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Pain erupted in my chest. Maybe her words had really only been to get me chained to that bed. Maybe I had been just a means to an end.
“I’ll keep her protected,” I promised.
“Yo. Sixteen,” Ransom said slowly.
“Two years are nothing when you’ve already lived a few thousand.” He took one last look at Daphne.
She blinked rapidly, her lips parting.
Xavier vanished.
“I hate when he does that,” Ransom mumbled.
“Alek called. The Sons retreated at the school about ten minutes ago,” Hawke said, putting his phone in his back pocket. “Two teachers dead. All the kids made it.”
My shoulders sagged. Two more lives lost.
“We need to get back to the estate.” I looked at Valor. Her face was contorted with pain, kicking my instincts into full gear. “Ransom, take Daphne to the Residence. Hawke, leave a squad here to secure the facility and call Patrick to bring in humans for the daylight hours. Get Avi home.”
Hawke nodded.
“Can you walk?” I asked Valor as the others hurried to make arrangements.
She nodded and stumbled forward.
“Fuck.” I caught her against my chest, then held her close, inhaling her scent, telling myself that she’d made it. “We have to get you outside.”
I led her slowly to the entrance, and the second we walked into the night air, my powers returned. My heart steadied. My mind cleared. My blood roared for the woman in my arms.
“Oh, God, Lachlan,” Valor’s fingers fumbled at my chest. “You were shot.”
“Vest. We upgraded when the Order took their ammunition game to the next level.” I leaned to the side slightly, examining her arm. “Valor, I think your shoulder is dislocated.”
“I know it is,” she grumbled. “That’s what you want to talk about?”
“That’s all I’m capable of handling without screaming at you,” I admitted. “We have two options here. I can take you to Gabriel and he can set and splint it. You’re looking at a six-week recovery if you don’t need surgery.”
“Option number two?” She tilted her head to look up at me, and I nearly kissed her.
Then I remembered the iron chains.
“I can give you a mouthful or two of my blood, and it will heal on the spot. Not enough for a transfer or anything.” The offer was just as gruff as my feelings. She may have come to have feelings for me, but I knew she was still wary of what I was. “You can accept what I offer or not, Valor. Those are your options.”
“Lachlan, I know you’re mad—”
“Heal now or heal at Gabriel’s?” I interrupted. Fuck, I loved this woman, had given everything I had to her, and she still wouldn’t accept it—wouldn’t accept me.
“Now,” she whispered. “But I know we need to talk—”
I unsheathed my dagger with the ease of hundreds of years of practice, and sliced open a small cut on my wrist, then sheathed the dagger and put it to her lips before she could finish her sentence.
She gasped, her lips parting. Then her eyes widened as my blood flowed freely into her mouth.
My entire body clenched. I wanted to know her thoughts, her feelings, wanted to be deep inside her in every way possible. My cock swelled.
She sucked once. Twice. Her throat worked as she swallowed.
This was exactly how it was supposed to be between mates. One provided for the other. They lived through each other, sharing their very life forces. They trusted. They leaned into each other when necessary. They loved.
A growl sounded low in my chest at the feel of her lips at my wrist, knowing it was my life that would heal her.
She swallowed again.
“That’s enough,” I whispered, breaking the contact and lifting my wrist to my own mouth. I drew my tongue over the cut, and it sealed shut, leaving only a faint, pink line that would disappear in seconds.
“Lachlan.” Valor lifted her fingers to her mouth, and I barely bit back a moan when she swiped a tongue over the bottom lip…as if she liked the taste of me.
You have to be quick. “This is going to hurt.” I gripped her arm and steadied my hand on her waist, then popped the shoulder back into place.
Valor cried out, falling against my chest.
“Just count. One. Two. Three,” I murmured against the top of her head. “No more pain, right?”
She looked up at me in shock. “None. It’s…” She rotated the joint. “It’s mended!”
“I’m glad one thing is,” I said.
Her face fell.
“Let’s go.” I pulled her against me and wended out, hoping the icy bite of the between would cool my temper before we appeared at the Residence.
It didn’t.
20
Valor
“Thank you,” Daphne said, taking the mug of hot tea from me. She eyed the liquid inside it a little longer than necessary, and I huffed out a laugh as I sank into the plush chair opposite her.
“It’s not blood,” I said, raising my brows at her across the small round table. Alek and Lyric had graciously given her a room near mine.
