demi.”

“Twenty seconds.” Mazzikin brushes her fingers over my hand.

Evelyn squeezes my shoulder where her hand rests. “I love my brother, but I can’t ask you to bargain with the devil. Even vampires must die eventually.”

“I’m not the devil.” Mazzikin sighs. “Ten seconds.”

My heart skips a beat and my lungs squeeze with the pressure of the fading bond. If I can save him, even if it means losing a piece of myself, I’ll do it.

“I agree to your terms.”

Her pale pink lips curl back and she murmurs in a strange language. The backs of her hands glow where they rest on Mateo’s lifeless body. She lifts one and places it over my heart, nodding at me when my eyes widen.

“A life for a life.”

Wait, what?

“You said it wouldn’t cost me my life.”

Did she trick me?

I curl my fingers into fists at my side when something hooks into my spine, anchoring a piece of me to Mazzikin.

“It won’t,” she says, removing her hand from Mateo’s now healed chest. “Your first born will be mine.”

Her words are like a fist to the gut. I hunch my shoulders and place my hands over my stomach.

“I’m not pregnant.”

“Whenyou become pregnant, I will be in touch.”

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