Chanting louder and faster, she watched the demon twitch, its arms and legs and belly shuddering. She lifted the axe high into the air and watched the demon’s grey, ugly face.
“Don’t ever fuck with a Bellum sister.”
Then she let the axe fall. It caught the demon’s thick neck severing it in two. The demon’s twitches stopped completely. Green blood drenched the white snow.
Chloe dropped the axe and stepped away. Her knees shaking and smacking together, her heart, she realized was racing at unsafe levels. Tyrian!
She spun and saw him, still unmoving in the snow. She skidded on her knees to him.
“Baby, are you okay? Wake up, please be okay,” she cried, hot tears spilling down her cold cheeks.
She heard a low, harsh groan and pressed her ear to his chest. She felt it lift with air and started crying more.
“Don’t die on me now, Tyrian. Not after all the progress I’ve made with you. I love you so much. Please don’t die!”
His eyes fluttered. She wiped away her tears so she could see better. His eyes found hers, his hazy and dull.
“Blood, blood. Take mine! Take it now, dammit!” His eyes perked up at her voice and she shoved her wrist against his mouth. His mouth moved slowly like a babe’s. His lips pressing weakly against her skin. He never gained purchase though, didn’t have the energy to bite down.
Pulling down his chin with her thumb, she saw his fangs were down. Hoping that was a good sign, she braced herself then jammed her wrist into his mouth. She felt her skin break—not easily or smoothly like when he did it, but she didn’t care. What mattered was that it worked.
His tongue dabbed at her so weakly that tears started falling again. Please don’t die.
Please don’t die. Minutes passed.
Slowly, like a hurt animal finally getting up to walk, his lips closed around her wrist and he sucked. She half-laughed, half-cried, and bent down to press kisses along his temple and forehead. He took and took, then eventually pulled her wrist away.
Chloe waited for him to say something, waited to see his eyes open again with alertness.
And his eyes did open, clear and beautiful blue.
“Chloe.” His voice was harsh and low. She loved it. She cried and hugged him close and his arms came tightly around her.
She didn’t realize she was saying his name repeatedly until she heard his voice telling her it was all right. Everything was okay.
“I love you, Chloe.” Chloe jerked back, disbelief masking her face. He frowned at it and rubbed his thumb across her lips. “I do. I hope you believe me because today you made me realize how stupid I’ve been. You were right.”
Chloe didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry. So she did a little of both and ended up snorting in a very unladylike way. His lips pulled into a big, gorgeous smile.
“Really? Is this what it takes for you to realize it?”
He looked away, color coating his cheeks. “Actually, I realized it days ago. Not seeing you for these past days has been one of the hardest and stupidest things I’ve ever done. I kept thinking about you, smelling you wherever I went, and I kept thinking about how much I missed having you in my bed. I missed hearing you talk. I missed your voice. I was so terrified when you told me you loved me, because I realized that...I felt it too. And it scared the shit out of me.”
Chloe pressed kisses over his face. “It’s okay. I understand. I love you, too. Now let’s go finish this battle.”
Tyrian lifted his head to look behind her and smiled. “Looks like it’s already taken care of.” They both stood, their arms wrapped around each other’s waist and Chloe’s brow lifted high as she saw dozens of Atal Warriors marching towards them.
“Is something wrong?” she whispered. He didn’t look down at her but shook his head no.
The warriors stopped ten paces away and dropped to one knee. In a second, their
weapons swung out, held out towards her. Chloe squeezed herself against Tyrian’s side. Her heart thundered in her chest, her jaw fell open.
“They offer their allegiance to you for defeating the demon. You have claimed this
victory,” Tyrian said, pride lacing his words.
Wetness escaped down her cheeks. Chloe blinked, surprised, at the tears coming down.
She didn’t want to ruin this precious moment. Unsure what to do or what to say, Chloe straighter, lifted her chin, then nodded to the crowd. “Thank you, warriors. I’m honored.”
At once, the men raised their weapons high in the air shouting “hoo! hoo! hoo!”
Goose bumps broke out over Chloe’s arms and she felt that silly need to cry again.
Honored, she felt honored. The men sheathed their weapons with a hiss of sound, then stood and retreated to the castle. She nodded to them with a tremulous smile and hoped they couldn’t hear how fast her heart was galloping.
It was then that Chloe gasped. “Wow. What a mess.” Half the castle was in ruins with destroyed walls and parapets. The front of the castle was littered with demon bodies and green blood. She was thankful to find that she didn’t spot any Atal Warrior’s on the ground.
Tyrian laughed. “War is never clean.”
“Tyrian, I need to see my sister.” Chloe’s urge was so strong that she started walking ahead of him, but he grabbed her and lifted her into his arms.
“I’ll take you but you shouldn’t walk. You have a wound at your side. I’ll have Nanu take care of it straight away.”
Chloe pulled his head down and kissed him good and hard. Then she let her vampire man carry her back to the castle.
Chapter Thirty
Henry came to and had no idea where the hell he was. A gorgeous face appeared above him and his heart instantly twisted. He opened him mouth to speak, to ask what had happened.
That last thing he remembered was taking a sword through his chest. Normally, it might not have hurt him so badly, but the demon’s blade was forged from a metal that hurt other demons. A metal only crafted deep within the rift.
Half-breed filth, the words came back to taunt him.
“You were poisoned and the wound went clear through you, but I was able to fix you up.
You should be able to move around freely within a few days.” Nanu’s accented voice fluttered over him like a butterfly.
Henry nodded and closed his eyes. It hurt too much to look at her.
“Henry...warrior, I know you are angry with me but I wish to speak with you. I need to tell you why I did it.” Henry shook his head. He tried to lift his body but he couldn’t move a damn muscle. Fucking pathetic.
“No.”
“Please just hear me out, I beg you.” She sounded so sweet, so innocent...he could refuse her nothing. He slowly nodded even knowing she’d only say something to hurt him worse.
“I left after that night because my brother, Heru, came for me.” Henry’s gaze shot to hers.
Nodding slowly, she continued, “He pulled me from the room and made me promise never to see you again or he’d kill you.”
Henry blinked. His mind spinning. “You should have told me. Heru could never best me in a fight.”
She looked away and he saw the sheen of tears there. “That’s the thing, Henry. I couldn’t bear to see the man I love kill my brother, nor could I see my only family kill the man I love. I listened to my brother and agreed no matter how much it killed me inside.”
Henry’s heart was racing in his chest. She leaned in close, her soft hands cool against his face.
“I love you so much, Henry. Please know that I choose you. Now and always.” Henry felt her lips seek his and he kissed her back, his heart leaping in his chest.