Page 87 of Bad Blood Alpha

He was one of them now, and he would avenge them all.

He saw the look on Ragnor’s face change as he felt the power. It poured out of Flynn into him, and he couldn’t hold it. The magic, mixed with love, hit the core of his dark magic and detonated.

Ragnor went up in a column of flame, screaming. His body crumbled under Flynn’s hands, and then he was gone.

Flynn stood for a moment, staring at the piece of black scorched earth where the sorcerer had been.

And then, very slowly, he crumpled to the ground.

Dimly, he heard dragons roaring, flames crackling, guns firing, wolves howling and hellhounds screaming.

After a long time, the sounds of the battle ceased. People gathered around him—he didn’t know who, he couldn’t see. There were just hands and concerned voices. Blood trickled from his ears, his nose, and his internal organs felt like they’d been turned to mush.

Someone called for a healer, but he knew that wouldn’t help. His body was never meant to channel that kind of power. Not without the protections of the unbinding spell. Hell, maybe not even then.

But he’d saved Kira. And the House of Al-Maddeiri, though he’d died doing it. Who knew he’d fulfill that damned oath after all.

He wished he could stick around for the glory.

A huge shadow rushed over him, and then he heard Kira’s voice. “Flynn. Oh my god. Ashley? We need healers!”

Flynn tried to shake his head, but he couldn’t. “Won’t…help,” he said. He tried to keep his eyes open, so he could see her face.

She slapped him, hard. “Oh, no, Lion. Stay awake. You do not get to die on me now.”

“With…you,” he said. “What…a way…to go.”

“Dammit!” she yelled. “Do not give up!”

Never give up. Never say die.

He felt cold metal as she snapped her bracelet around his wrist. She rubbed her hands in her own blood, grabbed his wrists over the bracelets, and said, “On my life and on my honor, I pledge myself to the Lion of Al-Maddeiri.”

What the hell? That was the Oath of the Lion Guard. He was supposed to be giving it to her, not the other way around. Except he was dying…

“With all that I am, and all that I have, I will protect and fight for you and yours. My claws your weapons, my body your shield. My life and my magic, yours, until I die, or the House of Al-Maddeiri is no more.”

She bent and kissed him on the mouth.

The burning stopped. The flow of life force out of him stopped, reversed. Strength and healing flowed from her into him, filling him up.

A golden glow surrounded them, warm as the spring sun, cool as fresh water. It rushed through him, knitting bone and muscle, tingling down nerve endings, healing him from the inside out.

His wounds closed. Then, with a cleansing ripple, all the blood and dirt sloughed off his body, leaving him clean and new.

Holy hell.

He stared up at Kira, fierce and wild and beautiful. “You just pledged yourself to protect me. A binding oath. For life.”

She smiled, and it lit up his heart. “Hell yeah, Lion. Now you’re stuck with me. Sucks to be you.”

He grinned back. “I think I can live with it.” He sat up, looking around at the rows of shifters staring down at him, and beyond them, the aftermath of the battle.

He looked back at Kira. “Any thoughts about moving to Tahiti?”