Page 102 of Bonded Through Bite

I hear her screams in my head.

The shock is almost enough for me to let go, but at the last second, I bite down harder.

Let her scream.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Santiago

Ipush against Patricia’s compulsion as hard as I can. Samantha’s venom tears into her and this time she’s not merely upset. This time she’s hell-bent on killing her prey.

With every gulp she takes, Samantha’s skin turns paler, the whites of her eyes shift to rust red, and she bleeds from her nose. Pain and rage pour through our bond. She’s not going to let go of Patricia. She’s determined to power through the pain and drain her dry.

Patricia blinks in my direction, her eyes pleading for help. Samantha’s venom burns her flesh, but I have no sympathy. I can feel a hint of the agony Samantha is in. One of my arms twitches.

Move, dammit, move.

The shields Patricia has around her come crumbling down. For a second, I get a jumbled mess of her emotions and then the bond between us breaks. The bond between maker and made is gone, just like that. Like it never was.

Impossible.

But just as the bond vanishes, so does the compulsion. I blur to Samantha’s side just as Rafael does. The bloodlust comes out of Samantha in waves and it’s strong enough to override her pain. Override her self-preservation. She’s too young to drain an old vampire like Patricia. The backlash from all the blood will destroy her.

I try to pull her away from Patricia, but she’s not budging.

“Samantha, let go,” I plead.

“Sweetheart, please, stop.” Rafael tries to compel her to no avail.

Patricia lies lifeless on the ground, but Samantha is still drinking from her. I wrap my arms around her, trying to pull her away, but she doesn’t let go. This close, I can see how the veins in Patricia’s arm have turned black from Samantha’s venom.

“Little fangs,” I whisper and smooth Samantha’s hair, “you need to let go. Please.” I keep stroking her cheeks and throat, coaxing her to relax her hold like I did when she bit Rafe. “Just take it easy, Samantha. Let go. I’ve got you. She’s not going to hurt us anymore.”

Her eyes are glazed over, staring but not really seeing me anymore. The lion mewls and crawls closer until he’s pressed against both of us. I’m too worried about Samantha to care. We’ll sort out the rest of it later.

“Samantha, please.” My voice wavers despite my best efforts to keep it calm. I have to get her to release Patricia. Actually, I want to tear Patricia into itty-bitty pieces, but I can’t.

Or can I? If the bond between us is gone, does that mean I can finally bite her head off?

“Sweetheart, you need to stop. You are taking too much of her blood,” Rafael rasps. Samantha ignores him and doggedly keeps drinking despite the pain it’s causing her. “Here, drink mine.” He tears open his wrist and lifts it to Samantha, trying to tempt her to switch.

“Please, drink from Rafe. You like his taste. Let Patricia go.” I think I’m shouting, but I’m not sure. She shudders but doesn’t release her prey.

Bloody tears track down Patricia’s cheeks as Samantha’s venom burns her to ashes from the inside out.

Chapter Forty

Gent

We finally found our mate.

We’ve been searching for her for so long, only to find her in peril. When the vampire bitch attacked her in the woods, my heart stopped for a second. There was no time, I had to throw her out of the way. And then the werewolf attacked.

I thought he was with the blond bitch, trying to harm our mate. It took all my self-control to keep the beast at bay and keep a form I can control.

It was only when the werewolf kept trying to put himself between us and our mate that I realized he was trying to protect her. When the bitch started running away, I had to make a split-second decision to follow her and leave our mate behind with the wolf trying to protect her.

It doesn’t surprise me that our mate has more males drawn to her. She should have many protectors. Although I can’t say that any of them are doing a very good job at the moment. Even we—my beasts and I—are failing her.