Chapter 28 #3
I focus myself and unfold my wings once more, creating a wall of light around us.
I grind my teeth and wrap his arm around my shoulder again.
My stomach feels like it’s tearing open, but I don’t stop.
I make him stand, and his blood-soaked hand slowly wraps around my waist as he pulls his massive body closer to my chest. I dig my fingers into him, and I push with everything I have into the night sky, letting my wings strain against the weight.
I let my anger boil, consuming every cell in my veins, and I use it to push myself faster toward the apartment.
The anger I feel for this life I’ve ended up in—Lowell and his lies, the deceit, the death, and Crew—consumes me, while the night sky envelops me.
I groan in pain from his weight, but I don’t care. I only care about him.
“Drop me,” Crew strains. “You can’t carry me. I’m hurting you.”
“I said hush,” I bark back.
The apartment comes into view, and I push once more, wrapping my hands around him hard enough to cause bruises.
I land with a thud on the metal banister and kick the apartment door open.
The hinges rattle, and the wood splinters near where Crew drove his fist into the wall hours earlier.
I lower him to the ground, needing room to work as I push back the small table cluttering the cramped living room.
His eyes flicker open and closed, and I cup his face to make his frantic gaze find mine.
“You aren’t healing,” I say. “Why?”
His eyes close.
“Hey!” I slap his cheek, making his eyes fling open. A chaos sits behind his gaze, and he focuses on me. “Why aren’t you healing?”
Crew’s trembling hand moves toward my stomach as he presses against the wound I barely survived. “Because I gave it all to you.”
I stare at him for a moment, letting his words sink in. “You stupid, stupid man.”
His hand drops to the ground, and a new wave of panic hits me. I run to the bathroom, grabbing as many clean towels as I can and the few first-aid supplies we have, but I don’t think this will be enough.
He’s going to die, and after everything I’ve done to him, that’s the last thing I want at this moment.
Crew can’t die. That conversation we had can’t be the last thing that happens between us.
He said he’s done with me, but I’m not done with him.
I crash back down beside him and place a towel against his neck.
“Hey,” I say, snapping my fingers inches from his face. “Wake up.”
His eyes remain closed, and he doesn’t move, although the blood continues to leak from his neck.
“Bannermin.” I place my hand on his jaw.
Screw Sam and Riggs for letting him bleed out.
They want a better world, free of Lowell and the other Elders, but their torment makes them no better.
Crew’s words echo in my mind from the night before.
Although it’s hazy, I know what needs to be done.
He gave me his lifeforce, and it’s time I repay him.
If my blood is what he needs right now, I’ll do it, but he needs to consent.
“I need you to wake up,” I say, harshly. “Open your eyes.”
Crew doesn’t move, and his chest starts to rise and fall more slowly with each struggling breath as the gaping hole in his neck spews blood.
“I won’t do this without your permission,” I repeat what he said. “Open your eyes and respond.”
I need to wake him up, to get a reaction from him, and I can’t stop the tears that feel heavy in my lower eyelids.
Here goes nothing.
“I hate it when you’re around, Crew. This bad luck follows us, and I’m exhausted.
Exhausted from fighting and from hating you.
” A tear falls onto his chest. “For so long, I wanted you to stay away from me, to leave me alone, but things change. I’ve changed.
And now I don’t ever want you to fucking leave me again. ”
A thought comes to mind, like what I did to him on the roof.
I dig my finger into the open wound on his neck and press firmly.
A rattling pain erupts from his mouth, and his eyes shoot open.
His typically calm features are contorted, and his metallic eyes are gone.
Tears begin to well in my eyes as I watch him fade into the darkness, and the crimson blood on his neck begins to leak black.
His body is in fight mode, and his demonic form is emerging. A wave of panic rushes through me as I see sharp teeth come down from his gums, knowing he needs to sink them into my skin.
“Fuck,” he gasps, and his voice is anything but familiar. It’s ancient, harsh, and frightening.
I grab his face tighter. “Look at me.”
His breathing becomes frantic, and his dazed eyes find mine, filled with desperation, but he looks away as if he can’t focus on anything in this moment.
“Look at me, Crew,” I plead. “Find my eyes.”
His chest steadies, but the blood doesn’t stop flowing.
“Mara… I’m so… sorry,” he barely gets out.
“That isn’t important,” I snap.
He gasps, and I flinch as anxiety nearly pulls me under.
“Do you want this? You know our intentions must be there for this to work. I’m bound to you. I want to save you.”
Crew only blinks, and another thrash sends my hand to hold him down.
“Do you want to be bound to me?”
He wheezes again, and I press my blood-soaked hands against his neck. Tears fall from my eyes like rain, and my chest almost caves in from his pain. I can feel it—feel everything—and I desperately want to take it away.
“I don’t want you to die, Crew.”
I close my eyes, expecting him to protest, because why would anyone want that?
Why would he want anything from me?
“I want this.” I lean forward, meeting his eyes. “I want… you. I’m so sorry. I was awful.” I cry harder, letting the bond scream in my veins. “My intentions are pure. I only want to save you—to repay you for all you’ve done for me.”
His trembling hand reaches up to cup my face. I slowly open my eyes, letting a single tear fall onto his cheek. His dark gaze shines into mine, and I feel his bond tingle within my veins like a golden ray of light.
“I was bound to you a long, long time ago, little angel.”