Page 159 of The Soulbond and Her Beloved

Their cries echoed through the chamber, bodies shaking together, drowning in one another. They came down together, his arms wrapped around her, both trembling as their bond pulsed. Within seconds, Emeriel went boneless ,slipping into sleep.

Daemonikai did not pull out of her. He couldn’t. Heneededthe connection.If he was going to battle his primitive side and pretend to be more male than beast, the least he could have to keep him sane, was this.

He drew her flush against his chest, careful of her belly as he settled them both. One large hand splayed protectively over the curve of her stomach, the bond between them thrumming like an ancient drumbeat. Beneath his palm, he felt the faint flutter of life.Their child.

Daemonikai’s fingers traced small, reverent circles across her skin. Amongst all the others, he could spend an entire week like this, simply holding her and feeling their child move.

This was what Zaiper had nearly stolen from him, what he hadplannedto take?

He would scour every shadowed corner of the earth to find that evil’s reincarnate, and by the time he was done hunting, throwing everything he had into the pursuit, even the ground Zaiper stood upon would turn against him.

Daemonikai buried his face into Emeriel’s neck, breathing in her scent, allowing the sleep he had denied himself for days to finally take him. “I love you, Emeriel Galilea Evenstone.”

Chapter thirty-seven

THE MALE WHO MOURNS

Thedarkroomburstopen as the female barged in. "Until when will you mourn his death!?"

Zaiper glared at her, shielding his eyes. “Shut the damn door. That light hurts.”

She slammed it shut with force. “We are running for our lives every single night, and yet you refuse to pull yourself out of this daze you’ve sunk into! Yes, I understand your loss—but your life is on the line, Zaiper! Get your head together!”

He was seated at the foot of a rickety, filthy bed, lazily sipping from a goblet of blood.

“We need to get to shelter as fast as possible,” Sinai said, pacing. “At the rate we’re being hunted, wewillbe caught.”

Silence answered her.

Her gaze flicked to the goblet he held. His men had slaughtered enough humans to fill casks, and with the supplies from his vampire allies, his blood reserves would last years. No wonder he was toying with it like it was fine ale, drowning in self-pity rather than replenishing strength.

“Zaiper! Are you even listening to me!?”

“Mm?” He barely looked up. “What were you saying?”

“We. Are. Being.Hunted,” she said through clenched teeth. “Every sentinel. the Shadows, Bloodhounds, Stormriders—we are being hunted like marked criminals for slaughter, and you sit here, sayingnothing! Doingnothing!”

“You think I enjoy this?” Zaiper snarled, rising. “I had to run last night butt naked, ambushed in my sleep. I barely escaped. I’ve been crawling through cities, caves, underground passageways like some rat—do you think I enjoy this?” With a hiss of fury, he hurled the goblet at the wall.

“Then stop wallowing in misery and lead! Take command before you get us both killed!” Sinai’s voice rose. She was too scared and furious to soften her words now. “I thought you said you didn’t love him.”

“I do not feel such petty things!” he sneered.

“Good. That’s very good. Now dust off whatever grand emotion it is youarefeeling, and act like the male you claim to be.” She crossed her arms. “How far are we from this shelter you speak so highly of? Is it truly worth the risks we take every night?”

He didn’t answer her, calling for the guards, ordering a bath drawn, stripping off the foul clothes he’d worn for days.

That appeased a little bit of Sinai’s anger.Finally.

She hated to admit it, but she was beginning to regret following him. At the time, she’d been too scared of being found out, and once she had outed herself, it was either flee alone or go with Zaiper.

But she hadvastlyunderestimated how hard Razarr’s death would hit him.

If Zaiper wasn’t roaming the shadows like a ghost, he was locked in some windowless room, brooding in silence, sippingblood like wine. So much for a male who claimed to feel nothing. Daemonikai had truly gotten to him.

Still, at least now, he wasmoving. Taking action. Bathing.

Small steps. But steps nonetheless.

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