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  Zephyr tried to launch his battle shield, to throw a layer of protection around Alesia, but he couldn’t, not while holding the wraith pinned against his upper body.

  At the same time, he felt Alesia’s battle vibration gaining energy. He caught her eye as he pulled the wraith backward away from his mate.

  Then suddenly, Alesia lowered her arm, her expression stunned. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Alesia, what are you waiting for. You’ve got to fire. She’ll kill you with that knife.”

  “I won’t hurt her. I can’t. Zeph, that’s my mother. I knew one day this would happen. I knew it. I’ve always known.”

  “Holy fuck.”

  Zephyr had been in too many battles, however, not to know exactly how this one would go because Alesia hesitated. Her mother wasn’t aware of her actions and had only one intention, to kill.

  But Zeph knew better. He tossed the wraith aside and leaped in the air at the exact same moment that Alesia’s mother threw the knife at her.

  The blade struck just below his sternum and he fell to the ground in immeasurable pain. Worse, however, he knew that the dagger had hit the artery that ran along his spine.

  “Zeph!” Alesia shouted.

  “You’ve got to destroy them, Alesia, or we’re both dead.”

  He was mortally wounded and if she didn’t take charge and either kill or at least incapacitate the wraith-pair, they’d both die in the next few seconds.

  Left alone, he could self-heal, but the Invictus wouldn’t hesitate to slaughter them both right now, if given the chance.

  And it was all up to Alesia.

  * * * * * * * * *

  Alesia had her worst fear realized. Her mother, in a vicious Invictus state, moved swiftly in Zephyr’s direction, just as the wraith leaped toward Alesia.

  The choices she made were instantaneous as she released her battle energy toward the wraith first and then her mother.

  But just as the frequency would have struck her parent, Zephyr rose up and blocked the vibration, taking part of the hit with his hip.

  He fell limp as did her mother.

  Alesia remained frozen for a long moment. She took in the horror all around her. The wraith was dead. She’d taken out his entire chest with one blast.

  Moving swiftly toward her mother and Zephyr, she saw that her battle energy had torn away part of his hip and side and that he gasped for breath. Her mother, with one arm almost completely gone, was unconscious but still breathing.

  She heard battling in the distance and knew that Gerrod’s forces had arrived at Zephyr’s house.

  Drawing Zephyr’s phone from the pocket of his jeans and with shaking hands, she called Gerrod, telling him where she was as well as Zeph’s condition and that he was near death.

  Within seconds, several of the Merhaine vampire Guard surrounded her and a few seconds more a fae medic dropped down beside Zephyr. The medic immediately went to work. Many of the fae, male and female, were gifted in advanced healing arts.

  Zeph had a chance.

  When one of the Guardsman bent over her mother, she hurried to kneel beside her. “Is she dead?”

  “Not yet.”

  When he reached down with a dagger to finish the job, Alesia intervened. “Please don’t kill her. She’s my mother. And if she survives, I want her to go to the rehabilitation prison. Please, sir.”

  The Guardsmen glared at her and perhaps for the first time since her mother had been abducted, she thought she understood why the Guard and warriors like Zephyr didn’t hesitate to kill the Invictus pairs. She might lose Zephyr tonight because of her failure to act and she wasn’t sure that if he died, she’d ever be able to forgive herself because of it.

  “Guardsman, fall back.”

  Alesia looked up and saw that Mastyr Gerrod, the ruler of Merhaine Realm, levitated nearby. He was an awesome sight with long black hair caught back in a woven clasp and wearing the traditional Guardsman uniform of long black leather coat, hips boots and battle leathers. “Get this realm-person to the prison, as Mistress Alesia has commanded. Are we clear?”

  The Guardsman, though disgruntled, responded, “Yes, Mastyr.” He then lifted her mother in his arms and flew toward the east, in the direction of the closest rehab center.

  Alesia turned her attention to Zephyr, who was unconscious and very pale. She could see that he barely clung to life despite the work of the powerful medic. “Feed him,” Gerrod commanded.

  “What?”

  “You’re a blood rose and you can do this for him.”

  “But how? He won’t be able to drink.”

  Gerrod dropped to the ground to kneel in the dirt beside her, then took her wrist in hand. “May I?”

  She nodded. She’d do anything for the Mastyr of Merhaine. He was bonded to a blood rose so he knew what he was talking about.

  Gerrod took her wrist and extended his fangs. He scored her skin until her blood flowed, then held the wound to Zephyr’s mouth. “Stroke his throat. That will help him know what to do since the swallowing reflexes are strongest there.”

  The medic continued to work on Zephyr, holding one hand to the chest wound and the other to his severely burned hip. She could see that he was healing quickly. But the fae part of her told her that without her blood he’d die.

  As instructed, Alesia stroked Zephyr’s throat and coaxed him. “Drink, Zeph, please. Take what you need from me. Let me heal you.”

  He was so pale, so close to death, that she could hardly bear it. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

  Gerrod spoke quietly from behind her. “You’re doing fine, just be patient. Once he catches your blood-rose flavor, well, you’ll see. His body will take over and he’ll do what needs to be done.”

  Though most of the blood that seeped from her wrist fell into the dirt, enough pooled in Zephyr’s mouth that his entire body jerked suddenly. He brought his hands forward and grabbed her forearm, pulling her wrist tightly to his mouth. Though his eyes remained shut, he began to feed.

  Alesia barely held back the sob that caught in her throat. Gerrod patted her shoulder and told her she’d done well. He then ordered three of his Guardsmen to stay with her until Zephyr was fully healed and could return to his house.

  But before Gerrod left, he caught Alesia’s gaze. “He’s one of our finest, you know. And he’s saved my life more than once. You would do well to complete the bond with him.”

  Alesia nodded. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right.”

  With that, Gerrod wished her well and took to the skies. Alesia continued to feed Zephyr until at last the wound in his chest closed up and his eyes opened.

  “Thank the Goddess, you’re alive,” he whispered, drawing back from her.

  That those were the first words he said to her, not caring about his own condition, would forever fix in her mind just how much he cared about her, how much he loved her.

  ***

  Chapter Five

  An hour later and fully healed, Zephyr held Alesia’s hands in his. He stood in front of the bedroom fireplace where they’d been arguing earlier. Only this time Alesia had just told him she’d come to a decision.

  Zephyr had never been in this place before. He was nerved up as hell and all because Alesia had said she’d bond with him, a blood rose bond, and that she wanted a permanent relationship with him.

  At that same time, joy moved through his chest like a strong wind so that he smiled way too much, enough to feel like an idiot.

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “I know I pressured you earlier tonight, but I don’t want you doing this unless it’s exactly what you want your life to be.”

  Alesia’s green eyes glowed with new determination. “I’m sure, Zeph. More than sure. I’m astounded by how much I want to. I also have this terrible fear that if I don’t, I’ll lose you forever and I couldn’t bear that.”

  “How would you lose me forever?”

  “I don’t know. It’s not rational. But after all that happened near the tun
nel exit, I saw you in a light I’d never seen before and I realized that more than anything I wanted to bond with you.”

  He shook his head slightly as he thought about the battle with the wraith-pair. “You saved my life when you fired at your own mother.”

  “And you deflected the shot just enough to save her. She would have died otherwise, but I still don’t know how you did it.”

  “Lots and lots of practice in the field.”

  She released his hands and slid her arms around his waist, hugging him tight. “Don’t remind me.”

  He embraced her fully, caressing her, savoring this moment in time when they’d truly come together with one mind. “I want to do things differently, Alesia, and I’m wondering if you’d be interested in joining with me.”

  She pulled back, her brows raised. “What do you mean?”

  He chuckled. “I guess I didn’t make myself clear. I want you in the field. I want you to join me in the field, at night, when I battle wraith-pairs.”

  “You want me to become a warrior? Battle like you?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “You’re not making sense. For one thing, I’m not warrior material.”

  “Actually, yes you are. You just don’t know it.”

  He could see that she meant to argue, but he lifted a hand and said, “Hear me out.”

  “Okay.” But she looked extremely doubtful.

  “You’re fearless, you fight when you need to, you don’t hesitate once you make the decision, and you have a lot of power. I’ve trained dozens of recruits in my day and you’ve got what it takes.”

  “Maybe you’ve misunderstood, but I have no intention of going out and killing wraith-pairs.”

  And here was the biggest change for him. “And I’m not talking about killing them. I’m talking about doing the very thing you’ve been pushing me to do since I first met you.”

  “You mean capture-and-rescue followed by rehab?” Lips parted, she looked stunned as she stared back at him with unblinking eyes.

  “I mean exactly that. The vision I have is that we’d work in tandem, as a team, but we’d be selective about which wraith-pairs to try to bring in.”

  Alesia’s eyes went wide. “But how would we do that in the field?”

  “With great care and I think I’d want to talk this over with Ethan, the Mastyr of Bergisson Realm. His blood rose, Samantha, has the power to separate the wraith-pairs, to sever their bonds, and I know they’ve been working to train his vampire Guard to assess which pairs to save.”

  She shook her head slowly. “I never expected this. I never thought it would be possible. But, I trust you, Zeph. That’s the one thing I learned tonight, just how thoroughly I believe in you, that you’ll do what you say. And not only do I think this could work, but I want to be part of it. I mean, maybe that’s been my purpose all along. I’d want a lot of training, though.”

  “Absolutely.”

  She searched his eyes. “I never thought to see this level of compassion from you, at least where wraith-pairs were concerned.”

  “Well, that’s because of you, that you’ve consistently pushed me this direction. More than anything I want to move out of warrior mode enough to start developing a rescue operation. I suppose until now, I never thought such a thing was possible and I was too lost in my fighting ways to see anything else.” He took a deep breath. “But there’s one thing you’ll need to be prepared for before you decide to take this on.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Things don’t always go as predicted in the field and there will be times that I’ll have to choose between your life and the life of a wraith-pair. I know myself well-enough to say with certainty that I will always choose you, which means I won’t hesitate to destroy an Invictus pair if it means I can save your life. Do you understand?”

  She grew somber. “I do. I get it now. Before tonight, I’d never been up close to a battle before. And when I realized I had to choose between you and my mother, caught as she was in her vicious killing mode, well, it was probably one of the worst experiences of my life. But my choice seemed so simple. It had to be you. So I’ve already proven myself in the situation you’ve just described.”

  He relaxed a little in that moment. His biggest concern about bonding with her, about engaging in a different kind of war against the Invictus, was over that issue. But it was clear she did understand what might be required as they moved together down this road.

  He kissed her then, slanting his lips over hers, savoring that she tasted of berries soaked in wine. He slid his hands down to her waist and surrounded her fully, then squeezed.

  She drew back. “I love it when you do that.”

  His hands dropped to caress the luscious curves of her bottom.

  “And that.”

  He chuckled softly, but sobered almost as quickly. “And you’re sure you want to bond with me?”

  She hugged him. “With all my heart.”

  He kissed her again for a long moment, only drawing back because he needed to discuss the bonding process with her. “I know from talking to Gerrod and from listening to general Guard gossip, that there’s more than one way to complete the blood rose bond. But one thing for sure will absolutely help the process along, or rather two things.”

  She smiled again. “Let me guess, your fangs in my neck, your naked body pressed against mine. Am I right?”

  Desire for her heated up, and he lifted her into his arms. “Yep. Exactly right.”

  When he reached the bed, she put a hand on his chest. “There’s just one thing. I need you to know that I’m really nervous about doing this, about bonding with you because I have no idea what’s going to happen.”

  “I am, too, but I want this more than anything. I’ve missed being with you so much over the past few months.”

  “That was my fault. I know it was. All this time I’ve been afraid of losing you. Then I almost did, you almost died, and all I could think was how much time I’d wasted being apart from you.”

  “We both needed to shift our positions. I know that now. I was stuck in a rut of rage against the Invictus. I refused to see how those abducted, and forced to forge a wraith-bond, had lost their lives as well.”

  She leaned up and kissed him. “But I refused to acknowledge how brutal the battling of these pairs really is. So for that I apologize. I never properly honored you for your service. But I do now. And if there comes a time, that you need to go back to fighting as you do, I promise you I won’t be so belligerent in my viewpoint.”

  “And I’ll promise to keep finding ways to rescue wraith-pairs.”

  With that said, he pulled the comforter back, then laid her out on the bed. This coupling would be different from all those that came before. And as he helped her out of her clothes, then stripped out of his, the nerves were back, that edgy feeling that always arrived in the face of the unknown.

  Like Alesia, he had no idea what would happen right now.

  Already firm and ready for her, he planted himself between her knees. He kissed her on the lips, then drifted a series up her cheek, afterward using his tongue to tease her ears, first one then the other. He licked and sucked, just the way she liked so that before long her body writhed beneath his and her hands were busy below his waist, playing with the crown of his cock and stroking him.

  She knew what he wanted, so it wasn’t long before she guided his thick stalk to her opening and keeping him steady, helped him find his way inside. The whole time, she moaned as he took the slightly rounded point of her ear in his mouth and sucked.

  “Oh, Sweet Goddess, that feels so good, Zeph.” His name came out on a breath of air, full of desire and need.

  Slowly he began driving into her, stroking her deep as he plunged his tongue in and out of her ear. Her hands found the muscles of his arms and she dug her nails in, a sensation that sent a lightning strike of pleasure straight to his testicles.

  He moved faster now, only this time he added a vibration the full length
of his cock. She moaned heavily, and cried out. “That’s incredible. You’ll make me come soon.”

  “Good.”

  The faster he moved the more powerful the vibration he sent through her so that pretty soon she was undulating in synch with him as he slammed into her.

  He dipped lower and licked a line up her throat.

  “Yes, Zeph, please take from me. I need you to.”

  Still moving, he pinned her opposite shoulder down with his hand in order to hold her steady. Letting his fangs descend, he struck swiftly.

  The first hit of her blood exploded in his mouth and he almost came. He breathed through it though, knowing he needed to save his release for the moment of the bond.

  When he was more in control, he began working her throat steadily, sucking down her wine-and-berry blood, as he thrust into her.

  She panted now and to her mind, he pathed, I’m going to open my mating frequency. Are you ready?

  Absolutely. I want this. I need this.

  From deep within his body, what he’d call the seat of his soul, the most essential part of him came to life, vibrating heavily. He slowed the thrusting of his hips and the suckling at her throat and focused on sending that frequency into Alesia.

  “Zeph, it’s the most amazing feeling.” She opened to him at the same time, a blossoming of her own mating vibration. The moment their frequencies met, a surge rose within her, then passed swiftly into him, moving through his chest. He felt lit up from within and pleasure boiled.

  He could see the frequencies together in his mind’s eye, rolling and swirling together, moving in tandem.

  He began to thrust harder again, pushing his cock deep inside her and sustaining the vibration low as well. His was a miraculous world of vibrations and never had the experience been more profound than in this moment.

  Her well tightened around him. She moaned heavily. I’m so close.

  He loved her voice in his head. Me, too, and I’m feeling something else.

  That our mating vibrations are turning together, tighter and tighter. This has to be the bond forming.