Page 75 of Chased By My Grumpy Alpha
“Don’t try to talk,” I tell her calmly, though panic is clawing at my chest. “Save your strength.”
Her hand moves weakly toward mine, her fingers trembling and ice cold. When I catch them, she squeezes so faintly that I barely feel it.
She’s slipping away from me.
I never should have driven you away, I think, my chest tight with emotion I can’t contain. I was angry because you matter to me more than you should. More than anyone ever has.
She blinks slowly. I think I see recognition flicker in her gaze, but the rattling in her chest is getting worse. Each breath is a struggle now, shallow and uneven.
“Stay with me, Astra,” I command, putting every ounce of authority I possess into my voice. “You’re not allowed to die.”
But she doesn’t respond. Her eyes are losing focus, staring at something I can’t see. The death rattle grows louder, more pronounced.
“Don’t you dare,” I growl at her. “Don’t you dare leave me.” As I stare at her, taking in her bruised face and the empty look in her eyes, a burning fury fills me. “Everyone who hurt you, I’ll make them pay. I’ll turn the streets red with the blood of their families for what they’ve done to you. I’ll make sure of it.”
I lower my forehead to hers, but she’s so still. Just that horrible sound in her chest and the bond between us growing so weak I can scarcely feel it anymore.
Terror pierces me. Seth isn’t back yet. The healers won’t make it in time. I can feel her life force ebbing away like water through my fingers, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
Nothing.
The word echoes in my mind like a death knell. I’m the crown prince of this entire kingdom. I command armies, control vast resources, strike fear into the hearts of my enemies. But I can’t save the one person who matters most.
I can’t save my mate.
The helplessness is devastating. Rage and grief war in my chest as I watch the light fade from her eyes. I’m losing her, and I’m powerless to stop it.
Except...
It strikes me that there is one thing I can do. One way to strengthen our bond, to tie her to me so completely that she can’t slip away.
The mating mark.
But claiming someone who hasn’t consented, someone who doesn’t even understand what we are to each other, goes against everything I’ve been taught about the sacred nature of the mate bond. It’s unethical.
She’s dying, though. Right here in my arms. My mate is dying, and I’m not going to allow it to happen.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper against her ear, my voice hoarse. “I lied to you. You are not annoying.” I brush her hair away from her neck, exposing the delicate skin where her pulse beats weakly. “You’re my mate, Astra. My fated mate. And I’m not letting you go.”
I lean down and press my lips to her throat, feeling the flutter of her pulse against my mouth. Then I bite down, my canines extending to pierce her skin.
The effect is immediate and overwhelming. The bond between us explodes into existence like a supernova—so bright and powerful, it nearly knocks me over. The connection snaps into place like an elastic band stretched to its breaking point and suddenly released.
Mine, my wolf roars in triumph. Ours. Forever.
And through the bond, I feel everything—her pain, her exhaustion, the devastating betrayal that has broken her heart. But I also feel something else flowing from me to her through our newly forged connection.
Life. Strength. The unbreakable power of the mate bond itself.
Chapter Thirteen
Astra
I wake up feeling like I’ve been turned inside out and reassembled wrong.
My body aches in places I didn’t know could ache, but there’s something else—an energy thrumming beneath my skin that feels foreign. Electric. Like someone has replaced my blood with lightning.
For a moment, I don’t know where I am. The last thing I remember is pain. Andrew’s face as he watched me being beaten. The sound Luna made when she hit the wall. The taste of blood in my mouth and the growing certainty that I was going to die in that horrible room.
