Page 114 of Blood So Brutal

I shoved his shoulder lightly as I pushed myself up. “Can you walk? I’m not convinced Luseyar won’t come back and kill us both for what just happened.”

With a grunt of pain, he stood. He lifted his arm and surveyed the wound at his side.

It was ugly, but it no longer poured with blood. It was actually healing, thank the fucking goddess.

“Good as new,” he teased. “Your blood is perfect, Huntress. Fucking perfect.”

We stared at each other, locked into this magical gaze that neither of us could escape from. Everything disappeared around us—the trees, the violence, the weight of the fucking war we were about to start. All of it washed away.

There was only Wolf and me. Only the two of us, without any of this other shit that weighed us down.

Then, I was stepping closer, or maybe it was him, drawn to each other by forces we could not explain or control.

I knew I was still pushing my own emotions through the bond, the fear and horror and love and excitement, but so was he. He was showing me his own love, his pure gratitude, his overwhelming joy and light.

This was Wolf. This was the fallen angel who was sacrificed to become a vampyre. Who lost his own wings for me. Who killed his own damn father.

So much darkness followed him, but this was pure love, pure light.

We were merely inches away. Wolf’s hand came up to trace the side of my neck, my jaw, my earlobe. “You don’t have to worry about me.” His breath kissed my temple. “I’m not leaving you again in this lifetime. You’ll have to kill me yourself if you want me gone.”

I leaned against his touch. His thumb brushed my cheekbone, wiping away a tear I didn’t realize had fallen.

“Don’t tempt me. If you refuse my blood while you’re dying again, I really might have to kill you.”

I tilted my chin up, eyes flickering down to his lips.

But his brows drew together. “You know I never wanted to do that again. I never wanted to take from you, not after everything else.”

“That was before.”

“Before what?”

“Before I realized how messed up all of this was. Before I realized you didn’t have a choice.”

He tried to pull away, but I caught his wrist and stopped him. His eyes fell to the ground. “I always have a choice, Huntress. Always.”

“Then choose me now. Choose this life.”

Silence fell between us. Wolf kept his gaze on the ground for a few torturous moments before dragging his electric blue eyes up to meet mine. “Choose you?”

I waited, unable to say anything else.

He shook his head as if dumbfounded by my words. “I’ll choose you every damn day for the rest of this life. The next one, even. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Huntress, nobody I wouldn’t kill for you.” He pulled himself back to me and pressed his forehead against mine as he added, “I choose you forever.”

I pushed onto my toes and kissed him softly, testing the waters of whatever weight now hung between us.

Choose me.

Wasn’t that what I wanted all along? I wanted someone to love me. To protect me. To care for me. I didn’t want someone to simply love me out of convenience, only to turn their back on me when things got hard.

Lord never chose me. No, he chose power over me every damn time.

I didn’t think Wolf had chosen me either. There were times when I hated him more than anything in this entire fucking world.

But here? Now? I believed every single word he said. I could feel it trickling through that tether between us with hot, searing light.

He kissed me back, firmly but softly, being patient with his movements as he slid both hands up to my neck and held me there. Blood smeared across both of us. It tainted our skin and trickled down our limbs, but I didn’t care.

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