He was already gone.

Gone.

Did he leave the coven for good? Was he truly giving up his pursuit of the throne? His pursuit of me?

A coldness settled over my soul that made me shiver.

I couldn’t process this sort of emotion right now. Eros was still slumped face down in his own blood.

On my hands and knees, I crawled over to him and flipped him over. He was still alive!

Sitting up, I skimmed the warehouse, searching the scattered mass of people. Humans were still fleeing for their lives, wolves herding them like sheepdogs gathering cattle. They were bringing groups to the vampires where they had the humans on their knees in a line, mind-wiping them one by one.

Corry was nowhere to be found.

Eros was too heavy for me to carry by myself. Vincent could have carried him, but…He left.

Bitter ash stung my tongue.

Why did this hurt so much?

Why did I give a shit if he left?

Because I was in love with him. Hopelessly. It was a brutal kind of love, but it was one that called to that monster inside me, making her purr like no other could.

A set of shoes came into my view, and I looked up, hoping to see Corry. Instead, I was met with a swallowed face, dark eyes, and greasy hair. My lips curled into a snarl.

“You.Stay away from us!”

Sharpe let out a sigh, his dark eyes running over Eros in appraisal. “Princess, I know how you feel about me. But I am the coven’s doctor. I need to examine your mate.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you even here? Did you come with Lexi?”

His lips slanted with a frown. “No. I’ve been here. I attend the matches in case things like this happen.”

That was weird.

Wouldn’t Sterling have mentioned that little detail if it was true?

And why was he making his presence known now, when it was almost too late?

“There isn’t the time for you to decide if you can trust me or not, Princess Ruby. Normally our kind can only die by beheading and staking, but he’s lost a tremendous amount of blood.”

I knew Eros didn’t have the luxury of time. As much as I loathed and distrusted Sharpe, this wasn’t the time and the place for that.

Nodding, I stood back, allowing the doctor to scoop Eros into his arms. I began to follow them out of the ring, but the doctor stopped me with a sharp glance.

“I’m going to take him to the back. Alone. Give us some privacy, at least for a few minutes.”

I gave an uneasy nod and watched them disappear into the back.

Five minutes passed, which felt like an eternity. Then my mark grew steadily colder, and when it dropped to almost freezing, I knew something was wrong.

Very wrong.

I scanned the crowd for Corry, but there were only strangers.

Something in my gut told me I didn’t have the time to search for him. Leaving the ring, I practically sprinted to the back to find the locker room completely empty.