Page 159 of A Bond Beyond Blood

“Ricci!”Gannon shouted, anguish so thick and palpable in his voice that it spurred a responding ache in my chest.“Help.”

That single word was said on a sob and my heart stuttered in response.

No no no.Jacqueline was injured, and by the strength of her scent, there was far too much blood.

I raced downstairs, reaching Gannon as he crossed the threshold from the locker rooms into the main gym, and I hauled Jacqueline from his arms to cradle her against my chest, eyes frantic as I looked her over as best I could from this angle.With my hand supporting the back of her head, I stretched my fingers to feel for a pulse as I listened for the rhythm of her heartbeat.

It was there, faint and too goddamn slow, but there.

I looked up at Gannon and took quick stock of him.

“It’s not my blood,” he said, eyes wide and frantic as he stared at our girl.

“What the fuck happened?”

“It was...he was...”he said, his voice soft and without inflection.His face was stark white with shock.

“He was what?”I questioned, searching his eyes.

“A baby vamp.Like me.”His eyes met mine, wide and terrified, then flicked past me as a few of the late-night customers made their way into the room to see what the commotion was.“He was humming,” he murmured, dropping his eyes to the floor.

“Gannon,” I snapped, “look at me.Where is that vampire now?”

When his gaze returned to mine, Gannon’s face twisted in pain.“I-I killed him.”

I nodded as relief filled me; at least we didn’t have to worry about him coming for her.

“Tell me everything,” I said, and as Gannon began recounting his story slowly, the words stuttered and soft, I laid Jacqueline down on a wrestling mat, wincing when she didn’t even flinch from the movements, knowing just by looking at her that moving her even just a little bit should hurt like hell.The fact she hadn’t even whimpered or recoiled told me she was already too close to death to respond to much—if anything at all.

“I could hear her screaming five blocks away,” Gannon was saying, snapping me back to his words.He moaned and pressed his fist into his chest.“Jesus,fuck, Vinny, do something.”Tears trailed down his cheeks as he looked to me to fix this.

I didn’t look up as members of the gym began to circle, but I knew what this much blood would do to other vampires, the way it would call to them, hunger burning up their throats like acid.“Out!All of you,” I yelled.“Every single one of you,leave now!”These men and women respected me, trained with me.I didn’t need to watch them go to know that they would.

A bubbling sound yanked my attention back to my girl.Jacqueline was covered in blood, drenched in so much crimson I couldn’t make out the color of her shirt.I scanned her body, trying to assess where her injuries were and to locate the worst of them but,oh God, there were so many.She was wounded in too many places to count.Her throat—

Fuck, herthroat.

“He was...he was...”Gannon made a choking sound and turned away from us.

He didn’t have to say the words aloud; the damage was evident.He’dtorninto her.

A wave of hunger ripped through me at the sight of the blood pumping from her jugular, burning, carnal need that tried to consumemeso I’d consumeher, but that was followed immediately by a sharp rush of nausea.The thought of losing her made me ache all over, my chest a throbbing, painful mass of anxiety and fear.

I squeezed my eyes shut and stopped breathing.I’d be better off without the scent of her in my lungs, able to focus without the need to feed.

The teeth marks in her neck hadn’t been gentle.Someonerippedinto my girl’s flesh like she was a fucking theme park turkey leg.A horrible sound escaped my lips as I pressed my hand to the open wounds to stop the blood flow, but it was too much, too fast.Her human body couldn’t replenish her blood quickly enough even if I could somehow stop the blood flow.

“He washumming”—Gannon gagged—“it was that...that same song.”Gannon lurched, then spun away from us and expelled his last feeding all over the mat.

My eyes widened.He washumming, like the vampire who’d turned Gannon.But if this was a baby vamp, it couldn’t be the same one...

“Fuck,” I roared as helplessness and anguish consumed me.I couldn’t focus on what that meant when my girl was dying in my arms.

I closed my eyes and made a decision.

I wouldn’t fucking lose this girl.

I tore into the flesh of my wrist and draped my forearm across her mouth.She’d hate me for this, but she’dlive.And a living Jacqueline was all I cared about at that moment.I could spend an eternity apologizing for forcing my blood into her body as long as she stillbreathed.

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