Page 158 of A Bond Beyond Blood

I’d been so lucky to be surrounded by the incredible men in my life, both human and vampire—

A sob of anguish wrenched its way up my throat.I couldn’t fathom the thought of never seeing them all again.

My attacker slammed into my back with such force that the impact lifted me off the ground and propelled me through the air.I screamed, but the sound was cut off as his teeth tore into my neck, ripping into my flesh before I’d even hit the pavement.But when I did finally slam into the ground, the agony of my body grinding forward against the asphalt for what felt likemileswas nothing compared to the fire burning through my neck and shoulder.

“Jackie!”

Gannon?

My thoughts grew muddled and strange as the vampire bit into my flesh repeatedly, each bite searing like he’d poured acid on my skin—or gasoline—and lit a match.

He wasn’tfeeding; he was destroying.

I screamed until my voice was hoarse, then the sounds I made were garbled, and my eyes began to lose focus, darkness pulling up from the shadows to circle my vision, tightening until my sight was but a pinprick of light, the glow of the streetlamp the last thing I saw before I succumbed to the end.When he finally stopped biting and just started to suck the blood from my veins, he began to hum a song I recognized but couldn’t place.

The pain became so severe that I felt nothing at all because pain was all there was.

Ibecamethe pain.It couldn’t hurt me anymore.

Or maybe that was the gift of Death himself, freedom from pain as he ferried me away.

Death.

“Jackie!Jackie!Oh fuck, fuck, fuck!”Gannon screamed.“Open your eyes, baby girl, don’t leave me.Don’t you fucking leave me!”

Death sounded a lot like the boy I’d loved my entire life.

There was something beautiful in that.

Chapter Fifty-Two

Vinny

I was in my apartment above the fitness center when my entire world imploded.I picked up Jacqueline’s scent before the sound of the back door of the gym opening even reached me, then I caught Gannon’s scent immediately afterward—and something else...someone else’s blood was in the mix as well.

Dropping the stack of paperwork on my desk, I rose to my feet so quickly the chair toppled backwards.

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