Thaddeus’ eyes start drooping. “I will be fine, love,” he chokes out, coughing up blood. They both look at him in panic. Getting up, I reach into the drawer to grab a knife. I’m not going to risk him dying. Through the bond, I can feel how weak he is, which alone scares me half to death.
“Evelyn, put the knife down,” Ryland growls.
“Either he feeds off me, or I will bleed out into a cup. Choose,” I snap at him.
Orion growls, trying to grab me, but I step back, running the blade across my wrist, crying out when I slice through tendons, not expecting the knife to slice through so easily as I press the blade as hard as possible. My hand is useless, but I hear Thaddeus growl, his eyes snap open as my blood starts dripping on the floor, and he holds his breath.
“Are you nuts?” Ryland screams, ripping me toward him.
He bites into his wrist, but I press my lips into a line, refusing, holding my arm out to Thaddeus. He shakes his head, but I ram it against his lips. He growls as the urge to feed takes over, and his teeth sink into my wrist and he grabs it. I don’t know how long he feeds, but I can feel myself becoming lightheaded. Thaddeus growls loudly, and Orion rips my arm away from him, but Thaddeus doesn’t let go, and I feel it snap; my arm breaks under the pressure, making me scream.
Orion pries him off me with Ryland’s help, and I slump on the floor. Thaddeus is consumed with bloodlust, while all I want to do is sleep. I feel warm hands wrap around me and Ryland’s wrist pressed to my lips. I let my lips part, his blood fills my mouth, and I have to force myself to swallow as if my body has forgotten how to.
Feeling myself heal as his blood races through me, healing my wounds, I feel my broken arm snap back into place with a loud crunch, making me whimper right at the moment I pass out.
E
velyn
I wake up to fingers trailing down my back, rolling over, I see Thaddeus lying beside me. I actually think I might have dreamed the entire thing. He looks perfectly fine, like nothing has happened.
But I know I didn’t dream it when he pulls me on top of him. “Don’t ever do that again,” he says, as his voice shakes which is what makes me look up at him. I can feel his anger through the bond, but it is directed more inward than at me. “I could have killed you. Don’t risk your life, not for me, Evie,” he says, kissing my forehead, brushing my hair off my face.
“You were dying,” I tell him.
“I don’t care. Promise that you won’t do it again.”
I say nothing; that isn’t a promise I am willing to make. They keep saying they won’t live without me, but even though we fight, I don’t want to live without them either. Yes, maybe it is the bond talking, but I am certain of that decision.
“Evie?” Thaddeus says, as his anger bubbles out of him.
“No!” I snap at him, and he growls. “I won’t promise that. You needed help, and I helped,” I add. Ryland and Orion walk in the next moment. Orion tosses Thaddeus a blood bag, and he catches it. I sit up, watching them as they come into the room. “How long was I out?” I ask.
“Not long. You passed out when your arm snapped back into place,” Orion says, sitting on the end of the bed. He bites into the corner of the blood bag and I scrunch my face up at it.
Ryland shakes his head. “A blood bag grosses you out? You have drunk our blood and let them feed off you.”
“It’s different; it looks gross looking at it like that,” I tell him.
Orion nods. “Because it is. Tastes nasty from a bag, but does the job.”
As I turn to Thaddeus, I see that his eyes are pitch black. He is watching me as he drinks from the bag. The wounds on his chest have healed, but they have left scars all over his chest. “How come the scars didn’t heal. What happened?”
“Not sure; it must be whatever is in the shrapnel.”
“Shrapnel?”
Thaddeus nods his head, draining the bag and squeezing it like a juice box. “Hunters. I went to see my sister. I got to Leven’s outskirts and stumbled across a base of sorts amongst the forest; I was curious, so I went and had a look. I tripped an alarm around their base and a bomb went off. Those things that you pulled from me were in it. I ran back here right after the explosion. But we need to move; they are a little too close for comfort.”
“Why would they have a base at Leven?”
“I’m unsure, but I know we were spotted at Parse City. My father said he caught them lurking around the office; even had the security cameras hacked.”
“If they know about your family, why haven’t they done anything to them?”
“They aren’t after them; my family lives peacefully. They are after me,” Thaddeus states.
“His family have left town for a while till things cool down. Thaddeus called them and told them to get out, so they don’t use them against him,” Orion adds.
“But you haven’t done anything in ages; why do they want you?”
“They have been following us for decades, Evie. We aren’t good people,” Ryland chimes in.
“You mean I am not good,” Thaddeus says with a growl.
“I have done my fair share of bad shit, Thaddeus; you can’t take all the blame,” Ryland retorts.
“Regardless, we need to leave. I think they may know about you now; we can’t risk staying here any longer,” Thaddeus says.
Orion grabs a suitcase from the wardrobe, and I can tell he has done this plenty of times as he starts grabbing things and putting them in. Ryland grabs another and starts filling it with my clothes and toiletries.
“What? Right now?” I ask as I watch them pack up necessities.
Thaddeus sits up, swings his legs off of the bed and stands. He walks into the bathroom and grabs a few things, like my makeup and hair straightener. I help him, pass him things, knowing his silence means we are leaving, and there is no room for argument. Not that I will argue over this after seeing what they did to him.
“You have time to shower if you want; we won’t be ready for about half an hour,” Thaddeus says, and I quickly strip my clothes off, hopping in and turning the faucets on.