Page 45 of Fated Surrender

Rhys hissed at Gabriel and turned to Madison. Gabriel moved so quick Connor couldn’t track his movements. Onesecond Rhys was in front of Madison, the next both men were in the hallway. Connor rushed over to Madison.

“Will he be okay?” she asked, crying.

Connor couldn’t answer. He was too busy running his hands over her body. When he pulled her away from the wall, she gasped. He felt moisture on his hands. He gently lifted his mate and carried her out into the hallway. Laying her down on her stomach, he carefully lifted the blood-encrusted material away from her back. She whimpered.

“I’m sorry, baby, I have to see how bad it is.”

Without jerking her body, he gathered material on either side of the sliced fabric and ripped it in half, exposing her back. What he saw had him feeling ill. There were four slices running from the base of her neck to her tailbone so deep he could see her spine in some places.

“Baby, you have to shift,” he pleaded.

“Can’t, drugged,” she slurred.

He placed his hand on her chest and felt her heartbeat begin to slow.

“She can’t shift. What do I do? Aleks! What do I do!” Through his mate bond he felt her begin to slip away.

“Gabriel, I’m begging you. Please donate some of your blood so that my brother’s mate may live,” Aleks begged of Gabriel.

Connor looked over to the prince. He cradled Rhys in his arms ever so gently. His long pale fingers wrapped around the back of Rhys’s head, holding him to his neck. The beauty of the moment in the middle of such terror etched the scene in his mind. Gabriel looked as though he were nursing Rhys, the way a woman nursed her baby.

“I’m kind of indisposed at the moment. Daniel, do you agree to donate your blood?” Gabriel asked, his voice a hollow imitation of what it normally was. Daniel jumped up and nodded enthusiastically.

“Just a few drops, Daniel, just enough to get her to shift,” Gabriel warned.

Daniel’s fangs elongated, and he pricked his finger on his own fang. Gently he put his finger in Madison’s mouth. He swirled it around and removed it. He looked at Connor, worried.

“Come on, baby, just a few swallows.”

“I always swallow,” she joked, her words faint. Connor’s heart flipped over. Here she was moments from death and she was still giving him a hard time.

“We’ll test the validity of that statement later. Shift,” he ordered, and her heart rate began to race. Seconds later a large white Bengal tiger lay sprawled over his body. He lay on the floor and buried his hands in her fur. He could feel her purr vibrate over his entire body.

Exhausted, he closed his eyes. He didn’t care that he was on the floor with his mate in an abandoned warehouse, only that she was alive and in his arms.

“I still say we got robbed. I want to shift into an animal.” Daniel pouted.

Madison lifted her head then buried her cold nose in Connor’s neck. He laughed.

“Baby, you lied. You are closer to four hundred pounds than three-fifty.”

The Bengal tiger stared down at him, her sky-blue eyes flat and unamused. She stood, letting Connor scoot backward and stand. She then curled up in a ball and wrapped her tail around her body.

“Sir. I don’t know how to say this, but we need to put the vampire down.” Baron walked up to Connor, the Sentinels behind him.

Madison opened one eye, stood and majestically sauntered over to Gabriel, effectively putting her between the Sentinels andthe prince. Her mouth opened and she hissed long and loudly at the men.

“Baron, that vampire is a member of Gabriel’s coven, one of his children. I can’t let you kill him, not when there is a chance to save him,” Connor protested.

He noticed that the Arkadians spread out behind him, forming a wall between the Sentinels and Gabriel.

“Professor, you know as well as I do that in these cases when their eyes go red and they turn feral, there is no way to get them back. I’m sorry. I really am, but if we let him go, hewillkill.” Baron widened his stance, not backing down.

“Those other vampires chose to kill. Rhys didn’t have a choice in any of this. He was kidnapped and held against his will. There is no blood on his hands, his soul is intact. He refrained from attacking Madison, even though he was starved and she was dripping blood. I saw his eyes, Baron, they were green, even if it was for a second, they turned back to green,” Connor argued and Baron shook his head.

“Dammit, look at him!” Connor yelled, throwing his arm back to point at Gabriel.

The Sentinels watched Rhys suckle at Gabriel’s neck like an infant. His hand gripped Gabriel’s collar, and his head lay peacefully on the Prince’s chest.

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