Lorcan’s eyes widened.
They were still wide when she rushed toward him and drove that branch right through his heart.
Didn’t see that coming, did you, bastard?
***
“No!” The cry ripped from Alerac. He tossed Ryan aside. Raced toward Jane.
The wood went straight through Lorcan’s body, shoving out of his back. Blood covered the vamp as his knees gave way and he hit the ground.
Alerac grabbed Jane before she could fall, too.
“A rúnsearc, what have you done?” Her chest was soaked with blood. Her breath barely wheezed out. “Why?”
“B-because y-you wouldn’t…ever h-hurt me…”
“So you decided to end things yourself? You can’t do this!” Rage and grief twisted inside him, and destroyed any sane thought. “I won’t let you go! Dammit, no!”
Blood trickled from her mouth. Her eyes stared up at him. “Love…”
“No!” He pulled her against his chest. Rocked her with mindless motions of his body. “Don’t tell me that you love me. Don’t say that you love me while your heart is—”
She wasn’t moving.
He couldn’t breathe. “J-Jane?”
He tilted back her head. Her eyes were closed.
“Jane, don’t do this!”
His hold on her was too hard. He had to ease his grip or he’d bruise her. He couldn’t bruise Jane. He couldn’t hurt Jane. He needed her too much. She had to stay with him. He couldn’t make it through any more years without her.
“Lorcan’s dead.”
Ryan’s voice. Alerac’s head snapped up. His gaze narrowed on the vampire. The one who’d held him back. If Ryan hadn’t grabbed him, then Alerac could have stopped Jane. He could have saved her.
No, no, I’ll still save her. She’s not gone. Not yet. She’ll come back to me.
“We should burn his body,” Ryan continued. “Just to make f**king sure.”
“No!” Alerac’s roar. If they burned Lorcan, then they would burn Jane.
Ryan swallowed. He stared right back at Alerac. Grief was in the vamp’s eyes. “She knew that you wouldn’t kill him, that you’d let your pack die, that you’d die, for her.”
Yes, in an instant, he would have given his life for her.
“She chose to save you instead. Just like before.” Ryan’s lips twisted, but there was no humor there. Only pain. “Looks like two hundred years didn’t change the way that she felt about you, memory or no memory.”
The drumming of Alerac’s heartbeat was too loud. A red haze covered his vision. That haze was blood.
Jane’s blood.
Jane.
“You aren’t burning him,” Alerac said. HIs words sounded hoarse, as if they’d been scraped from his throat. “You aren’t burning her.”
Alerac’s gaze flew back to Jane. He couldn’t look away. Jane had saved him, too many times. It was his turn to save her. He had to save her. There wasn’t any other option for him.
Without her, he didn’t want to walk this earth.
Without her, it wouldn’t be safe for him to walk this earth.
“She just needs blood,” he said. His words were ragged. So was his breath. “Blood heals. That’s all she needs.”
Ryan’s footsteps shuffled closer. “Blood won’t bring back the dead.”
“She’s not dead.”
“Yes, she is.” A soft voice—Zoe?
His head turned. He saw her standing, pale, trembling, just behind Ryan.
“She’s not breathing, Alerac,” Zoe told him with pity in her eyes. “She—”
“She was in the ground for two centuries!” Alerac yelled back. “A witch put a spell on her then. She didn’t need breath. She can still live!”
He had to make her live. He cut his wrist, sliced it quickly with his claws, then dripped the blood into Jane’s mouth. Then he massaged her neck—she’s warm, that means she lives—as he attempted to force the blood down her throat.
“We’re linked,” Alerac whispered. “She made me more than just a beast. I made her more than just a vampire.” Please don’t leave me. Please. “She’s still here.”
He held her tight. He gave her his blood. “I love you, Jane,” he whispered. He told her that truth again and again.
But her eyes didn’t open.
And the beast within him broke just as the man did.
***
Ryan felt as if his own heart had been cut out. Alerac wouldn’t let his sister go. He clung to her too tightly. Had to hold her close constantly. Alerac had finally left the woods moments before, with Jane still held in his arms.
“Are we going to…to lose him?” Zoe’s voice. She came toward him, a torch in her hands. Her movements were slow, her body still trembled, but her gaze was unflinching as it met his.
She saved my life.
By sacrificing her beast.
The fire in his chest was gone. The pain, the certainty of death—all gone.
Because of her.
How was he supposed to repay a debt like that?
“Will he s-survive losing her?” Zoe asked. Her voice broke a bit. Her throat was almost fully healed. He knew the catch in her words came from grief, not pain.
Ryan wasn’t sure that Alerac would survive. But one thing he did know…he had to burn Lorcan’s body. That had been Jane’s last order to him.
Bite…her whisper had floated through his mind, and he’d found himself sinking his teeth into Zoe’s arm.
Then…
Stop Alerac. Hold him.
He’d been at Alerac’s back in the next moment.
Burn Lorcan. Nothing can remain.
He took the torch from Zoe. They’d waited until Alerac left for this last act.
But…when he burned Lorcan, would Jane’s body turn to ash, too? He knew that was what Alerac feared.
“Go to him,” he said quietly. “Make sure…” That he doesn’t jump into the flames if Jane’s body sparks fire. Make sure that he doesn’t turn on his pack as the rage consumes him.
Zoe nodded and she hurried away.
Ryan stood over Lorcan’s body, staring down at the vampire who’d ruined so many lives.
But now, now that vampire would burn in hell.
“My sister’s free of you,” Ryan told him, voice thick. “You can’t ever hurt her again.”
He lifted the torch. He’d wait just a few more minutes so that Zoe could get to Alerac. Just a few minutes more.