to keep healing him,” I insist, but when I scramble to my feet and turn around, I see Vudu already standing.
“You gave me plenty,” Vudu tells me. “No more. I don’t want you feeling weak.
“I don’t,” I reply, and I’m surprised to find that my answer is completely honest. Considering the amount of magic and blood I just gave him, I’m shocked at how good I feel. I don’t feel drained. In fact, I feel invigorated.
My eyes flick over Vudu assessingly, but as if he knew I would need visual evidence, he already has his shirt untucked and lifted. My gaze widens when I see that his horrible wound is completely gone. All that remains is the large amount of his blood that’s now drying against his gray skin.
“You sure you’re okay?” I ask, because I need to hear him confirm it.
“I’m okay, little mate,” he says. And then he just completely ruins me, because he takes a step forward and gets on his knees right there in front of me, pressing his forehead against my legs as he holds my hands in his. “You are...everything,” he rumbles, his voice heavy with emotion.
I’m so shocked by his presence at my feet that I can’t even speak or move.
“You saved my life and Toreon’s,” he says in reverence before his head lifts up so his eyes can seek out mine. “You are good. You are strong. You are everything we never knew we could have. And I would be deeply honored to call you my mate, to guard you and your heart as if it were my own, to hunt happiness for the rest of our days together. If you will have me.”
Now tears are falling from my eyes for completely different reasons. How such a beautiful and perfect connection with him and Toreon could’ve come from the horror of our time with Morax, I’ll never know. But I’m not going to disrespect it by questioning why. I’ll just whisper my thank-yous to the universe and gladly open my arms to all the possibilities.
With a gentle tug on Vudu’s hands, he follows my cue and stands up. He towers over me, and I find I like the way he makes me feel so fragile and small and yet utterly protected all at the same time. I reach up, and he bends down so I can throw my hands around his neck and bury my face against him. “Right back at you, big guy,” I whisper, and he wraps his arms around my waist and holds me like I’m all that matters in the world.
“That was fucking incredible,” I hear Delta say with awe and happiness spilling from her tone. I pull back to look at her.
“You have some good eggs there, Sable,” Medley teases, but her eyes are filled with love and tears, and my sisters’ support makes my throat feel tight and my heart feel full. “As much as I wish we could stay down here…” Medley blows out a breath as she wipes her cheeks while Vudu gently sets me back down on my feet.
“We have a party to crash,” Delta finishes, and I work to set my emotions aside and ready myself for what comes next.
I look around the room, because other than a still passed out Shateel, we’re the only ones here.
“We could run,” Toreon says, and I turn to look at him.
“We could,” I agree, and I see my sisters both make contemplative frowns, because Toreon’s right. No one is here to stop us. The tunnel is still open. We could slip off our cuffs and run away from Morax right now.
But...just because we can run away, doesn’t mean we should.
I meet Delta’s and Medley’s eyes. “We can take a vote, but we need to decide fast,” I tell them, because now that I have Toreon and Vudu, I get the whole mate thing. I can only imagine how gutted they are, being separated from theirs. I wouldn’t blame them if they wanted to flee.
“We can go down the tunnel, scythe whoever gets in our way, and get somewhere that isn’t blocked so we can shift out. We can get to our mates and hide,” Delta says before pausing. “Or...we can stay. We keep the upper hand and use all of this against Morax. Because if we run now, Morax will know his compulsion didn’t work. He’s not just going to stop coming for us, and who knows what will be in store for us in