Page 103 of Bonded Through Bite

She’s still radiant, glowing colors that remind me of home, but with every gulp, we sense her aura dimming. When that light is gone, so is her essence.

Both vampires crouch on the ground next to her and plead with her to let go. I don’t know why drinking down the bitch is hurting her, but it is. And she’s not stopping, not even when the vampires plead, cajole, and try to order her to let go.

Strong-willed she is, like our mate should be, but this is not good for her.

:Mate. Let go of the bitch now. I order her and press closer to her legs. My lion is exhausted, battered, and unable to change, but we are alive. Alive, thanks to our mate and the blood she gave us.

:Mate! I roar and feel a flicker of response from her. Faint and unfocused, but there. I lick her bloody leg and rumble. :Stop drinking. Now!

:Don’t… order me… around!

Her response is strained, weak, and annoyed. I rumble again. :I won’t as soon as you stop making stupid decisions. Enough!

:Fu-fuck you. I’ll kill her for hurting you. Any of… you.

Ah. What a glorious mate she is.

:Not your mate.

We’ll see about that. For now, I need to help her to get better. To regain her control. If there’s something I know about, it’s loss of control. I’m still ashamed that the loss of my restraint allowed the beast to latch onto her too hard through the bond and cause her pain.

Without hesitation, I act. My teeth sink into her leg, deep and hard, and I hold on. Little pain now will save her from much later. She thrashes, the vampires shout, and I bite down harder.

She screams—and lets go of the bitch’s wrist.

:There now, my sweet mate. That’s better. I soothe her but don’t let go.

As soon as she takes in another breath, she begins to vomit. Foul blood spills from her mouth in great spurts and the vampire supports her head, making sure most of it spills to the ground. The other one is still shouting at me, but I ignore him. He’s not important.

Our mate’s thrashing eases and, gently, I let go of her leg and lick the bite mark clean. Her blood doesn’t taste right; there’s too much of that bitch mixed in, and the lion’s hackles rise. The bear rumbles, but it knows it couldn’t do anything to help right now.

The wolf, however, is ferocious. It thrashes to be free, worried out of its mind about our mate. I try to hold it back to conserve what little energy we have left, but the wolf is not backing down.

With a howl, it breaks free and noses our mate’s hand. When she doesn’t respond, he lifts his head and howls. Our mate doesn’t hear, but others do. The other alpha wolf rouses and I hear even more howls farther away.

There’s a wolf pack running our way.

Chapter Forty-One

Samantha

Howls break through the haze in my mind.

“What?” I choke out, not sure who I’m talking to. Dimly, I register that Santiago is holding my head and Rafael is trying to push his bleeding wrist to my mouth.

I don’t want… can’t drink anything right now. My throat is raw and I keep heaving up Patricia’s blood. Patricia. Where is she? I blink and try to lift my head to see, but there’s no strength left. Another bout of nausea takes over and for a moment, I don’t see, hear, or think anything.

Bone-chilling howls fill the air once I’ve emptied my stomach. Wolves. Lots of them. I think I hear other sounds too, but my mind is too fuzzy to be sure.

:Mate, how are you? Jim butts in and I try to growl at him. :You should feed from the vampire. He continues, ignoring my feeble protests.

I shake my head, trying to clear it. There are too many voices, howls, growls, what-the-fuck-ever filling my head. I can’t make sense of any of it. A massive wolf stands next to me and ignores all of Rafael’s attempts to push it aside. It’s not black like Zack and I blink again.

:Jim?

:Yes, mate?

:Stop that! I’m not your mate.