AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterTwenty-Five
SAVANNAH
The moment Donovan’s sharp fangs penetrated my neck, everything changed.
Something dragged me under, my mind traveling away from the pain of the bite. Cyan strands of light blinded me, but I was reassured by his hands, his closeness crashing through any doubts that lingered.
My vision left reality and fed into something deeper and I blinked against the image forming—one of a crossroads, bordered with flowers as red as rubies.
One road led to a desolate land. Shadows hid among trees, crooked and barren, resembling clawed hands, calling forth their next victim. The other direction promised sunshine and rainbows, swirling into animation: cartoon-like, perfect.
Something called to me, yanking me toward the crossroads. My mind aimed for the rainbows, but my heart sang for the barren land.
A bunny sprouted from the ground of the pretty path, offering me a candy apple. I licked my lips at the sugary treat, ready to follow it to the rainbows. But I sensed only loneliness beyond the colors, only half of myself existing there, starving in a tower as Donovan lay dying behind a shadowed man’s hand.
“No!” I screamed, throwing down the candy apple against the emerald grass. I broke off into a run, fleeing into the crooked trees of the barren pathway. Fear hung off my back like a wringing wet cloak, but the wails of pain gave me purpose, and I followed, racing through the dark shadows and broken branches.
Breaking through the final hedge, I staggered to a stop to see a wolf and a raven perched at the edge of the brook. They said nothing—the bird standing at the wolf’s side. The raven squawked and the wolf howled. They shimmered, somehow, shape-shifting into humans; the wolf as a man, and the raven as a woman. They laughed together, helping one another over the stepping-stones of the brook.
A broad smile grew on my face at the sight of it. They looked happy, their shadows suddenly turning into a vision of me and Donovan. We became one with the sun, merging with another image. A vision of Donovan’s cabin.
I stood there, painting onto a canvas outside, smudges of paint smeared on my hands, a little on my cheek. I wore a white shirt, and shorts, humming away as I painted.
The image turned to show my profile and I gasped. My stomach was huge and round with pregnancy. I looked close to the end of my term, a slump to my shoulders, tired, but my eyes glowing with happiness.
Donovan came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my belly. The look of adoration on his face made me want to weep with something so deep and profound taking hold. In the vision, we kissed, and I found home.
“Savannah,” Donovan whispered, but it wasn’t from the man in front of me. No. It came from somewhere else. Somewhere that had the vision spinning and my eyes blinking open to feel Donovan licking the blood free from my neck.
Groggily, I turned to him. He cupped my face. “Say you are mine,” he whispered, holding me close. I grew limp and heavy, a tear sliding down my cheek.
I whispered, “I’ll be yours if you say you’re mine.”
“Always,” he growled, lifting me in his arms so effortlessly. I let him, my limbs jello, unable to move.
He carried me inside and to the bathroom adjoining his bedroom. Laying me across his lap, he turned on the faucet to the grand tub, the steam from the hot water filling the room.
I wasn’t sure if my weakness was from the blood loss, having no clue what had happened while seeing those things in my mind, or from something else entirely. I had no choice but to depend on him as he held me in his arms.
“Let me look after you, sweetheart,” he soothed. “The mating is hard at first. Your body is adjusting to my blood.”
“Your blood?” I murmured.
“Yes. You had to take in my blood as part of the mating. Just a little,” he smiled at my face. “I bit my finger so you could take it from me. You sucked on it? Don’t you remember?”
I gave a slight shake of my head. That much I could do. He chuckled.
“It took every bit of strength I had to pull it out of your mouth,” he continued. “You took it easily enough. I felt it the second we connected. When our life forces melded.”
My brow furrowed, the water continuing to splash into the tub beside us. He explained further, “You’ll age slowly. Heal faster from illness. Same with injuries. Your neck will only take a few hours to heal as opposed to days. But a scar will remain because of the claiming. It marks the skin.”
I raised an eyebrow, unable to find the right words. He smiled.
“It’s a mark, two tiny dots, to remind us and others that you’re taken. That’s all.”
Trying to sit up, I failed, so I resolved to rest my head in the crook of his arm. “Where’s your mark?” I mumbled.
He laughed. “I’ll get one if you want. A tattoo. You can design it for me.”
