“I know. I’m sorry about what I did… if I—”
He cut her off by pressing his finger against her lips. “We can talk about it later.”
He offered the t-shirt again and she took it this time, slipping it on over her head. It dwarfed her, but at least that meant it covered all the distracting parts of her, allowing him to focus again.
“Ready?” he said and she nodded. He took hold of her hand, clutching it in his, and looked down at her, absorbing her beauty and the affection that shone in her blue eyes as she stared at him, stealing every last drop of her attention because it gave him strength when he had none left. Only his feelings for her, his need to protect her and ensure she would be safe, were keeping him going now. “Good, then let’s go… because I have a job to do.”
A job he finally felt would be the end of him.
For the first time in his life, he feared death.
He feared it because he didn’t want to leave Cait behind.
He didn’t want to lose her just as he had found her.
He wanted to be with her.
He wanted to live with her.
The woman he had fallen in love with.
CHAPTER 14
Cait caught Owen as he almost fell down the steps that led into the canyon, grabbing his left arm and holding him upright. He shot his right hand out, pressing it into the black rock wall, and breathed hard. Beads of sweat dotted his brow and he closed his eyes, the muscle of his jaw popping as he clenched his teeth.
He was in a worse condition than he had let on and she cursed him for trying to hide how dire his situation was from her.
“I have a cure,” she said and slung his arm around her, helping him down the rest of the wooden steps.
He grunted in response.
“I have to get you somewhere and give you my blood.” She didn’t want to mention what came after that stage. He didn’t need to know that she would have to hurt him, not when he was already weak and probably feeling vulnerable.
Owen shook his head. “Marius.”
“I know we have to find him… but can’t it wait?” She looked across at Owen as she guided him along the corridor, supporting his weight. He was burning up against her, his bare torso slick with sweat, and she could feel him shaking.
Time was running out for him. It was a miracle he had survived this long. He wouldn’t last much longer though.
Owen managed to shake his head again.
“Leave you vulnerable,” he gritted out and she realised that was the reason why he didn’t want her to give him her blood.
He was worried about her.
She wanted to hit him for being more worried about her than he was about himself, treating himself as unimportant. He was important.
He was important to her.
“I don’t care,” she bit out and weathered his scowl as he turned to face her. “I only care about you, Owen.”
His green eyes softened and he slowly lifted his right hand and settled it against her cheek. “Cait.”
When he leaned more heavily on her, his face paling further, she made the decision for him. She set him down on the floor of the canyon and leaned him against the wall. It didn’t matter if she left herself vulnerable by giving Owen her blood. All that mattered was ensuring he would survive.
She couldn’t lose him.
She looked him in the eye and lifted her right wrist to her mouth, her fangs elongating in preparation to sink into her flesh and draw her blood for him.
A blow came out of nowhere, connecting hard with the left side of her head and knocking her down into the black dirt.
A bright flash of purple light chased back the darkness as Owen threw his hand to his right, towards the area where she had been held in a cage. The blast of magic struck Marius directly in his chest, hurling him through the air.
“Cait.” Owen tried to reach for her and wavered, slumping forwards.
She shoved herself onto her knees again, caught his arms and righted him. Her eyes darted between his and she growled when she saw how dull they were and felt him trembling beneath her hands.
“I’ve got this,” she whispered and smoothed her fingers across his brow, brushing the sweat-soaked strands of his dark hair from it as she smiled at him. She lowered her head and swept a kiss across his lips, lingering for a moment to savour the intimate caress and his tender response. “Just wait here. I’ll be right back.”
She didn’t wait for him to nod or give her any indication he would do as she had asked. She launched to her feet and ran at Marius where he was picking himself up off the ground near the entrance to the area where they had kept her in a cage.
He was going to pay in blood for that.
Marius spotted her and scrambled across the dusty ground, disappearing down the corridor to her right, heading into the oval area beyond. She growled and sprinted after him, afraid of leaving Owen behind but unwilling to let Marius escape. The quicker she dealt with him, the sooner she could return to Owen. She needed to end this in order to save Owen, because Marius would keep trying to attack her whenever she let her guard down to give Owen her blood.
Her senses sparked in an alert and she dropped, hurling herself feet first across the ground, sliding into the oval area and under the blade Marius had swung at her.
She dug her heels into the ground to stop herself from sliding and rolled onto her front. She kicked off and sprang at Marius, seizing hold of his arm before he could move to block her attack. He howled in agony as she sank her teeth into his bare arm and tore at his flesh, ripping deep grooves in it with her fangs. The sharp coppery tang of his blood filled the air and he dropped the weapon as he turned on her, slamming his left fist into her chest to knock her back.
Cait released him and flipped backwards, landing on her feet a short distance away. Marius gave chase, the weapon forgotten as he came at her hard and fast, his eyes flashing bright blue. He bared his fangs on a snarl and black fur rippled over his exposed skin.
She beat him to the shift, tearing her t-shirt off and transforming as quickly as she could manage, snarling as pain tore through her as her limbs twisted and altered and black fur swept over her body. She twitched her twin tails and blue fire swept down them, covering their entire lengths, and burst from beneath her paws.
Marius completed his shift, becoming a larger version of herself, a sleek black beast with blue fire flickering along his tails and from between his fangs. His eyes glowed brightly and fire blazed around his paws as he growled and launched himself at her.
Cait rolled to evade him and swiped at his hindquarters with her claws. She missed.
Marius skidded on the sandy ground and pounded towards her, the blue fire beginning to twine up his legs as he called on more of his strength. She sprang into the air as he reached her, leaping high over him and twisting over to ensure she landed on her paws. Marius slammed into her side the second she made contact with the ground, knocking her down.
He landed on top of her, his fangs flashing in the low light as he struck at her throat. Cait rolled onto her back and kicked hard, scratching his belly with her claws. He grunted and hissed and raked his claws down her right cheek.
Cait snarled and smacked him hard, slamming her left front paw into his jaw at the same time as she kicked him with her back legs, sending him up into the air. She rolled away from beneath him and came up onto her paws.
Blue fire twisted around her legs and burned brighter, growing as her anger began to consume and control her, birthing a need for violence and bloodshed.
The male hellcat bared his fangs at her and his fire engulfed his body. Cait growled and allowed hers to do the same, the heat of it flickering and licking across her fur stoking her fury as she stared him down, daring him to make the first move.
The walls of the canyon glowed blue from their fire as Marius stared right back at her, his bright cerulean eyes becoming almost white as he stalked towards her, his shoulders shifting beneath his black fur with each measured
step.
He threw his head side to side and growled just before he ran at her.
Cait readied herself to leap, her muscles twitching beneath her fur, and launched into the air as he closed in on her. He leaped too, colliding with her in mid-air and taking her down onto the dirt. She struggled beneath him, snarling and growling, trying to kick him off her.
He had read her body and had known what she had intended to do. She had left herself wide open to attack and he had seized the opportunity she had given him.
His weight pressed down on her and she wasn’t strong enough to break free from underneath him this time.
She roared in agony as his head came down, his jaws clamping around her throat, fangs pressing into her flesh. Pain blazed through her, white-hot and burning her to ashes inside as she struggled beneath him, clawing and kicking him, trying to break free before he strangled her. She couldn’t lose. Owen was waiting for her.
His life depended on her.
She hissed and raked her claws over Marius’s head, her blue flames clashing with his, sparking whenever they touched.
Marius bit down harder and Cait fought for air, her vision beginning to swim as he cut off her supply and the pain grew more intense, too much for her to bear.
She whimpered, weakly fighting against Marius, her paws too heavy to lift as he starved her body of oxygen.
She stared at the dark sky and prayed to her gods, wishing she could have seen Owen one last time and asking them to bring them together in the afterlife to give her the forever she had begun to want with him.
A bright blue blast zipped across the darkness from her right like lightning, struck Marius and sent the male hellcat flying through the air as he growled in pain.
Cait breathed hard, wheezing as air suddenly rushed into her burning lungs, and her eyes watered as her head fell to her right, towards the source of the blast that had saved her.
Owen lay on his front on the black ground in the entrance to the oval area, his right hand still outstretched in front of him, tiny blue sparks leaping between his fingers.
She rolled over and grunted as she shifted back as quickly as she could manage while she was still struggling to overcome the effects of Marius’s attack on her. When she had transformed, she shoved onto her feet and staggered towards Owen. She ran her gaze over him, reassuring herself that he was unharmed, and grabbed the sword from the dirt beside him.
She had to finish this.
She wasn’t strong enough to take Marius out in her cat form.
But she could cut the bastard’s head off in her normal form.
Owen muttered something beneath his breath and closed his eyes, stretching his right hand out towards the other end of the oval. The metal cages that filled that end of it began to shudder and lift off the ground.
Blue fire erupted in the darkness again as Marius found his feet and the flames swept back over his entire body, covering him from his nose to the tips of his tails.
Cait breathed hard and readied her blade, preparing herself to take whatever chance Owen was working to give to her.
A green glow lit Owen’s hand and tiny orbs began to race around it, zipping between his fingers and twisting around his palm. The black metal cages shot into the air and Marius turned on them with a snarl and kicked off. Too late. The first cage hit the dirt in the direction he had been about to run, forcing him to bank right. A second cage dropped there, almost hitting him. Marius growled and banked left this time, but a third cage blocked his way. He turned and ran towards Cait and she realised what Owen was doing.
He wasn’t trying to hit Marius.
He was driving Marius into her path.
She launched herself forwards, gripping the blade with both hands, holding it down at her right side.
Owen dropped three more cages as Marius attempted to run at her, breaking his stride and forcing him to keep twisting and turning, skidding left and right on the black dusty ground. There were only two more cages left. Cait had to position herself to make them count. She skidded behind one of the cages that had already fallen and stayed low, out of sight of Marius.
He began to run at Owen instead and Owen dropped the last two cages on either side of Marius, forcing him to stay on a collision course with him.
The moment Marius had passed her, Cait sprang from her hiding place, launched up onto the top of one of the last cages Owen had dropped and kicked off from it, propelling herself through the air. She tucked her right knee against her stomach and left her other leg trailing behind her as she brought her sword back over her head. She set her sights on Marius as he closed in on Owen, forcing herself to focus on the male hellcat rather than her mate, knowing that if she looked at Owen, it would distract her.
Because he had passed out.
She began to descend towards Marius. He bared his fangs and dipped low, preparing himself to leap on Owen.
Cait didn’t give him the chance.
The moment he kicked off with his back legs, she brought her sword down in a swift and deadly arc, putting all of her strength into the single blow to his neck. The blade cleaved straight through his spine, the bone grating against the metal and turning her stomach, and sliced clean through his flesh, severing his head.
His body instantly slumped and skidded across the ground. His head rolled across it, the fire in his blue eyes spluttering out. It came to a halt near Owen.
Cait landed silently on the ground, took two swift strides towards Owen, dropping the sword along the way, and kicked the head away from him. It rolled into the darkness.
She didn’t take a moment to celebrate defeating Marius because it didn’t matter to her, not when Owen was lying unconscious on the ground in front of her, his life in grave danger.
She dropped to her knees beside him, rolled him onto his back so he lay against her thighs, and brought her left wrist up to her lips. She sank her fangs into it and gave a deep pull on her own blood to get it flowing. The coppery liquid flooded her mouth and she filled it before pulling her wrist away, bending over Owen, and placing her mouth on his. She coaxed his jaw open with her left hand and let her blood flow from her mouth and into his in a kiss that she hoped would be enough to give them a shot at forever.
He was still as her blood flowed into him and she rubbed his throat, convincing him to swallow it. His throat worked beneath her fingers and he moaned as he took her blood into his body. She drew back and stared down at him, brushing his tangled dark hair from his brow as she waited for him to come around. He was burning up again, sweat making his ashen skin slick beneath her fingers.
“Owen,” she murmured and lowered her left wrist to his mouth. “Drink for me now, Owen. Take what you need.”
His lips parted and she placed her wrist over them, her eyes locked on his face as he began to drink from her vein. He paled further and shuddered. His hands came up, trying to shove her wrist away from his mouth, and she sensed his panic. She wrapped her right arm around him and clutched him to restrain him as she forced her left wrist against his lips.
“You need it, Owen… don’t fight it. I’m right here. I’m with you. Don’t you want to be with me too?” She bit back her tears as they burned her eyes and held on to him, hoping he knew she was the one with him and that he was safe. “Take my blood, Owen… it will make this nightmare end for both of us.”
He began drinking again, stronger this time, and his shivering started to subside but more sweat broke out across his brow and his bare chest, turning his skin shiny in the light from the torches.
When her head turned and weakness swept through her, she reluctantly pulled her wrist away from his bloodied lips, hoping that she had given him enough.
She looked down at him before lowering her head and pressing a kiss to his lips. Her stomach turned, flipping over and over as she thought about what she had to do next.
She had to face the worst part.
She needed to make him shift.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her lips
brushing his damp forehead as she fought for the strength to do what she had to do in order to save him.
She drew back and found him looking at her, his green eyes dull but focused on her. She smiled and stroked his hair, wishing with all of her aching heart that there was another way, because she had already put him through too much pain and suffering.
“I don’t want to do this but I have to… you need to understand that. I don’t have a choice.” Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked down at him and concern grew in his green eyes as they moved between hers.
They lost their focus and began to slip shut but he managed to open them again. She could feel the effort it had taken for him to do that and it was clear to her that he was losing his fight. Her blood had given him back a fraction of his strength, but it was fading fast as his body consumed it.
She had to do it now, or she was going to lose him forever.
Cait gently laid him down on the black ground.
“I have to make you shift.” She forced herself to hold his dull gaze as it widened, a flicker of understanding sparking in it.
He knew what she had to do.
She pulled down a deep breath, expelled all of her fear and pain on a sharp exhale, and rose onto her feet. She picked up the sword she had discarded and Owen eyed it, no fear in his green gaze. Only understanding.
“It will hurt… and I’m sorry.” Cait moved to stand over him, her hand shaking against the hilt of the silver blade.
Owen croaked, “Do it.”
His sensual bloodied lips tilted into a smile and it touched her, filling her with warmth, because she knew it was meant to comfort her and give her strength.
She nodded and poised the point of the blade above his left shoulder, a place where it would hurt him enough to force him to shift but wouldn’t be a dangerous wound.
She took one last look into his eyes, seeing the conviction in them, before looking away, unable to bring herself to watch as she hurt the man that she had fallen in love with. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she drove the blade down into his shoulder and she closed her eyes as his agonised cry shattered the still air.
Bitten by a Hellcat Page 13
