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Gabbyshotupinbed, drenched in a cold sweat, her breaths coming in shallow gasps. She looked down and touched her chest. Nothing. No blood. No sword sticking out of it. The phantom pain lingered from the dream. A scar, about two inches long over her heart, remained from her death. Her conversion into a vampire could not erase the evidence of the blow that ended her mortal life.
Through their bond, Gabby sensed Felix was awake. He rushed toward her at a breakneck pace. His deep pain of loss that hadn’t diminished over the centuries was a punch to her gut.
She didn’t move from her spot when he arrived. When he saw her, the oppressive weight over her chest lightened. His despair. His regret.
“I needed to see you,” he said, his anguish tearing up her insides.
She threw back the covers, slid out of bed, and glided over to him. When she put a hand on his handsome face, he leaned into her touch. Other than the time she’d died, she’d never seen Felix vulnerable. He’d always been indomitable. Domineering. Unstoppable.
Never vulnerable.
“I’m here.” As she said that, it occurred to her in their time together, they had never discussed her death.
He’d turned her into a vampire to save her life. They had left Italy for his stronghold in Eastern Europe and began their new lives, but neither of them had brought up her death or the scars it left on their psyche.
Her heart had stopped beating, and so had his.
She placed her hand over his heart, listening to its strong and steady beat. How many times had she taken comfort in that beat? In his steadfastness? In his strength?
Too many to count.
She didn’t blame him for turning her. She hadn’t been ready to die before she’d truly lived. Being a vampire had given her power and freedom she’d never imagined as a human.
When he had tried to curtail that freedom, she’d rebelled.
Her death hadn’t just impacted her. At the time, Gabby hadn’t realized its profound impact on Felix in her giddiness to explore her new strength. He had never said anything, never brought it up. She’d thought they had both moved on.
Except he hadn’t.
A whirling vortex of emotions pulsed out of him. Grief. Regret. Before she untangled it all, his walls came down. The agony emanating from him lessened as he reined it all back in like he always did, never allowing her to bear any of his burdens.
Locking her gaze with his tortured ones, she demanded, “Stop hiding it from me. I can take it.”
His lids shuttered, his expression closing off from her. She whirled away from him in angry strides, her fists balling at her sides.
Damn it. When would he let her in?
She could keep pushing. Keep pounding at his walls until they broke. Until he could no longer hide anything from her.
Something exploded above them, jolting her out of her spinning thoughts. Her gaze snapped to the window. Glass rained down from above. A figure dropped past, too fast for Gabby to recognize.
Bang. Bang. Bang. More glass shattering. Screams and shouts from somewhere below.
A vampire tumbled down from the sky, his wings full of holes.
Julian? She wasn’t sure.
What’s happening?
The vulnerability and softness gone as though she’d imagined it, Felix was all business when he opened a three-way telepathic channel to Marek.
Silence. One second. Two. More chaos erupted around them. Gabby dashed into her closet and changed into an open-backed blouse, trousers, and boots.
Marek finally responded.Leah’s been kidnapped. Julian is in pursuit and is requesting backup. We need to save her before they escape Vegas’ shield boundaries.
What? Kidnapped?
Hunters? But how? How did those humans get into the Central Tower? And why Leah? Only vampires knew Leah was Julian’s mate and no vampire would tell the Hunters. The mating bond wasn’t something their race advertised to humans for this exact reason.
