Page 34 of Demon's Heart
Luc narrowed his eyes, glancing from Dante to Ollie. His eyes flashed red and a smirk twisted his lips. “Don’t tell me you’re obsessed with this one like Ash was with that other boy?”
“Harper is Ash’s mate,” Dante spat. It didn’t matter thatOllie was hearing things he didn’t understand. He’d explain later. It would all be okay once Luc let Ollie go.
Dante took a step closer and Luc yanked Ollie’s head back, exposing his neck, warning flashing in Luc’s eyes. Dante’s limbs went numb, and he froze. Sweat broke out on his neck as his gut twisted, sending pain through his core. He had to protect Ollie. Why hadn’t he stayed glued to his side?
Luc laid a hand on Ollie’s throat, and Ollie’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Stop lying about mates, Dante,” Lucifer hissed. “Ash was talking shit, and I didn’t fall for it. You think all you have to do is saymate, and it will be true. Like I’d believe any of you. You’re all deluded.”
Dante raised his arms in surrender. Luc needed to get his hands the fuck off Ollie, but one wrong move and Luc could crush Ollie’s windpipe.
“Ash wasn’t lying about Harper. We aren’t deluded. Listen to me, Luc. You should want to hear this more than anyone. Finding our mates is possible. Ollie is my mate. Now, let him go, or I will kill you. I swear it.”
Ollie released a low, strangled sound that cut Dante to the depths of his damned soul.
“I don’t believe you.” Luc’s eyes glowed red and he beat his wings, fingers flexing against the pale skin of Ollie’s neck. “We will never find our mates. We’ve known that for well over a thousand years. Yet, you expect me to believe you and Ash have suddenly found yours?”
“Yes. It’s true. I don’t know how they’re here after so long…” Dante’s fingertips tingled and his mouth went dry. Ollie looked at him like he’d been betrayed, cutting Dante deeper than anything. He took an unsteady breath. “You’re holding my mate by the throat, Luc. It’s a crime to act like this. The highest offense. You know this. Please, let him go. Even after all this time, you know the bond is sacred. You can’t come between us.”
Luc pressed his lips to Ollie’s ear, whispering too low for Dante to hear over the waves crashing on the rocks behind them. Ollie’s wide eyes filled with tears.
“Luc! Stop!” Dante yelled as the tears spilled down Ollie’s cheeks.
The Devil’s fire-red eyes fixed on Dante. “There is no bond between you two. If there was, you wouldn’t be pissing yourself right now. If you were bonded, I wouldn’t be able to kill him so easily.” The nails on Luc’s hand lengthened into lethal points, pricking Ollie’s throat. Luc’s face twisted as if something pleasing occurred to him. “There is one way to know for sure if you’re telling the truth.”
“No!” Dante screamed, launching forward at full speed, wings erupting from his back.
But he wasn’t fast enough. He couldn’t cross the rocks faster than Luc could flick his wrist.
Lucifer dragged his nails across Ollie’s throat, cutting so deep his fingers disappeared into Ollie’s flesh. Blood burst from the gash, Ollie’s eyes popping wide in horror as he choked and grabbed at his neck, his body dissolving into convulsions as blood poured over his fingers.
Luc tossed Ollie away as Dante reached him. He caught his mate, holding tight. Instantly, Ollie’s blood coated Dante’s arms and chest. There was so much. Everywhere but where it needed to be, safe inside his mate.
Everything in Dante’s body screamed. He shook as he clutched Ollie.No. Not this. Not Ollie. He can’t die. Not yet, and not like this.
Dante may never see his mate again if he passed into the Eternal Realm. His soul could be held captive. Dante wouldn’t risk it. He had to save him. But would the bond be enough? It was too soon.
Dante ripped his trembling wrist open with his teeth andpressed it to Ollie’s slack mouth as he bent and licked some of the blood from Ollie’s chest.
Tears filled Dante’s eyes and spilled down his cheeks. No sound reached his ears except the horrible gurgling coming from Ollie’s throat. He tasted nothing—felt nothing but emptiness—as he swallowed his mate’s blood and began the incantation to bind their souls together forever.
If cemented properly, the mating bond would give Ollie Dante’s demon healing powers. It was the only way to save him from a fatal wound, as long as the wound didn’t kill him before Dante finished the spell.
Magic flared around Dante, grating on his frayed nerves like acid on his skin. Cold seawater chilled his legs, and he realized he’d fallen to his knees in the tidepool. The water was red with blood, dark and desolate, Ollie’s life force staining the rocks.
Ollie turned cold in Dante’s arms, his eyes glassy and chest barely moving as horrible sounds ripped from his mangled throat.
Dante chanted the mating spell with everything he had, pouring magic and thousands of years’ worth of longing into the ritual.Anything for Ollie. Please don’t let it be too late.
As Dante’s chant faded, the spell complete, he rested his forehead against Ollie’s, tears falling onto Ollie’s clammy skin.
Ollie’s heartbeat was so faint Dante could barely make it out over his own. The rhythm slowed, then stopped. Dante’s stopped too, his muscles locking up. It was as if his body no longer belonged to him, but he’d rather die than come away from this without Ollie.
With a shudder that went down to his toes, Dante’s heart restarted, and when it did, so did Ollie’s, stronger now, beating in sync with Dante’s.
The connection between them flared. Magic raced through Dante’s veins, pulling power out of him and toward Ollie in ablinding pain so sharp it drowned everything out, stealing Dante’s vision in a flash of light.
Everything hurt, Dante’s body screaming in silent agony.
He welcomed Ollie’s pain. He called it to him, taking it away from Ollie. Dante’s throat felt ripped open, his lungs heavy like he was drowning, but it was okay. Dante would take any pain if it meant Ollie was still here.
