Page 75 of Desired for Her Blood
I turn toward him, keeping my gaze on his forehead, lest my eyes betray me. “While I concede thatothersexperience an emotion which they equate with the conventional concept of love, I do not.”
“You’re kidding yourself.” Ryker shakes his head and our gazes meet.
I feel a shock of recognition in his eyes—like he’s seeing something inside me I barely see in myself. Ryker understands why love is impossible for me.
But this connection I feel with him, having another know me like this, is strange and uncomfortable. I’m not sure I like it.
I turn away. “My Makers ruined me for the possibility of such things.” Love, mating, even normal sexual pleasure. They destroyed all of that for me.
Ryker passes Ember’s unconscious body into my arms, and another look passes between us that’s even more powerful.
Holding Ember, I give my head a quick mental shake, hoping to set my mind straight, and then I stride into the water, careful to keep her face above water.
Kicking my legs, I swim slowly, approaching the glimmering light. I have not yet experienced the effects of the Illuminant. What if it does not work for me? What if giving her so much of my blood negated the impacts of my drinking hers? What if it has worn off in the seven plus hours since I took her vein?
Unused to so much uncertainty, performing an experiment with so many uncontrollable variables, I force my fears aside.
Moments ago, I was willing to die for, but something has shifted inside me. I want to live. I want to live for her.
And for that chance, I am willing to suffer.
As we approach the circle of sunlight, I turn to swim backwards so it will be my body, not hers, which will hit the light first. The warmth hits my back, and I tense up, but there is no pain. She truly is the Illuminant.
With my next slow kick, the sunlight strikes her face.
Her skin starts to sizzle, and every instinct tells me to swim away, to take her out of the light, but I don’t. Instead, I lift her higher, but even through the water, the skin on her body burns.
Pain tightens my heart. The other men shout from the shore, but I can’t make out their words.
How long should I let this go on?
Someone dives into the water, and then Axel emerges at my side, his face burning in the sunlight.
“Get her out of the light.” He reaches for me with burning arms.
I stare at Ember, her blistering skin now turning black in places, and I kick my legs, propelling us out of the sunlight toward the edge of the pool.
Ryker takes her from my arms and carries her to the furs, cradling her burnt body in his arms. A splash grabs my attention, and I turn to see Axel, badly burned, struggling to stay afloat.
The bear drops below the surface, and I dive, the water rushing past me as I spot his body sinking through the lighted part of the pool. I grab the big hybrid under his arms, his burned skin flaking off, and then kick hard to get us out of the light and back to solid ground.
Laying the big man on the edge of the pool, I leap out, ready to do whatever it takes to revive him, but he turns to his side on the cold stone, coughing, his skin already starting to heal.
Leaving him to recover, I leap over to the furs, where Ryker is rocking Ember in his arms.
“Is she healing?” I ask.
He looks down at her so quickly it’s almost as if the idea of her healing hadn’t occurred to him until I mentioned it. “I’m…I’m not sure.”
I focus on one of her hands, observing it carefully, trying to think of this as a scientific experiment, objectively evaluating any changes.
I suck in a breath of relief.
“She’s healing.” I lay my hand on Ryker’s shoulder. “Give her time.”
Axe arrives, his body sunburned, some of his body hair singed or gone entirely, but he’s showing signs of recovery.
Ember moans, and shifts her hips.
