Rivers of blood and sand

As we held each other’s gazes in a tense and charged silence, I forced my face blank and my body loose. I shoved down the irrational white hot sting of rejection. It wasn’t me personally that was the problem, he didn’t want a mate, period.

Ander’s eyes tracked over my face for several moments, trying to gauge my reaction, but I didn’t give him anything. Eventually, he said something about how we should get moving again, and I ended up trailing behind him. I was glad he didn’t insist on walking behind me; I wasn’t in the mood to school my features or body language. Hopefully, I wasn’t telegraphing my emotions like he had before. I still couldn’t believe the bond had progressed that much. It was almost like a slap in the face. A tease.

I distracted myself by noting the different shades of gray and brown of the rock pillars, and how their sheens varied. Pulling out my last dagger and the small jars, I took shavings off a few of the variations. Even though Ander never looked over his shoulder, he was never more than ten feet ahead of me, meaning he had slowed down his steps so I wouldn’t be left behind.

I didn’t know how to feel about that. Maybe it would’ve been better if he returned to his previous asshole disposition, it would’ve been easier to hate him that way. Although, even then I’d understand if he acted that way.

It all made sense now. If I were him, I would be wary as hell of others after being manipulated and betrayed like that. Nor could I blame him for his stance on mates, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell. Whenever I thought about all of this for too long, my chest would clench to the point where it was hard to breathe.

Ander’s steps eventually slowed to a stop and he looked over his shoulder at me for the first time in a couple of hours. His lips were firmly pressed together and his body was tense, ready to leap into action at any moment. “We’re close.”

The reminder that the beings might be here, waiting for us, had me tensing and looking around. I didn’t sense anyone or anything other than us. If there were animals here, either they avoided this area, or they knew how to stay hidden. Which wasn’t reassuring. Animals being wary of an area was never a good sign.

I didn’t feel anything different, but I’d learned to trust Ander’s instincts.

His words were confirmed when the man from the Aurora court appeared out of nowhere. He plowed into me, his bony and unnaturally dry hand wrapping around my throat. His raspy growl made my ears ache from the horrible sound. Not only was his hand freezing, but an icy chill seeped into my body in an uncomfortable numbing sensation. It wasn’t a normal kind of cold, but one that reminded me of death. My dragon shied away from the cold, feeling true fear.

As the cold spread through my limbs, warmth flowed out of my body and into his, taking my energy with it. I’d been hitting and kicking him, but despite his frail appearance, he was far from weak. Remembering what happened with the blood mage, I placed my hands on his protruding rib cage and let loose a blast of fire.

He shrieked, the sound inhuman as he released my neck and backhanded me. The strike was harder than I thought possible, and had blood flooding my mouth, and stars filling my vision. The horrible scent of burnt rotten flesh filled my nose as I caught sight of the blackened and bubbling skin of his chest.

The second time he backhanded me was even harder than before and sent me flying into a jagged pillar, that cut into my back in multiple places. My cheek and back stung as I pushed myself to my feet. The icy death invading my body vanished, but even though it was gone, whatever he’d done weakened me. Not by too much, but enough that my breathing was harsh and I stumbled a step as I stood.

The sounds to my left pulled my attention to where Ander was fighting that thing. He was able to keep up with Ander and even had him on the defense for the most part. Movement behind me had me going to turn around, but I was hit on the back of my head before I could do so.

Pain ricocheted through my head and before I could recover, I was viciously bitten on my neck. The bite was more savage than I experienced in the desert, and when I tried to raise my hands, they hit my head again. Dark spots took over my vision as my head throbbed.

They held my hands together in a way that prevented me from releasing my fire. I didn’t stop fighting as they continued gulping down my blood. Luck was on my side this time, my efforts finally paid off, and I was able to pull a hand free, grabbing their wrist and releasing a burst of fire. I only released a small burst, knowing I needed to conserve my energy. No doubt I’d need to use more fire before this fight was over.

His growl had my ears ringing as he released my neck. Wasting no time, I threw my head back, ignoring the sharp burst of pain as I maneuvered out of his grasp. The man wasn’t one I’d seen before, but like the blood-mage woman, he was naked and covered in cuts and black blood.

Having dealt with his kind before, I wasn’t surprised by how fast he ran toward me and managed to duck out of the way. I had dropped my short sword in the attack, forcing me to unsheathe my dagger. I slashed out at him, but he easily evaded. He kicked the back of my leg and I fell to the ground. Before he could take advantage of my weakened position, I rolled to my feet. My leg throbbed, but nothing was broken and I somewhat was able to ignore the pain.

This time when I lashed out, I made contact, drawing blood from his stomach. Instead of being angry or in pain, he smiled, his teeth coated with my blood, making my stomach roll. His manic laugh creeped me out and distracted me enough that I wasn’t able to avoid his next hit to my left shoulder. I don’t think he broke anything, but that didn’t stop it from hurting like a bitch. A numbing tingle shot through my arm and I was glad he didn’t hit my right arm.

He aggressively went on the offense and attempted multiple quick-paced strikes, and I was barely able to avoid each. My breaths were hard and fast, and strands of stray hair were plastered to my face and neck. He managed to disarm me of my dagger and got in my way every time I went to retrieve it.

A cruel smirk lifted his lips and it was clear he thought he had me, knowing I was tiring and less likely to use my fire. But it seemed in his arrogance, he forgot another trick I could pull. This time when he charged, I stepped into the attack as I summoned claws and slashed across his neck. His eyes widened as he clutched his bleeding throat, the rotten blood coming out in rivets. He wasn’t laughing this time around.

After several more deep ruthless slashes, I left him lying on the ground bleeding as I sought out Ander. I’d been so focused on the blood mage that I wasn’t able to focus on anything else. Now that I wasn’t distracted, I felt a strange strain in the center of my chest. It was like a sharp stinging chill. Once I caught sight of Ander, I knew it was coming from him.

I screeched his name as I ran toward him. The skeletal man had him in a chokehold with black veins running from his hands into Ander’s neck. All the while, veins of white ran up Ander’s neck into the man’s hands, turning black as soon as it made contact. I may not have known what he was doing, but I knew it wasn’t good. Especially if he was doing to Ander what he did to me earlier.

Fire heated my palms as I sprinted toward them, no longer caring how much energy I used. As soon as he was within range, I shot a blast of fire at him, careful to only hit him. He released Ander as he howled in agony, but I didn’t stop there. I slashed across his chest and throat before sending another blast of fire into his chest. I held the stream of fire for a couple of seconds before I let the fire recede.

I didn’t waste any more energy on him since he was lying face down on the ground and he made no move to get up. I wasn’t arrogant enough to assume I killed either of the men, but at least they wouldn’t get in my way for now.

Ander’s pulse was faint as I dropped to my knees next to his crumpled body. Rocks dug into my knees and tore into my legs, but I didn’t care. Not when I felt a thready pulse of energy in my chest that vaguely felt like a cord—the cord. It kept flickering in and out of existence. I doubted it was due to how new the bond was, not when it felt like I was standing at the edge of a cliff, with a chasm below me. It was almost like a void of emptiness.

Ander’s normally bronze skin was once again as pale as mine and soaked in sweat. His lips were blue and his skin felt like ice under my fingers, making me recoil. His chest barely moved with shallow breaths and I knew he was hanging in the balance.

Panic tried taking hold of me, my palms sweating as I sorted through my frazzled thoughts. I couldn’t lose him, it didn’t matter if he didn’t want to be with me. I’d rather he be alive than be with him. He needed to exist in our realm. My chest clenched with panic at the thought of never seeing him again. I had to do whatever it took to keep him alive.

I’d never attempted this before, since controlling the temperature of my fire was a weak point of mine, but I was desperate. Placing my hands over his chest, I let my palms warm with fire. I didn’t release it, I only released the warmth—the fire of life as Roman called it.

Ander’s skin remained pale, but when I touched his arm, it was no longer frigid. My hands shook from the amount of energy I just expended, but it hadn’t been enough. His breaths and pulse were still too slow, and I once again was frustrated by my lack of medicinal knowledge. And this time, there wasn’t anyone I could call to help. It was all on me and I was ill-equipped to handle this.

A desperate thought came to mind, but I was willing to try anything.

Fated mates could transfer energy to each other when their bond was complete, but our bond was far from that point. Which was why the desperate actions I was about to take had a high chance of not working.

While fated mates could share energy, they couldn’t share powers. Jade couldn’t summon fire even though Koa could. He could only transfer healing and energy. Even if mine and Ander’s bond had been complete, I myself couldn’t cast sigils, but what if I did what blood mages rarely did with others? What if I mixed my blood with his? Our blood was already mixed within me, but not him.

Using my claws, I sliced open my left palm, barely even feeling the pain. I made a matching slice on his left palm and sealed our hands together, allowing our blood to mix. But I didn’t stop there. I clawed through his shirt over his heart and dug my claws into my right palm until a steady stream of blood poured down my wrist. As before, I placed my bleeding hand over his wound.

The bond was pulsing faster and I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign. In a last-ditch effort, I mentally grasped the cord and sent all the warmth and energy through it as possible. I also added all of the emotions that came to mind when I thought of Ander and everything he went through. Emotions I hadn’t been willing to look too deeply into. I added the rage and agony from my dragon at the thought of him dying. I remembered how comfortably I fit into his arms, how he grounded me whenever I was lost.

I gave him everything I had and more.

My eyelids became heavy, as did my head. At some point, I dropped my head to his chest and closed my eyes. His chest moved under my head with his steady breaths and his pulse raced under my hand.

I had just pried my eyes open when the stone forest rippled and we were pulled into darkness.