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As the words pass his lips, Caspian reaches up and grabs the chain hanging around Eugene’s neck, holding the glass bottle in his palm.

“Let them go,” he commands Lucien, just as Eugene slides the blade across Caspian’s throat. Blood gushes from the wound and his eyes widen in shock. He stumbles, grabs Eugene’s shirt, his weight sagging against the older man, who instinctively takes a step back. I watch in horror as the shadow slides away from my ankles in the same heartbeat that Caspian and Eugene topple over the edge of the cliff.

“No!” I roar.

Behind me, there’s an awful howl and bloodcurdling screams from Eugene’s men. Kiernan cries, calling out for Caspian. Putting all my fear of heights aside, I leap off the edge, stretch out my arms and angle myself towards the sea.

When I hit the water, I open my eyes. Wide and glowing, I search the depths for my mate. My heart beats out of time, fear choking me while I silently beg him to be okay. The first person I find is Eugene. He’s alive, but barely. Without a second thought, I dig my nails into his throat and tear it from his body, leaving the remains of him for the fishes. Then I dive back below the water, kicking my legs to propel me through the surf, my eyes finally landing on Caspian. He’s on his back, his eyes closed and blood seeping from the wound in his neck.

Carefully, I wrap my arms around his waist and pull him out of the water, laying him down on the beach.

“Caspian.” I tap his cheek, then hold my ear to his mouth. His breath is soft. Too soft. I shake his shoulders. “Wake up, my mate. Please wake up.”

For the first time in my life, I cry. Fat, hot tears streaming down my face. I cradle Caspian’s body to mine, and press my lips to his neck, his pulse weak, fading with every beat of his heart.

“You have to live, Caspian. For me. For Applesauce and Bagel. Live, sweetheart.”

Lying him on his back, I open his mouth and blow inside, pumping on his chest like I’ve seen human paramedics do, but it doesn’t work. His skin pales and the beat of his heart and the one in my chest grows so faint I can barely feel it.

A shadow passes over me and then there’s a thud on the sand. I look over my shoulder just as the giant bird-like creature sets Kiernan on his feet. He rushes over, falling to his knees, hands cupping Caspian’s cheeks.

“Cas. Cas. Please wake up.” Kiernan turns to me. “You have to save him.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know how.”

“Work it the fuck out then, Sterling!” Kiernan yells. He’s trembling but holding himself together. For his friend.

I slide a hand into Caspian’s, resting my thumb against the weak pulse in his wrist.

“I love you, Caspian. Don’t leave me. We were meant to rebuild and then grow old together.”

“You have to turn him,” Kiernan says, his hand wrapping around my upper arm, urgency in his voice. “You have to make him a monster, just like you. He will die otherwise.”

I look up at the cliff, wondering how long it would take for emergency services to get to him. Or if we’d have enough time for Lucien to fly him somewhere for help. But I know the answer because my heart has told me. He’s dying and we’re out of time.

“I can’t do that to him,” I answer, my soul shattering. “I can’t steal a piece of his humanity just so I can keep him.”

“You can.” Kienan’s voice is desperate. “He wants it. He told me. He loves you and wants to be with you forever. This is how you save him. This is how you live happily ever after. Do it, Sterling.”

I look down at the man who captured my heart. My pretty, prickly human, who laughs with his whole soul and loves with everything he has. The one who did the only thing he thought he could do so a monster like me didn’t end up a lab rat to an evil man.

“I don’t know how it works.”

Instinct. The word comes to me on a salt-laden breeze.

Closing my eyes, I lean over and fit my teeth into the marks on Caspian’s neck. I bite him, breaking the skin until his blood covers my lips, then I drag a sharp claw down my inner wrist and hold the open cut to his mouth, letting my blood drip onto his tongue. Pulling him into my lap, I squeeze him to me. Kiernan sidles up to my side and rests a hand over his friend’s heart.

And then we wait.

THIRTY-FIVE

CASPIAN

“What are you doing, my sweet human?” Sterling’s eyes glow green, his hand sliding into mine when he joins me at the edge of the water.

“Thinking.” I look out over the sea. The same sea that took my grandfather. It’s a deep navy blue this evening, darkening with the fading sunlight. There’s a gentleness to it as it laps at my ankles, my socked feet seeping into the sand.

Sterling tightens his hand in mine. “What are you thinking?”