“Drink! Damn it to hell, Flint. Drink this down or I’ll force it down your throat!”

Victor’s irate voice filtered through to him and he shivered with loathing. What the hell? Why was he hearing his friend’s voice? And why wasn’t he at peace at the bottom of the fucking lake? That’s where he wanted to be. Needed to be. Alone in the dark. He couldn’t be here. Not without Kenzie. Not without his love. Not without his Bloodmate. He could not carry on without her.

Surely Victor should fucking know that.

Flint peeled his eyes open and sure enough there was his friend, holding bagged blood and looking worried and angry at the same time. Only Victor could pull that off.

“Why didn’t you leave me? I can’t, Vic, I just can’t.” Flint turned away, refusing the blood.

“You can and you will. I mean it, Flint. You’ll drink this or I’ll force it down your throat.” Victor snarled down at him. “I didn’t freeze my ass off saving you for you to die on me now…as well as ruining one of my best suits. You owe me for that, Flint. Don’t think I’ll let you off with replacing it either.”

“You can’t know what I’m feeling and to hell with your damn suit. I don’t care about that or anything else. Not now. Not ever again.” Flint pushed his hand away as Victor tried to feed him once more.

The thought of feeding on anything but Kenzie’s sweet crimson turned his stomach and when a vision of his love floating away from him sprang to his mind a soft moan escaped. His heart broke again, pain lanced through him at the thought of her being in pain and alone in the water…and he hadn’t been there for her. Agony like nothing he’d ever experienced encompassed his entire being as he wondered how she’d felt knowing he’d let her down.

How had she felt in those last moments? Had she cried out for him? Had she screamed his name in vain? When was the moment she realized he’d abandoned her? Fuck! He would go insane within the hour thinking of the many things she’d gone through in her last seconds before she’d dropped into the murky and cold waters. He hoped and prayed that she’d been unconscious and not felt anything. Please! Let her not have suffered.

“Stop it, you have to feed. You fought like a demon out there. We all saw what you did, my friend, you’ve nothing to feel bad about.” Victor grabbed his shoulder, pinching hard. “What were you thinking? That you’d die there in the water? You stupid idiot…you’re an ancient Vampire. You would’ve sunk to the bottom and been there for days in the murk and freezing cold until your body healed itself. All alone while Kenzie was here worrying herself sick! She would’ve gone out of her mind while we dragged that damn lake looking for you. You damn fool.”

It took a few seconds for Victor’s words to hit but when they did his head whirled back around, his eyes pinned to his. “What? What did you say and what do you mean? Is Kenzie alive? I saw her disappear under the water and she was badly hurt by that fucking dog. I thought she was…”

“What? You thought she was dead? Shit, Flint, no, she’s not, Kenzie is alive, buddy. She’s hurt but not half as bad as you were. It was you that went under, not her. It must’ve been the way the waves were that made it look as if she went under, but she didn’t. She’ll be okay. I promise. Quinn got a Witch and he’s working on her and says she’ll be fine. But that you shouldn’t feed on her for a while to let her regain her strength. You on the other hand, need to feed, because you were hurt pretty damn bad and then you were half drowned too. So, will you eat…or do I have to force feed you? Or worse, I’ll get Kimber in here to deal with you.”

“What?” Flint wasn’t sure he’d heard right. Victor’s words were jumbled in his brain. He felt weak as a damn newborn kitten and he had to focus on what he’d just heard. But he was sure he’d heard him say that Kenzie was alive. Hadn’t he? “Say that again? The bit about Kenzie.”

He reached for Victor’s arm, clutching it fiercely. So hard that he saw his friend wince, but he didn’t pull away. Instead Victor merely smiled and nodded.

“Kenzie is going to be okay, my friend. I promise you. She’s…”

“Right here.” Kenzie’s sweet voice filled his ears, he couldn’t be dreaming…could he? No. Victor told him she was alive and his friend would never lie to him about that.

The sound was perfect as she entered his line of sight. His heart soared to the fucking sky when he saw her even though her skin was paler than normal. But her eyes twinkled, and her smile split her face until she drew nearer and then it faded and the skin between those glorious emerald orbs puckered.

“Dear Goddess, Flint! You look terrible. Kimber said you were hurt but I didn’t realize it was this bad. What can I do?”

A lump formed in his throat. It was as big as the Empire State Building, and he couldn’t say a word. Not one. Instead he opened his arms and she fell into them. Victor deftly moved out of her way as she sat on the side of the bed and peppered his face with soft kisses. Each one hurt like a bitch, but he uttered not one sound. He was in heaven with her here before him when he’d thought just moments before that he’d survived…and she had not. A warm euphoria seeped through him like nothing he’d felt before and he savored the feeling before Kenzie sat up, grabbed the blood-bag from Victor and held it out to him.

“Right! You have to drink this and several more besides. I’m on strict orders not to feed you for at least twenty-four hours and you have to heal. Fast! So, the only way to do that is with these. No arguments, Flint. Feed. Now.”

“Twenty-four hours?” Victor didn’t sound convinced as he retrieved some more donor blood, handing them over while Flint started to drink down the bagged stuff she passed to him, forcing them into his hands.

It tasted okay. Not as bad as he’d been thinking it would, probably because he noted it was a rare A-Negative, but it still took him some time to force it down. It wasn’t Kenzie’s and he only fed from her. This felt like some sort of betrayal…weird but true.

“Yes.” Kenzie didn’t look at Victor, her cheeks pinking as she handed over another bag. “I’m fine. I just need to rest for a day and I’ll be back to normal. The Witch that Quinn found was fabulous. He healed me up really well and I don’t even have a scar where the Wolf…well you know.”

Flint choked on the liquid dripping down his throat at Kenzie’s words. His eyes lifted to Victor’s then dropped to hers, his throat rough and almost closing when he ground out. “You mean where that beast tore you apart. It’s okay to say it, babe. I saw it with my own eyes. In fact, I’ll never be able to forget it. It was the worst moment of my fucking life. I’m sorry, Kenzie. I thought he was down and out and that I’d have enough time to deal with the other one and make it back to you. I was wrong and because of my mistake he got to you. I can’t say how bad I feel about that.”

Her finger flew to his mouth, covering his lips and her eyes were full of unshed tears. Her breathing hitched, and he heard her heart gallop in her chest. The sound echoed in his ears and did terrible things inside him…reminding him of just how close she’d come to being killed and taken from him forever.

“Shhh, that wasn’t your fault, darling. You fought like a hero. My hero. I thought he was dead. I truly did. That’s why I wasn’t paying him any attention, or he wouldn’t have gotten so close to me. It wasn’t your fault, Flint. It was mine. If I’d been aware of him, or my surroundings, then it wouldn’t have happened. So, no more of this nonsense. I just need you to drink your medicine, heal, and get strong again. Okay?”

He felt her worry, saw it in her face, in her body, and in her eyes. The emerald green had darkened, and he knew she was lying to him, too. The twenty-four-hour thing wasn’t true. He was certain of that, but he’d let it slide. For now. Why she felt the need to say it wasn’t clear, but he’d get that out of her. Later. When he felt better and when they were alone. For now, he needed answers.

“Vic, what the hell happened? Who were they and how did they get so fucking close to us? Wasn’t that area secured?”