“It would be better if I were lying with her—”

“No!” Wraith shouted, and E grabbed him before he could do something stupid, like lay out the vampire. The writing on the walls began to pulse as the threat of violence grew.

“Idle down, bro,” E said, and Wraith backed toward the door, a terrible, possessive ache centering in his chest. Maybe if he didn’t watch…

Komir released Serena, and oh, fuck, Wraith had just ruined everything. The vampire brushed past him. “Come with me.”

Wraith had no choice but to follow, and once they were outside the room, Komir turned to him. “Strike me.”

The Haven spell prevented violence, but, like Serena’s charm, if the person wanted the violence, that was different. “Why?”

“Let your aggression out now, demon. The ritual cannot be interrupted.”

Wraith clenched his fists. “We don’t have time for this.”

“Then may I strike you?”

“Fine. Then let’s get on with—” Komir’s fist slammed into Wraith’s mouth with the force of a wrecking ball, knocking him sideways and splashing blood onto the wall. Another blow came at him, but Wraith spun out of reach and smashed his fist into Komir’s jaw.

The vampire crashed into a cart and slid ungracefully to the floor. He looked down at his bloodied knuckles and winced. “You have a hard right hook and a hard face.” He shook his hand and shoved it into his mouth. His entire body tensed, and he jerked his hand from his lips. He stared at it. Then he stared at Wraith. “You taste of… angel.”

“Ah, that. I sort of drank from one today—”

Komir came to his feet and touched his slicked-back silver hair, as though it might have gotten messed up during the scuffle. “Then you don’t need me.”

Hope soared through Wraith, followed immediately by confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Our race… it was created by fallen angels. Their blood flows through our veins. It is the fallen angel blood that activates the turn.”

“So if Serena drinks my blood before Reaver’s blood filters out…”

“Yes. Go.”

“I don’t know how. The details.” The admission shamed him. He’d spent too many years mired in hate to learn anything about vampires besides how to hunt and kill them.

“It’s instinct, Wraith,” Komir said. “Feed beyond the point of no return, but not until the heart stops completely. Then give her your blood. As much as she’ll take. The more, the better.”

“And after that?”

“You come to me. You have a promise to keep.”

So even though he was going to be the one turning Serena, they were still going to torture him. Bastards.

“Thank you.”

Komir bowed his head. “What you did at Temple Mount has earned you the Council’s gratitude.”

“You have a funny way of showing it,” he muttered, but he didn’t hang around. He darted into Serena’s room and dropped to his knees beside her bed. Wasting no time, he sank his teeth into her thin wrist as gently as possible.

Serena’s blood hit his tongue, the rich flavor making him both moan and flinch. The tang of death tainted the sweet spice. It poured down his throat in a cascade of warm silk, and he wished like hell that he was drinking from her in a frenzy of passion instead of draining her in the hopes that she’d come back to him.

The flow began to thin and slow, even as her heart frantically tried to compensate for the blood loss. Her pulse tapped against his teeth as she hit the critical stage that tempted all vampires. At this point, they had a choice: stop and let their prey live or take a few more pulls and feel the high as the victim started to die.

Wraith needed her to die.

He took two more strong pulls. Her pulse was weak and thready, barely there. Quickly, he leaped to his feet and used his fangs to open a vein in his wrist. He held it to her lips. Blood ran in a thick stream down her chin.

“E? Why isn’t she feeding?” Panic made his question into a shout.

“She’s too far gone.” Eidolon cursed. “We’ll have to force it down.” He palmed her forehead with one hand and placed the other on her chin to open her mouth, CPR style. “We may need to insert a feeding tube.”

Wraith fired up his gift and dove into her mind. It was all swirling light in there, no substance, no awareness except for a heart-shattering sadness.

“Oh, no, my lirsha,” he whispered. “Come back. Come back to your dreams. I’m here. I’m waiting.” He inserted himself into the swirling light, forcing substance to form around him. He put himself in front of the Great Pyramid, with golden sands all around him.

And then she was there. Standing in front of him in a sheer, flowing white gown. “Where have you been? I’ve been so lost.”

“I’ve been right here, baby. I’ll always be right here.” He caught her by the shoulders and brought her to him. “I’m going to have to let you go, but only for a little while.”

“But—”

“Do you trust me?”

Her liquid eyes beamed up at him. “Yes.”

He struck, burying his fangs in her throat. She gasped before sighing and relaxing against him. She tasted good here, no taint of death. Just the pure, sweet nectar that only she could have running through her veins. He wanted to make love to her in the dream, but even now he felt her fading in his arms.

Reluctantly, he disengaged his fangs. Reaching up, he cut open his own throat with the blade he imagined in his hand.

“Josh!”

“Shh. It’s okay. Drink. Drink now, and drink hard. Hurry, Serena!”

She latched on as if she’d been feeding for centuries. She was a hunter, with killer instincts whether she was seeking ancient relics or taking blood. So. Freaking. Hot.

Distantly, he heard Eidolon’s voice. “That’s it, Serena. Swallow.”

It was working. She was drinking in the dream and in real life, and… she was gone. He was standing alone in the sand.

He snapped back into the hospital room, where she was swallowing weakly as his blood flowed onto her tongue.

The heart monitor beeped quietly. The blood pressure machine hissed as it released air from the cuff around her upper arm. An IV dripped saline incessantly into the tube connected to the back of one hand. And he stood there, feeling cold and empty.

Fuck that. This would not be a clinical operation. The woman he loved would take him the way this should happen. With him tangled up with her.

In one smooth move, he swung up on the narrow bed and stretched out beside her. As Serena swallowed, he nuzzled her throat and whispered to her. Soothing, comforting words he was surprised he knew. She was icy—too icy, and too still.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when Eidolon peeled his arm away from her mouth and sent a healing wave into him to seal the wound.

“She’s not drinking anymore,” E said. “If this took, she’ll wake tomorrow at dusk.”

“It will take,” Wraith said fiercely. “It has to.” He spent a few more quiet moments with Serena before Eidolon shook his shoulder gently. “It’s time, bro.”

“No.”

“Wraith, Shade is about to collapse.”

Wraith glanced over at his brother, who was trembling so hard his teeth were chattering. His dermoire’s glow had faded and began to flicker.

“You’ve got to let her go.”

A sob welled up in Wraith’s throat. The moment Shade let go of Serena, she’d die. And if the turning didn’t take…

I’ll lose her forever.

Eidolon gave Wraith’s shoulder a little squeeze. Oh, Gods… Wraith closed his eyes and nodded. Instantly, Shade’s power cut off, and Serena’s chest stopped moving. Her heart thumped once. Twice.

And beat no more.

The only sound in the room after that was the sound of Wraith’s scream.

Thirty-two

Blackness swirled in an endless void. There was nothing there but a cold wind and a gnawing, relentless loneliness.

And hunger. Hunger… such as Serena had never experienced.

She felt like her stomach was caving in on itself with starvation. But the hunger went deeper than that. To the bone. To the soul.

She couldn’t open her eyes, so she lay still and listened. She heard the thump-whoosh of a beating heart. Of whisper-light breaths. Another sense roared to life: smell.

She caught the scent of something smoky, maybe brimstone? Then there was the heady, musky odor of… Josh.

Warmth burned into her side, a heavy, satisfying heat that stretched from her shoulder to her toes. She peeled open her eyes, but closed them immediately against the intensity of the light above. After a moment, she tried again, driven by the insane hunger.

Squinting in what she now realized was very dim, reddish light, she looked up at the dark ceiling and the weird chains and pulleys she’d seen earlier. Josh was stretched out on the bed beside her, one leg over hers, one arm draped across her belly. His face was tucked against the crook of her neck and shoulder. He couldn’t get any closer if he wanted to.

“Josh?” she said. Or tried to say. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. She licked her lips, her tongue catching on sharp points—ouch.

Were those… fangs?

The past few days rushed over her like an avalanche, cutting off her breath… breath? Wait… was she breathing? Sort of.

Vampire.

She’d talked to Josh about becoming a vampire, but that was all she remembered. Until now.

Hunger pangs sliced through her. With a yelp, she jackknifed into a sit.

Josh was right there in her face, eyes wide and mouth dropped open. “Serena!”

“Hurts,” she moaned, clutching her belly. “Hurts.”

Josh raised her upper lip with his thumb and let out a whoop of victory. “Baby, it worked. Oh, man, it freaking worked!”

A veil of red came down over her vision and the sound of a beating heart drove her to the brink of madness. She wanted to attack him, to ravage his neck with her mouth, ravage his body with hers…

He seemed to know, and he tugged her to him, cocking his head aside to expose his throat. “Take what you need,” he whispered. “Take it now, and don’t worry about hurting me—ow!”

She buried her new teeth in his neck, instinct guiding her beautifully. And nope, she wasn’t worried about hurting him at all. She felt a moment of regret when he barked in pain, but then he moaned and pulled her down on top of him.

On some level, she thought she should be disgusted by the fact that she was drinking his blood, but the hunger had hijacked her body, and the need to just be with him had hijacked her heart and mind.

A deep, throbbing ache began between her thighs, and once again, he knew, because he dropped a hand and cupped her intimately. She’d been na**d beneath the sheet. How handy.

His fingers were magic on her core, sliding through her slippery center and brushing her cl*twith just the right amount of pressure. His other hand fumbled with his jeans, and in seconds she felt his hard length rubbing where his fingers had been. He made a rough sound of need that matched hers. This would not be a long, leisurely encounter. Her desires roared through her on a primal level she couldn’t understand.

He arched up as she gripped his rigid shaft and lowered herself onto it. The broad head stretched her sensitive opening, the velvet surface a bold contrast for the thick, textured shaft as it slid deep. The moment they locked together, she came in the most intense, longest-lasting orgasm of her life. Josh joined her, his shout of ecstasy ringing in her ears.

“Bond with me,” he panted as he came down. “Be my mate.”

He took her left hand and threaded her fingers through his. The markings on his arm began to pulse. Feeling warm, a little drunk, and nicely sated, she lifted her head from his throat.

“Lick the punctures,” he rasped. “Stops the bleeding.”

She did, and he groaned, pumped his h*ps so hard her knees came off the mattress. Another release roared through her, a full-body orgasm that hummed through her veins all the way to her skull.

Josh watched her with golden eyes. “You’re so beautiful.” His voice was like erotic thunder, and it rolled through her as yet another orgasm. He came, too, and before the last tremors had even quieted, he said again, “Bond… with… me.”

Shade and Eidolon had explained the ritual, the benefits, and the consequences, though she’d faded in and out for a lot of the conversation. If what she remembered was true, the ritual involved the sharing of blood—which obviously wasn’t a problem—and when it was over, she’d have markings on her arm to match Josh’s. They’d be bonded for life, and neither could have sex with another.

She drew her finger down his chest. “Explain to me the benefits.”

He gripped her h*ps and held her still, because every tiny movement made him hiss. “Mindfuckingblowing orgasms. A mental connection. No more loneliness. Or empty sex. You’ll have a protector. A partner. Someone who will love you forever.”

“Sweetheart, you sold me at the orgasms.”

“Gods, I love you.”

She smiled, and he reached up, stroked one of her fangs with his thumb. An incredible sensation shot to her core, and she nearly cl**axed again. “Oh. Oh, my.” Talk about an erogenous zone.

“They’re so hot,” he said. “I never thought I’d say that.”

“They feel… right.”

“They look right.”

She was a freaking vampire! Awesome. “So, are we going to do this bond thing?”