She had lost too much blood. Between me and Roman, she had nothing left.
A horrible pain grew in my chest, starting in my heart and moving toward my extremities. Everything hurt. The last time Luna’s life had been in danger, I made a promise to save her.
Promises wouldn’t help her now. Being careful of her neck, I took her hand in mine and called her name. There was no response.
“Luna!” I tried again with more urgency.
A rattling cough was my only reply.
My heart cracked. “Please,” I whispered.
Nothing.
“Come back to me,” I begged her, raising her hand and pressing it to my lips. “I need you. I love you.”
The Binding Mark burned on my wrist, but there was no response. She was mine, and she was dying because of me.
This was my fault. All of this was my fault. I was a fool to think I could ever have something good. That love would ever be given to someone like me.
Darkness ran through my veins. Death was my only companion. Luna was dying.
Because.
Of.
Me.
I had seen injuries like this before. This was not the type of thing anyone survived. At least not without intervention.
Before I could even think about what I was doing, I raised my wrist to my lips. Yanking back my sleeve, I bit through my flesh. The moment I tasted blood, I lowered my wrist to Luna’s mouth.
Part of me was screaming. I wasn’t giving her a choice. She deserved to have a choice.
I wasn’t even sure what would happen when I gave her my blood. Not now, with her so close to death. There was a chance that this would work as it usually did, keeping her alive and as she was now.
A human Bound and Tethered to a vampire prince. Or it could Make her.
She might have lost too much blood. She might have been too close to the edge. We had never discussed what it would mean to Make her. If she ever wanted it.
Being Bound meant Luna was already tied to me, but she had never expressed a desire to be more. To be like me.
Our marriage had been forced on her. She had been ripped away from everything. Her sick brother. Her family.
And now this.
I couldn’t let Luna die. She was my world. My heart. She was my reason for living.
I couldn’t save Athena. But this I could do. I had to save her. So I took her jaw in my hand until my wrist was directly above her mouth.
“Drink,” I whispered as drops of my blood dripped into her mouth.
A long moment passed as nothing happened.
“Please,” I begged her. “Drink.”
More blood entered her, and my heart twisted as I waited for her to move. To drink. To come back to me.
Every moment felt like an eternity, but soon, the wound on her neck slowly stitched itself together.