Marked by Blood: Book 2 of The Marked Series Ford, Rinna (books to read fiction .TXT) 📖

and looked up at me then Grayson, just at the exact moment a caster ran up behind him and ran his caster’s sword through the bear’s body.

“No!” she screamed. “Grayson!”

The bear fell with a thud and he began to transform back into Grayson. Camille scurried across the ground, throwing an energy ball at the offending caster, blasting him away. When she reached Grayson, she shifted his head onto her knees, holding the wound on his stomach.

“Stay with me, asshole,” she said. “You’re not allowed to leave me. Not ever, you hear me?”

“I hear you,” he said and weakly smiled up at her, his body slowly changing back to his human form.

Xander and Matias came running around the corner of the house, seeing us unprotected and ran toward us, plowing down everyone in their paths.

“Get ready,” I told Camille. The edges of my vision were ringed with black and I knew I was close to passing out, or worse. We needed to go.

She moved her bloody hand off of Grayson’s wound and took my outstretched hand. I touched Devlin’s bare arm and we waited for my mates to reach us.

There was a scuffling off to my left and I saw Ironshot somehow get out of Ronan’s magical hold and my caster mate was knocked back. Ironshot rolled over onto all fours and began to rise, his hair in disarray and his face full of rage. He began to run toward us, but my bonded mates beat him to us.

The moment Matias and Xander reached us, they grabbed onto my arms and we were gone, teleported away.

Chapter Thirty-One

The moment I opened my eyes and saw we were once again in Amos’ office, I sighed in relief. My vision was getting narrower and my mind was far away. I knew I was losing a lot of blood, but I couldn’t find it in me to care. I just wanted to rest.

I lowered myself to the carpeted floor as my mates and my grandfather yelled my name from over me, but I couldn’t focus on any one of their faces. My eyes opened and closed slowly, until they didn’t open again and I drifted off to nothingness.

* * *

“Dad?”

I was in our field of wildflowers, but he was nowhere to be seen. I slowly spun around taking in the familiar landscape, but then something odd happened. The sky which was usually a sort of muted sunlight began to dim until I was in almost complete darkness.

“Dad? What’s going on?”

“Sweetheart, you don’t have a lot of time,” my dad said. He appeared beside me in an instant. “You have to make a choice.”

“Choice? What choice? I don’t understand.”

“You have to choose your fate. Either pass on to the afterlife, easing your suffering, but amplifying the suffering of those you love, or return back to your body, alive. If you choose that option your life will be difficult, much more difficult than before.”

“What will happen to Xander, Matias, and Ronan? To Amos and Devlin?”

“That I’m afraid I cannot tell you. It’s a choice you have to make completely on your own.”

I looked around once more at the darkened sky then back to my father.

“Will I still get to talk to you if I live?”

“Yes, sweetheart. That will never change. You’ll always have me, in life and in death.”

“Then I choose life,” I replied as if there was no choice at all.

My dad smiled serenely, as if he knew my answer all along and stepped back. My body began to tingle, indicating I was waking up from the dreamscape.

“See you soon, Emelia,” he said as the field of wildflowers faded from view.

* * *

When I awoke, I was laying in my own bed. No one was in the room with me, which seemed odd to me. Confused, I pulled the sheets away from my body and pulled up the gown I was sleeping in to see the side I was stabbed in, twice. There was a bandage over the area, so I carefully peeled it away revealing smooth, unblemished skin.

I dropped the bandage onto the mattress and slowly swung my legs over the side of the bed, finding the floor with my feet. I tested out my leg strength, finding them tired but sturdy and walked toward the bedroom door, finding it unlocked.

I turned the knob and opened the door before walking out into the hallway. I heard voices float up from the first floor. Familiar voices, which made me smile despite my cracked lips.

Holding tightly onto the banister, I took one step at a time until I reached the bottom. I let go of the banister and walked into the living room finding my uncle awake, although tired and he was talking with Irna of all people.

“Dev?”

He quickly turned his head, his face lighting up with pure joy. My uncle jumped up off the couch and he ran to me, scooping me up in his arms.

“Oh,” he sighed. “You stupid, stupid thing. Why didn’t you listen to me?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re the stupid one if you ever thought I’d leave you like that again, not that I had the choice in the first place.”

He shook his head with a smile and hugged me again. When he released me, I was picked up in another set of arms and carried over to the couch.

Matias.

“Little one, what are you doing out of bed?” he asked.

“How long have I been out?” I asked instead of answering his question.

“About a day,” Dev said. “At least that’s what I was told when I woke up a few hours ago. Who stabbed you?”

I furrowed my eyebrows when I tried to remember. The memory was close, but too far away to see clearly.

“I think it was Michael Ironshot? I’m not sure.”

My head began to pound and I put both of my hands to my temples. Matias, gently sat me onto the couch and got up and ran, coming back only thirty