Page 42 of Bonded Through Bite

“How can she be this… lucid?”

“I’m not sure,” Rafael replies and pulls the blanket tighter around Samantha.

He’s quiet for so long I’m starting to think he’s done talking, but then he lifts his eyes to meet mine. He looks pleadingly at me and my throat tightens.

“I had to make a split-second decision, San. And I wasn’t sure the venom reached her heart in time.” He strokes Samantha’s hair and clutches her closer. “She transformed slowly, way too slowly. She was under with my venom for ten months.”

I choke at that, but Rafael continues.

“Then another month after she had my blood.”

“That’s way too long,” I whisper hoarsely.

“I know. But that’s not all.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Her best friend is a witch.”

I snarl before I have time to think and Samantha frowns in her sleep, shifting uncomfortably. “Sorry,” I mouth at Rafael, who soothes her back to deeper sleep.

Once she settles, he continues in a low whisper. “A powerful one. She stopped time for those few seconds so I could bite Samantha.”

“Oh, so nothing big. Just casually stopping time.” I can’t help the sarcasm dripping from my voice. Rafael flashes a quick smile.

“Visions too.”

“Fucking hell. What have you gotten tangled into, angel?” The old nickname slips free, but he shrugs it off.

“Anyway, that’s why I was out of the house, taking care of a couple of things. I didn’t expect her to wake up until spring. There were no signs of that and Thea saw her awake among spring flowers. I was ready to wait several more months for the transformation to be complete.”

I clear my throat. “I hate to break this to you, Rafael, but you have a magical garden in your backyard. I bet there’s a patch of spring flowers blooming right now.”

The way his eyes widen makes it really hard not to burst into laughter. He shakes his head and rubs his temples, suddenly looking exhausted.

“You really haven’t been sleeping,” I murmur. “And it seems you might not have been eating enough either. Where do you keep the blood?”

“She’ll wake up,” he protests, and I let it go… for now.

“She was out of it for almost a year?” I ask to make sure I got that part right. I’ve never heard of such a slow transformation. “Anything over a few months usually ends with⁠—”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Rafael grumbles and Samantha stirs in his arms, so he quickly lowers his voice. “I kept watch over her day and night, Santiago. Counted every breath, every heartbeat, until there was nothing to count and she still didn’t wake up.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmur, getting a flash of his emotions overflowing in our withered bond. He hasn’t lost control like that since he himself was a very young changeling. “But she’s awake now. Beautiful and fully transformed.”

“I’m not so sure about that. We don’t get sick, but she’s had several incidents. What… what if her transformation didn’t complete like it should have?”

“That’s…” I trail off. She doesn’t feel incomplete to me, but she also should be healthy unless intentionally harmed. And that brings my brain online and I curse softly. “Patricia. When she finds out about Samantha, she’s going to rip her to shreds.”

“Why do you think I’ve had you tracking her crazy ass?” Rafael hisses back.

I rear back, eyes dropping to Samantha and then locking with Rafael. “Four years. You met her then?”

He nods.

“But you only turned her a year ago.” Again, he nods, mouth pinched to keep him from flashing his fangs at me. I have no reservations like that and I let mine out with a growl. “Are you crazy?”

“Fuck you.”