Suki’s first thought on finally spotting Tegan on the battlefield?
Her demon was hot!
He cut a brutal path through his enemies, his broadsword a flashing silver arc as he ducked and slashed, felling his opponents with ease. A group of demons from his realm tried to keep up with him, dispatching any poor soul that Tegan left wounded in his wake in his charge to remain at the front of his side.
A side that were storming forwards to meet a force far larger than theirs was.
Her second thought?
The man she loved was in danger.
She had tried to find the witch, but picking her out in the throng of men had been impossible. The only woman she had managed to spot was a black-haired huntress who had been working in breathtaking unison with a huge russet-haired demon.
So she had settled on trying to find Tegan to lure him away from the fight.
She had picked her perch well, a rocky outcrop high on the mountainside above the battle, one that had allowed her to easily scan the fray for demons of the Second Realm.
Tegan hadn’t been difficult to spot.
He towered above the others, his black wings enormous and his horns huge as he fought, the rage he felt echoing in her own blood as she watched him with ever increasing fear.
He had reached the frontline of his side and he hadn’t stopped.
He charged forwards, headlong into the enemy.
Reckless demon.
She had been afraid for what felt like forever, teleporting around the battlefield, seeking the witch. Now she felt strangely calm as she rose to her feet and drew down a deep breath.
Tegan needed her.
She had to at least try to reach him, to test the limits of the spell and see whether she could get within earshot of him. She couldn’t let him fight alone, not even when he obviously wanted to do just that, kept leaving his men behind to surge ahead of them and tackle multiple foes on his own.
She focused on him, her short fangs and claws extending as she drew her courage up from the pit of her stomach and clung to it.
And teleported.
She landed in the middle of the battle over eighty feet from him, shrieked and ducked as her senses screamed at her, narrowly missing the blade that cut above her head and sank into the male it had been intended for as she kicked off into another teleport.
This one had her landing among friendlies, a group of Second Realm demons and some seriously hot elves who all looked at her in astonishment. She disappeared again before they could utter a word, making another attempt to reach Tegan.
Perhaps if she bombarded the spell rapidly enough it would fail.
She kept teleporting, getting dizzy as her fuel tank drained, what little energy she had left from being with Tegan rapidly flowing from her. Every time she landed, she was a little closer to him.
She focused on him again and teleported, a blade slicing through the point where she had been, and landed even closer.
Within forty foot now.
Someone roared. A shiver bolted down her spine and fear flared.
She would know that roar anywhere.
Tegan.
She teleported again, landing in a clearing this time.
Her heart stopped.
Tegan was on his knees just fifty feet from her.
A sword sticking out of his chest.
Numbness swept through her as a huge demon landed in front of him, gripped the blade and pulled it free of his chest.
The whole world fell silent around her.
No.
Blood poured down Tegan’s chest, pumping heavily from the wound, one that had been right in the centre.
Over his heart.
The demon lifted his blade, taking aim.
Tegan blankly looked at his foe.
Acceptance and regret on his handsome face.
“No!” Suki shrieked as tingles rushed over her arms and down her spine.
She teleported, putting every last drop of her energy into it, fighting the damned spell that was keeping her from her mate.
From the man she loved.
She crashed out of it right next to him, her fear rising as she realised it was because he was bleeding out, the spell that had been placed on him flowing out of him together with his life.
She turned on a pinhead and shoved her hands against the arm of the demon as he brought it around, stopping him from slicing Tegan’s head off.
The demon snarled at her.
Suki hissed and leaped on him, wrapped her arms and legs around him as he staggered backwards.
And kissed him.
Energy flowed into her. Life.
A gift she would give to her mate once this bastard was dead. He would pay with his life for what he had done, attempting to take Tegan from her. She had never wanted to kill anyone through feeding, but good gods, she wanted to kill this man.
She kissed him deeper as he struggled, his movements slowing as the rate of his energy pouring into her increased. Dizziness swept through her, power welling in every fibre of her being as her fuel gauge went right past the white line, shattering the needle.
As the flow of energy dropped to a trickle, she nimbly leaped away from him to land on her feet beside him as he crumpled to his knees. She glared at him as he fell to the ground, hissed and levelled a hard kick at his head once he was down.
Dead.
She turned and froze.
“Tegan.”
She hurried to him where he lay on the ground in a pool of his own blood, wrapped her arms around him and teleported him back to the garrison.
The rush of activity in the courtyard ground to a halt.
“I need help!” She looked around at all the faces of the elves and the demons, desperation gripping her as they all stared at her, shock shining in their eyes. “Fucking help me!”
Tears streamed down her cheeks, hot against her skin, and splashed onto Tegan as she looked down at him. His heart beat weakly in her ears, ripping at her strength, tearing pieces of her soul away to leave her cold inside.
A woman stopped near her, a pretty brunette wearing a T-shirt and jeans that were caked with blood.
“Let’s get him inside.” The woman signalled to the men and three elves marched forwards, setting aside their weapons. Suki clung to Tegan when they tried to move him and he groaned, his face twisting in a grimace, and more blood oozed from the wound in the centre of his chest. She hissed at the elves. The woman crouched beside her, placed her hand on her shoulder, and smiled in that way only doctors could. “I’m Olivia. I’m a medic here. We have to move him and get him stable.”
Suki nodded shakily, but refused to let the elves take him from her. When they lifted Tegan, she remained holding on to him, helping them carry his dead weight into the infirmary. The beds that had been laid out inside the garrison’s lower floor were full, several elves and demons tending to those who occupied them.
Olivia led the way to a bed, quickly changed the stained sheets and stepped aside to allow the elves access to it. They placed Tegan down onto it and Olivia drew up a chair. When she placed it beside Suki, Suki looked up at her.
The woman smiled. “I figure you’ll want to stay. I don’t recognise you, but I know him, and I’m guessing he needs you here more than he needs me. You’re his mate, aren’t you?”
She looked back at Tegan and nodded. “I can help.”
Before Olivia could ask how, Suki leaned over Tegan and pressed her lips to his. He didn’t respond, his mouth remaining slack against her, but then he didn’t need to. She funnelled some of the energy she had taken from the demon into him.
He groaned.
She pulled back and stroked his cheek as fear swept through her again, a wave that battered her strength and had more tears falling. “Don’t die. Dammit, Tegan, don’t you die on me.”
The corners of his lips twitched, and he opened his eyes with effort, locking them on her.
The pain must have made him crazy, because he was on the verge of slipping away from her and he was smiling at her.
“You said… my name,” he croaked and grimaced. “I thought…”
She seized his hand, clasping it tightly. “Whatever you thought, you thought wrong. I can’t lose you. I never knew you were a king, and while I had wanted to prove myself to my clan by seducing you… things changed so quickly. This was never a game to me. The stakes were too high from the moment you kissed me.”
He frowned and wheezed as he breathed, his heart stuttering and tugging more tears from her. “What… did you stake?”
She blinked and those tears chased down her cheeks to fall from her jaw. “My heart, and I lost it to you.”
He smiled, but it was strained, and doubts coloured his black eyes. The corona of violet-red around his dilated pupils glowed brighter and he grunted, squeezed her hand so tight as his jaw tensed that she flinched in pain.
She leaned in close, desperation seizing her again. “Live. Don’t be a stupid demon and think dying on a battlefield is the right way to go when living is a much more glorious adventure… one we could share. I’ll give you a reason to fight this battle against death and emerge victorious… a reason to believe me when I say that it was never a game… I’ll give you proof of my love for you.”
She dropped her head to his ear, careful to avoid his horns, and whispered her true name in his ear, surrendering all power to him.
When she drew back, his eyes were wide, searching hers, and he had to see the love in them and that she had spoken true because his heart beat harder and his expression grew determined.
“Give me one more thing,” he mumbled, his voice hoarse as he struggled to breathe.
She nodded. “Anything to bring you back to me.”
“Your blood.”
She knew what that would do. It would bind them and he would have the ultimate power over her.
But it would also make him stronger and give him a reason to fight.
So she didn’t hesitate.
She gathered her tangled colourful hair and drew it back from her neck, baring it to him. His eyes watered, warmed as he gazed up at her, love shining in them as she offered her blood.
Offered him forever.
She gently angled his head as she brought hers down, slipped her hand beneath his nape and raised him to her throat. Pain arced through her as his fangs sank into her and she expected it to continue, but as he pulled on her blood and it rushed into him, heat erupted in her, forged a connection that felt as strong as iron.
Unbreakable.
Feelings swept through her, her emotions and his. Fear. Pain. Hope. Love. It all collided and blended as he drank from her, as her strength flowed into him in another way, a gift of life she hoped would keep him with her.
She shivered as he pulled his fangs free and swept his tongue over the puncture marks, her head a little hazy as desire and fear swept her up and pulled her down.
She drew back and stilled.
Tingles rushed down her spine and over her arms.
She could see through the shadows.
Beautiful, tear-jerking colours swirled in his aura, shimmers of pink, gold and red.
Revealing the depth of his love.
She clutched his right hand as his eyes slipped shut and her momentary elation shattered as his cheeks paled again, the colours of his aura dimming as he sagged heavily on the bed.
She turned her gaze on the doctor.
Another female, this one a petite blonde in the unmistakable garb of a witch bustled over to them and ushered Olivia out of the way.
The witch huffed and scowled down at Tegan, her blue eyes sparkling as power rose around her. “You were meant to realise you were a dick and then I would lift the spell. You didn’t need to bleed it out of you, silly demon.”
Suki wasn’t sure what to make of her, but what the witch muttered next had her blood blazing.
“No naked wrestling for me.”
Suki shot to her feet, leaned protectively over Tegan and hissed at the blonde. “This demon is mine. Find your own man, witch.”
The woman blinked. “Witch with a capital B again. I’ve heard that before. Oh, and I’m happily mated. I just wanted to see him wrestle my husband for the cure. It was going to be epic.”
Heat rolled through Suki, fogging her mind as desire swelled inside her.
Tegan wrestling another guy while naked?
Oh gods, yes please!
She shook herself back to the room before she started drooling. Tegan was awake again and looking more than a little unhappy, his black eyebrows knitted hard above his pain-filled eyes.
“Your eyes are glowing,” he croaked. “Will not wrestle… the elf. Do not… want… your eyes… on anyone else.”
Fine. No watching him wrestle another guy while naked. Anything to make him happy. She would settle for imagining it.
She stroked her fingers across his brow, clearing the damp strands of his black hair from it as she held his gaze, willing him to heal. With the potent cocktail of her energy and blood in him, he was looking brighter and the wound was no longer bleeding.
He was going to make it.
He suddenly jacked up off the bed on a deafening roar, squeezing her hand so tightly that a few bones in it broke, but she didn’t feel it.
All she felt was fear as Tegan thrashed, blood streaming from the corners of his lips to track down his cheeks, and Olivia and the witch rushed to help him.
Because she hadn’t been able to.
She had given him everything, and it wasn’t enough.
Her ears rang, the numbness returning as she stared at Tegan as Olivia raced to assess the wound and the witch closed her eyes and held one hand over his forehead and the other over his chest, a faint violet glow emanating from her palms.
Suki stared at Tegan, willing him to keep fighting.
He had to fight for her.
For them.
She touched the marks on her throat that were still bleeding and sore.
Because she wanted that forever he had just promised her.