Page 157 of Eternal Obsession

Alex was panicked.

Ingrid screamed. “Don’t do this!”

I glared at Alex.

Alex begged me with his eyes.

I threw him a wide smile. “It’ll be kinder if you do it. Me, I’m just too damn rough.”

Alex held Ingrid’s chin and with his other hand he covered her mouth. He turned her head toward him, exposing her neck.

“Alex!” I yelled, “For God’s sake, make it quick and put her out of her misery.”

Alex steadied himself. Exposing his fangs, he kissed her neck.

Ingrid struggled.

“No, Alex,” Catherine shouted.

I grabbed Catherine’s arm and held her back from interfering.

Alex reeled as she softened under him. “I’ll protect you.”

Alex struck me hard—knocking me off my feet—but something deeper surged within me. I rose, not with fury, but with force, almost weightless as I flung him high into the air. Time seemed to slow. He crashed down with a violent finality, his skull catching the sharp edge of a monolith. The sound echoed—sickening, hollow—and he fell still, unconscious.

Guilt fluttered in my chest—soft, almost human. But no. This was the moment I had waited for—decades ago. No one would turn me from it now.

I approached the central stone.

“Ingrid,” I said, “Let me bestow this gift. Surrender.” I stroked her hair. “Soon, we’ll be locked together by the sacred blood.”

Chapter Sixty-Three

JADEON

I flew through the night, so fast the air scarcely filled my lungs. My heart raced as I feared what Orpheus was doing with Ingrid at Stonehenge.

Whatever it took, I was ready to face him.

And with thoughts that had no time to settle, I considered how to destroy him. Snowstrom had said that within me lay the power to change everything. With a sense of what had to be done, my heart was heavy.

The stones loomed up, obscuring the horror within. Fabian was correct sensing Ingrid’s danger. Catherine was slumped at one of the pillars. Orpheus had drained her, leaving her weak. It was a terrible sight to see her so fragile.

Our gazes met.

I am here now, I reassured her as best I could.

And then I saw him, my brother laying unconscious at the foot of a stone. “Alex!” I yelled.

Alex stirred enough to keep the dread at bay.

“You’re too late,” Orpheus said, peering over his shoulder at me, leaning over Ingrid, her blood on his lips.

No, this was monstrous. “Orpheus, what is this?” I was horrified. “Get away from her.”

“I will finish this.”

I drew close to Ingrid and squeezed her hand. “I’m here now.”