Page 32 of Cryptic Dreams
It is covered in blood as well.
A clear hand print wraps around the brass and when I step outside I see more droplets, ones that blend into a steady stream and lead toward the storm cellar doors.
How Orion and Aries missed this, I do not know, but they clearly did because I see only two sets of footprints in the dirt. Bare feet that most likely belong to my mate, and the impression of a boot, steel-toe from what I can tell, and they carry a vile odor that makes my stomach roll.
Disgust.
Rage.
Unfiltered hate.
The male’s emotions linger though he is clearly long gone, hopefully for good or else I will surely make it so.
I stare down at the cellar door, more blood around the handles, and the appearance of a smudged handprint. My heart is racing, my pulse out of control, and the fact that I can scent my beautiful goddess even stronger here has my vision red and swimming with most unnatural tears.
If she... if Zephyr... I can hardly stomach the thought, but so help me if something has happened to my mate, happened at the hand of a disgusting human, my last and only words to her ones that broke her spirit? I shall burn this city to the ground and hope I burn along with it.
Damp earth mixes with Zephyr’s scent as I open the doors, both saturating my senses as the wood clangs on either side of the stairs. The trail of blood grows and when I reach the bottom and see through the pitch black, the scene before me brings me to my knees.
“Orion!” I scream as I crawl on all fours quickly toward Zephyr. “Orion! Aries!”
Without thinking, I pull her into my lap, check for a pulse, bring my face close to hers and feel for breath, both of which are present but so faint I had to physically check because I can scarcely feel our bond. My hands shake as I support her neck, as I tilt her face and get a good look at the injuries there.
“My love. Oh my love, I am so sorry.” Both eyes are black and blue, her left cheek is clearly broken, and her nose is split along the bridge. Her chest barely rises and falls and when my eyes move over her body, I gasp in horror.
There is the hilt of a blade protruding from her middle, the brown carbon fiber the only thing I can see and it is angled up into her ribs, thankfully missing her heart but critical nonetheless. Her tank top and sweater are both saturated in blood, the liquid slightly damp but mostly dry and stuck to her body. Zephyr’s life force, the one we share, is barely flickering in recognition and that means I have but one choice, the only choice since I am not sure my mate will still have me after the way I treated her, and I will not force the decision on her, even in such dire circumstances.
I drop my forehead to hers, tears I have never shed burning my eyes. “I am so sorry, my love. I do not expect forgiveness but I will spend each and every day trying to prove to you just how sorry I am.”
My fingers curl around the hilt and as I shut my eyes tight, I take a deep breath and yank the blade from her body as gently and swiftly as possible. Fresh blood bubbles from the wound, a rush of honey and chamomile swirling around me and just as I hear Orion and Aries bound down the stairs, I lift my head, tear into my wrist with my fangs and let my blood mix with hers in the wound.
“Z?” Orion stops a foot away. “Zephyr? Zephyr?!”
The second my ancient blood mingles with hers, my mate gasps and sucks in a hard breath. Her eyes do not open and she makes no other noise but her breathing instantly evens out and her heartbeat strengthens.
Even if we were not mates my blood would have been beneficial to her, but the fact that we are is exactly why she responded so instantly. She would heal much quicker, regain consciousness and function much sooner if she drank from me, but that decision is hers to make. And while I pray one day Zephyr does make that choice, decides to grant me forgiveness and chooses to be with me of her own free will, I cannot force her to take from me no matter how much I wish for her to.
“Wraith?” Orion sobs. “Wraith, is she—”
“She is with us.” I sigh and smooth her hair from her face. “She is still with us.”
He collapses to the floor across from me, tears streaming down his face as he reaches out to cradle her cheeks. “Z... I’m... ” His words turn into sobs but he still manages to ask, “What happened?”
I carefully caress her cheek before I place Zephyr in Orion’s arms. I have no right to console her, no right to hold her or even love her. “The only thing I am sure of is the fact that this knife”—I hold it up—“is made of silver and that is why our gentle breeze was unable to heal. Why she almost left us for good.”
“She’s going to be ok?” Orion blinks up at me while he holds his cousin tighter.
I nod. “She will recover. It may take a while, may be a long road, but she will recover.”
“Thank you,” he whispers through a fresh wave of tears. “Thank you for—”
“Oh mygod.”
We both turn toward Aries’s voice and follow his line of sight.
Oh my god indeed.
No more than two feet away is another body, an unrecognizable body that looks as though it’s been burnt to a crisp. If I couldn’t scent the distinct human traits the lifeless form carries I would have thought it was a vampire that didn’t quite make it out of the sun.
