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Claire could just round in front of the roaring wall of fire He was naked, as well, sprawled brokenly on his side as he had been on the forest floor after Renata had blasted hi only now that the length of black stone beneath her feet was merely a narrow strip of solid surface, a treacherous promenade that allowed no more than a couple of feet on either side of her The black stone path floated over a sea of darkness, an abyss, which, at its core burned like the deepest pits of hell And Andreas lay at the very end of the long stretch of cold stone "Oh, God," she whispered as she drew nearer, realizing just how precarious his position truly was One careless movee and plu below Claire approached him carefully and inched down next to him on the sheer precipice of stone Tenderly, terrified of waking hiers over his cheek He didn’t stir His skin was too cold, his breathing unrushed, slumberous He slept on, didn’t even know she was there "That’s okay, Andre," she told him softly as she e
She curled herself behind hi and ive hiether for a while I’ll ith you until you’re ready to come back to me"
Chapter Thirty-Five
It’s been five days, Lucan We have some decisions that will need to be lanced over to the worried gaze of Dante’s mate, Tess She had been the one to discover Claire unconscious at Reichen’s side the day after the explosion at Dragos’s bunker In the ti a close watch on both Reichen and Claire, ensuring that they were kept war for so one or both of the had worked "Andreas’s Breed er than Claire’s human one," she said "He can probably survive another feeeks orquickly Unless we get so soon" Lucan stared down at the wohtly against Reichen’s body, her ar him in what looked to be a fiercely protective embrace Her sleep seemed vastly different from Reichen’s Where he lay motionless, unresponsive, Claire’s eyes flickered rapidly behind her closed lids Her fine ht in a brief doze, not dead to the world for the past several days "You’ve tried everything to atte, Lucan It’s as if her body--as well as her heart and mind--simply refuses to co herself to re Claire’s eyelids twitch with thethis whole time?" "Yes, since the mo her talent to be with Andreas" Lucan huffed out a heavy sigh "Even if it kills her in the process?" "You saw theentle with sympathy and not a little awe "I suppose I can understand the depth of devotion--of pure, unshakable love--that would inspire this kind of sacrifice If it were Dante on that bed and I thought I could reach hiht in there, too For however long it ht take I know if it were Gabrielle, you would do the sa to stand there and deny it
But neither could he stand by and knowingly allow Claire, or Reichen, to waste ahile he watched He glanced back to Tess and gave the Breedht nod "Gather whatever you need froo inform everyone of the situation"
Several thousand miles away from Boston, on a remote stretch of railroad track that led into the frozen heart of Alaska’s interior, the wrecked reo container lay open and abandoned to the elements It had made the journey from the industrial yard in Albany, New York, to the rail station that sent it ard across the country, arriving as planned four days ago at the port of Seattle
Froe and shipped north, where it was scheduled to reach its final destination just a s of trouble had been detected by Dragos’s lieutenant and the cadre of Gen One guards escorting the dangerous cargo, it was already far too late to stop as about to occur Now that dangerous cargo was gone The container was eed, bloodied bodies that littered its floor and the snow-covered ground outside And leading away from the moonlit tracks, into the tree-choked, frozen wilderness beyond, was a trail of huge footprints made by a feral, deadly creature not of this world A creature that had been biding its tiy and co for its chance to escape
Chapter Thirty-Six
The endless dark refused to release his expanded and drew in air as if he’d been underwater and just broke through the surface after half a year of drowning in the tide He gasped in sharply, then ian to choke on the acrid taste of sulfur and sht draped around his Claire’s ar the length of hiulfed hiht He kneas drea that he’d been lost in the darkness of this other real time And Claire ith him Good Christ had she been here with hith of her arly so
She didn’t stir at all as he gently stroked her What troubled hi of her breath beside his ear, the notable lirasped them in his own and tried to rouse her "Claire," he ish and rusty in the heavy pall of this sed dream "Claire?" She wouldn’t respond Panic clutched hilow of fla up from far below the cold hard perch where he and Claire had been lying together As he sat up, the fla but were now stirring with renewed life Beyond the steep, narrow ledge was a great abyss A pit of fire and roiling lava churned at the bottoed violently upward, twisting and tu hi loose of its shackles, the fire lunged for hirab across the stone ledge, stretching greedy fingers of flame toward the place where he and Claire sat Reichen quickly covered Claire’s body with his oisting himself over her as the heat roared all around the and relentless But it couldn’t touch her He wouldn’t peret near her He belloith fury as the force of his pyro rolled over him and around him This hellish heat was his--it was hiht The very power that had protected hiround lair
Memory of that moment slammed into him in an instant He recalled how he’d had to conjure every measure of his fury in order to shield himself from the inferno that had erupted all around him The pyro had spared hih with hi inside him Ready to consume him, just as Claire had tried to warn him Just as he himself had known it would, froodforsaken field in Haave one fraction of his will to keep Claire safe fro would own him And it would destroy Claire in the process He felt the fires searching for her, flary for a taste of the treasure he was denying therowl "Goddamn it No" With his arms and body wrapped around her to shield her, Reichen turned all of his rage inward He focused on the heat that lived in the deepest core of his being He reached for it with histhe pyro try to slither out of his grasp as he seized on it and yanked it tight in the fist of his determination He couldn’t let it win He had to finally take control of the beast He had to thened hiscoil of fire inside him All around hi heat that was slowly being beaten down, extinguished In the periphery of his gaze, he saw the writhing colue, back into the deep abyss that had borne theo He turned his face toward the rolling, gnashing fires that were still seeking to leap out of the pit, his teeth and fangs bared in a tight sneer as he roared with power and furious intent
"No!" he bellowed "I own you You will bow to ave him the resolve he needed in this moment His need to protect her, to keep her safe above all else, was the driving force that made him certain he could defeat the curse of his destructive power It was the love she’d given hi inside him, in his veins, in the blood bond that linked him to her now and always--that ht not only master his hellish ability butmore than a curse He knew a sudden certainty that the curse he had dreaded for so long ht one day beco hi to hope, and to his love for Claire, as he commanded the fires to quell
He sent them back down into the abyss below, not out of fear or self-conte sense of unshakable control A triuan to gasp its death The fires went dark in the pit The choking ash and s open, Reichen lifted his head and found hie of cold black stone, but in the center of a large bed He was curled over the s her, even though the dark dream had finally released theht? Open your eyes for ut He said her na look of her as she layloosely over her cold, sallo He took her slender shoulders in his hands and gave her listless body a firm shake "Claire Wake up now" An icy pain stabbed him as he leaned down and pressed his mouth to her parched, cracked lips She was so weak starving The piercing jab he was feeling now belonged to her He felt the severity of her hunger echoing in his blood, keening in his veins He thought back to the endless drea had it been since he was last awake? He reos’s vacated lair with the Order He re Wilhelround headquarters, and the look of fear and horror on Claire’s face as he strode out of the rubble engulfed in hellish fire He ree as she railed at hi to let hiht have been days since he’d lost consciousness Maybe a week orhad Claire been with hi to coh the darkness? "Claire, please Open your eyes Tell me you can hearhis heart cracking open as he held her weakened body against him
"Let me know that you are still with me, that I haven’t lost you" God help hi, her breathing far too thready and shallow Reichen vaguely registered the sound of approaching footfalls outside the open door of the roo Claire around Soasped from within the corridor, followed by athered outside the door "Holy hell," Tegan muttered, a curse that was echoed by more than one person Reichen didn’t know if their stunned reaction was meant for the fact that he ake and absent of the pyro or for the disturbing condition of Claire lying lian, and several other members of the Order who stood outside the room with Tess and the rest of the Breedmates who lived in the cos of clear liquid Behind theurney fro with Claire," he h his body, settling behind his sternu the ht "No It’s too late for that," heinstinctively that she was beyond the need of any mortal intervention She needed blood Asher harh to keep her safe from what the pyro had made him become, Reichen felt beyond any shadow of doubt that he was the only one who could save her now He snarled when a couple of the warriors began to enter the room, as if they meant to pull Claire away from him She was his--now and always "Come back to me," he whispered, then lifted his wrist to his ed from his veins as he carried the wound to her slack lips and pressed the punctures against her tongue "Drink, Claire," he whispered softly, holding her head up and willing her to live He didn’t care if he had to beg her Didn’t care that they had an audience watching in solemn, uncertain silence just a few feet away "Drink for le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">