register all the individuals in the meadow as I look for Saxon. He’s standing twenty feet away from me next to Cheryl and a dragon shifter who looks familiar. Sensing my presence, Saxon glances in my direction, but instead of stepping forward, he collapses face first.
“Saxon!”
I take off, crossing the distance between us as fast as I can. There’s no slowing down when I reach his side. I drop to my knees so fast that it’s another fall. My knees throb, but it’s my heart that’s bleeding. With shaking hands, I turn him over, wincing at the sight of his pale appearance.
“Is he breathing?” Cheryl asks.
“I don’t know.”
My vision is blurry, and I can’t tell if his chest is rising or not. It has been punctured by something rather large. The hole is the size of a fist, which allowed blood to spill freely. If he weren’t a vampire, the wound would have killed him instantly.
“His chest just moved,” the dragon chimes in.
Then I see the slow rise and fall of Saxon’s ribs. Holding him by the shoulders, I shake him. “Saxon, wake up.”
I sense when our group becomes larger, but I don’t dare take my eyes off him to see who joined us.
“He’s on the verge of going into hibernation. He needs blood,” Lucca says in a raspy voice. He must have been screaming at the top of his lungs.
“I haven’t been able to feed him from my vein,” I reply through a choke.
“You’re the only human around. It has to come from you,” Cheryl insists.
She’s right. I reach inside my bag and pull out a small dagger. Without hesitation, I slash my palm and press it against his lips. But he remains unresponsive.
“Come on, Sax. Drink up,” I murmur.
“That’s not enough blood. You have to force it down his throat.” Cheryl crouches next to me.
My hands are shaking so terribly that when I press the blade against my wrist, I’m afraid I’ll end up cutting my hand off. Cheryl reaches over, prying the dagger from me.
“Here. I’ll do it.”
She slits my skin with a swift move, not giving me any chance to pull away. It burns like acid, and when she applies pressure above the cut, the blood that spills out is hot and thick. Droplets fall over Saxon’s lips, dripping down his chin. I force his mouth open, holding the makeshift blood fountain above it.
The seconds seem to tick by slowly until Saxon’s eyes fly open and he gasps loudly. His eyes turn a deep shade of red, and for a moment, I don’t think he recognizes me. I’m wrong.
“Rora, my love.” He lifts his hand to cup my cheek. “You came.”
My face feels warm and wet. Shit, I’m already bawling my eyes out. “Of course I came. You’re my mate. Now stop talking and feed.” I shove my wrist against his mouth.
His fangs pierce my skin, and immediately, the pain from the cut fades away. With each pull, something blooms inside of me. It takes me a moment to understand that the strange feeling is nothing more than the euphoria of connecting with Saxon at a deeper level. My blood is his lifeline.
The sensation doesn’t last long before the magic from the blood vow rears its ugly head and attempts to ruin everything. Once again, I fight for control with every fiber of my being. Saxon needs my blood; I won’t let this stupid decision I made get in the way of helping him.
My head feels light, and suddenly, the world seems to tilt off its axis. The loss of blood combined with the fight I’m waging within me is sapping all my energy. The repel spell is growing inside as I lose the battle against the unwanted magic. In another second or two, the electroshock will zap from my hands, and knock Saxon out. In his current weakened state, I might send him straight into hibernation, which means I might not ever see him again.
With my free hand, I blindly search for a crystal inside my bag. My fingers brush over a few river stones, but a crystal can store more magic, so it will give me a bigger boost. Finally, I touch sharp edges. I curl my fingers around the object quickly, and at once, power rushes through me. The sense of vertigo vanishes, and I can focus on isolating the blood vow magic, keeping it contained until Saxon is done.
Then something peculiar happens. I can’t feel my body anymore, nor hear any sound