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My heart broke into a thousand pieces, finally understanding the situation. Gods, I had only wanted him to choose me. I never imagined the thing standing between us would be death. I swallowed down the lump in my throat, ignoring the sting in my eyes. “There’s nothing that could bring him back?”

“No.”

“What about me? I’m his mate. Surely, I can help stop this.”

Callan shrugged. “I have no insight into how your comfort may help him. Your blood, however…”

My eyes blew wide.

Colt beat me to it. “Her blood?”

Callan’s eyes gleamed; it was clear he took great pleasure knowing what he would say next. “If you are his fated mate, yours is the only blood he will want.”

His words made me turn deathly cold. A shiver climbed my spine. My nipples formed tight peaks, and I had no clue why. What in all fuck? “My blood,” I said aloud, as if I needed to hear the words again.

A single nod. “A fated mate’s blood to a vampire is like ecstasy to the heart. If he can control himself, you will be all he needs to survive.”

My eyes veered to Colt, then to Tyler. They stood uncomfortably, taking in this new information. I tried to speak, but nothing came out again. Silent syllables clung to me like the handcuffs on Reid’s wrists. Guilt slid into my veins, knowing that, if I hadn’t been so selfish, destroying that botanical for my benefit, he wouldn’t be here.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know,” I whispered, and gods, I meant it. I could no longer hold back the tears, and they streamed down my face. I swiped them away, but more replaced them, leaving a salty residue on my lips.

I reached for his hand, and the cold metal hit my fingers. Wrapping my hand around his anyway, I gave it a squeeze.

“I’m not leaving,” I whispered.

Even if you become someone else.

Even if you hate me. Even if it’s my fault.

He refused to look at me, and I released his hand, backing up against the wall. Sinking to the ground, I tucked my knees into my chest, staring at the man I trusted with my heart. Every inch of me ached, because I loved him so much. I always had. Seeing him with his hands chained, fighting the venom inside him, shattered my insides, my limbs dissolving at the sight before me. I’d never felt so broken. So stupid. So useless.

Covering my eyes with my hands, I sobbed, feeling another presence sit beside me. An arm slid around my shoulders, but it did nothing to taper the emotion tearing from my chest. This was all because of me. I had done this. There was no sugarcoating it.

I’d screwed up catastrophically.

I sat there for what seemed like hours, but it could have been minutes for all I knew. Cold seeped through my pants, hinting at the time passed, but still I waited. As long as it took, whatever the outcome, I would be here when he woke up.

Reid

Pain radiated throughout me, leaving me unable to move or speak. My magic blazed through my veins on a single path toward my heart, wrapping itself around it like a shield. It fought to keep the venom at bay, protecting me from the inevitable. From becoming a vampire.

Time became a battlefield, two forces battling within me. One of protection, one of decay. The beat of my heart, the bullseye, the sole target.

Voices drifted in and out like speech bubbles on a comic page. I had to concentrate on each one singularly, but my mind was too slow to play catchup before the page flipped.

I didn’t feel the change in my pulse until it was barely there. Too slow. Slower. It dragged me under like a riptide hidden beneath the water, not letting me surface, and I was powerless to fight it.

As my heartbeat faded, the memory of that night surfaced. One I’d spent years trying to forget. Callan walked toward me with blood smeared over his face like paint on the Joker. His smirk was just as cruel. He had been a vampire high on blood, roaming the streets looking for his next delicacy. I’d been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Intoxicated myself, I hadn’t stood a chance when I spoke to him with a sharp tongue. Turns out, vampires don’t take criticism well.

The bite had been excruciating. Nothing like Callan had described back at his estate. His teeth had punched through my skin like molten iron, and I’d screamed until my throat bled. Maybe it was only pleasurable when willingly received.

The dull thud in my chest became quieter, the ache in my limbs dissipating until silence engulfed me. The ache disappeared. Then the cold. Then the fear. Was this what it was like to die?

Surely not. Because there was nothing. No light beaming at me from a distance. No replays of my life flashing before my eyes. Only a hollow silence that wouldn’t fill with sound or presence. An emptiness.

It stayed like that until it didn’t.

Until another heartbeat echoed throughout the darkness. Strong. Steady. Familiar. Hers.