Rune went in ahead of her, holding his gun vertical in the confines of the narrow stairwell. The worn stone steps spiraled upward, around and around and around, one blind turn after another.
Low voices sounded from somewhere above now—urgent shouts coupled with the heavy pound of boots across the floors.
“Be ready,” Rune cautioned her. “We’re coming to the main floor now.”
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
No sooner had they reached the archway that opened out from the stairwell than they saw a pair of guards heading their way.
“There they are!” the men shouted, opening fire the instant they saw Rune and Carys.
“Get back!” Rune pulled her behind him as gunshots chewed into the stone beside their heads.
Flying shrapnel exploded, biting Carys’s cheek. She felt blood run in a warm trail down her face, just below her left eye.
Rune saw it too. Now, through his blood-bond to her, he would also feel her pain. Rage ignited in his eyes. On a bellowed roar, he returned a spray of gunfire.
“You have to run,” he growled at her. “Flash past the guards. I’ll cover you from here. Use the shadows, Carys. You have to make it through the great hall to get to the kitchens and the carriage house outside.”
She swiped at the streak of blood that dripped off her chin, peering around him as he continued to volley shots with the advancing guards. “I’m not leaving without you.”
“We only have one gun, Carys. Both of us can’t hope to make it past these two men. More will be coming any second. You have to try to get away, damn it!”
o;No, Rune. You can’t. You won’t heal, not from wounds like this. Not unless you get blood right now.” Her Breed instincts were already responding to the fresh red cells on the ground. Amber light sparked in the blue of her eyes. The tips of her fangs now glinted behind her parted lips. “You need to feed, Rune. The only thing that can heal this is the bond. My blood.”
Even as he growled in denial, everything Breed in him ached for what she offered.
In his heart, in his soul, Carys already was his mate. In all ways except this one. And he wanted it with her more than anything. But not now. Not like this.
He shook his head, scowling furiously. “I’ve never wanted to bond with anyone. Not until you, Carys. I sure as hell never wanted it to happen in this hellish place. With you offering your vein out of worry for me, or, fuck . . . out of pity.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?” Anger gave her voice a sharp edge. “I love you, Rune. And if drinking from me now, in this place—under these fucked up circumstances—saves your life, then I can’t think of any better time or place to do it.”
He blew out a low chuckle in spite of his pain and doubts. “You are a stubborn female.”
“Goddamn right I am. You said you love me.”
“Christ, yes. More than anything in this world.”
“Then drink, Rune.” She didn’t give him another second to refuse.
Bringing her wrist up to her own mouth, she sank her fangs into the flesh. Blood pumped from the twin punctures, red and sweet and powerful.
The fragrance hit his senses more intensely than any drug his father or Opus Nostrum could ever hope to concoct.
He took her hand and forearm in his grasp and lowered his head over her wrist. The instant her blood hit his tongue, the rush of power was so swift and immense, he staggered back as if he’d been punched.
Holy hell.
He’d had no idea what to expect. Nothing could have prepared him for the astonishing roar of liquid energy that coursed down his throat with each hard draw of his mouth. Carys’s strength poured into him, feeding his injured cells and tissues. Nourishing him the way no human’s blood had even come close to doing.
His veins lit up as his bond to her took root.
She had been his from the moment they’d first met.
Now, she was his forever.
He only had to prove to her—and to himself—that he could be worthy of her gift.