Stay

Stay
Kai

It felt as if the pain were mine. As if it were my own throat that was split in two and I was the one bleeding out on the floor. 

But it wasn’t me. It was her. 

“Layla.”

I wanted to call her name, to hear her response to my voice, but nothing came. The bond twisted painfully in my chest, everything in me burning as if my own body was turning against me. 

It didn’t want to exist. Not without her. 

All I saw was the blood, the stain it would leave behind in the grass. I moved, ignoring everything else around me as I felt my magic slip from my fingers. 

Rage and fear clashed through me and split the ground. 

It started at my feet, chunks of earth falling into the depths of fire. The crack raced in jagged lines toward the manor, swallowing tents and walls completely. 

I would wipe this place from the earth itself. 

I could hear the screams behind me, the roar that came from Sebastian’s throat and the threats that spilled from Draven. 

All I saw was her. 

Slumped in the ground, bleeding. 

Varynth’s eyes widened at my approach, taking in the way his soldiers and his home disappeared. He grabbed Layla, using her as a shield. 

The bond strained, weakening in my chest and I froze. 

He was in my way, everyone was in my way. They were obstacles only, mere objects for me to destroy in order to get to my beloved. 

They were not enough to stop me, there would never be enough. But I could not risk her safety. 

“Let her go,” I roared, making sure to calm the magic around us as I neared Layla. 

Varynth didn’t move, he just smiled. His hand tightened on her, and a groaned gasp left her lips. It pulled on the bond, begging my magic to erupt regardless of the consequences.
But I could not harm her. 

I stepped closer, the manor falling completely into the sea.

“Let her go,” I said again, quieter now.

Varynth hesitated, his grip faltering just enough for Layla to fall from his touch completely. 

I was there before she hit the ground, dropping to my knees and pulling her into me. 

Varynth screamed, Sebastian and Draven taking care of him. 

My hands shook as I pressed them to her neck, stopping the bleeding. But that didn’t return the color to her face. She had already lost too much. 

“Stay with me,” I said, my voice breaking despite everything. “Stay with me.”

Her skin was cold, her lips blue. Her eyes were no longer bright and full of hope. They were dull as they stared up at me. Lifeless. 

“No,” I shook my head, pulling her closer and resting my forehead on hers. “No. You’re fine. You’re going to be fine.”

Her heartbeat was barely there, softer than the wingbeat of a hummingbird. 

“Kai,” she whispered.

The sound of my name nearly undid me, and the tears spilling from my eyes were too much. “I’m here. I’m right here.”

Her hand lifted weakly, her fingers brushing against my jaw.

“Don’t…” she breathed. “Don’t let them hurt Maelis.”

My chest tightened painfully. What?

Her eyes softened, her eyelids becoming heavy as she struggled to keep them open. 

“No, Layla, look at me. Look at me.”

Her body went slack in my arms, and the bond stuttered inside my chest, like a fire being put out by rain. Her absence in my head was immediate, like a punch to the gut. 

“No.”

The word came out raw.

“No.”

I pulled her closer, my control gone completely. The ground around us trembled again, responding to the magic I couldn’t contain anymore.

She couldn’t be gone. 

“Mother!” I yelled, keeping Layla close. 

My voice cracked as I looked up, searching for her. 

“Mother!”

I found her, she was already moving, running toward us. Her eyes expressed her horror, wide and wet with unshed tears. She dropped to her knees beside us and took in the sight before her. 

She pressed a hand to Layla’s neck and looked up at me with soft eyes. “You know what I have to do.”

I did, but every part of me rejected it.

“No,” I said, pulling Layla closer instinctively. “No. I don’t think she would want that.”

“She’s dying,” she said, sharper than I had ever heard her. She was panicking, lost in this as much as I was. “If you want her to live, you don’t have a choice.”

My body locked, my mind screaming at me to hold on, to not let anyone touch her, to not let this happen.

But her heartbeat, it was fading, already slipping.

“Kai.” My mother’s voice cut through the noise.“You need to decide or you will lose her.”

I closed my eyes for half a second, then nodded. “Do it. Just do it.”

My entire body went rigid as mother settled behind Layla, keeping her cradled between the two of us. 

“Stay,” I whispered against her hair. “Just stay.”

Mother’s hand landed on my shoulder. And even knowing what was coming, my body screamed to fight her.

A sharp pull ripped through me as her power reached in, dragging something deeper than blood from my chest. Light tore free, flowing from me into Layla.

Layla’s body stiffened in my arms. Her chest arched slightly, her hand twitching weakly against me, until her heartbeat stopped completely. 

The ground beneath us shuddered, then rose.

Power surged up my spine, violent and unchecked, splitting the earth further as something inside me demanded release.

Movement came from my periphery, someone approaching too close for comfort. 

My head snapped up, vision blurring red as the magic coiled tight beneath my skin, waiting to tear through whoever dared come near.

A woman stepped forward, with another leaning her weight on her shoulder. The stumbled together, seeminly unnerved by the look in my eyes. 

“Don’t,” I ordered, letting the ground crack at their feet. 

The woman didn’t flinch, using magic to piece it back together. Alarm bells rang in my head. She was the witch that helped Varynth. 

I lifted my hand, prepared to end her esixtance. 

“I’m Maelis,” she said quickly, voice strained.

I froze, staring at her for a moment too long. 

“Sera,” she said, guiding the other woman forward carefully. “My sister. She’s willing. She wants to help.”

I just stared at her, frozen between my mate in my arm and the woman she made me promise to keep safe. 

“She needs blood,” mother said, reaching through the fog in my head. “Now, Kai.”

My hands tightened slightly against Layla before I moved. I shifted her in my arms, lifting her, supporting her head as I turned her toward Sera.

Layla didn’t move, and for a second, panic clawed back up my throat.

But then her lips parted. 

“Come on,” I whispered, brushing my thumb lightly along her jaw. 

Her head shifted weakly, her body reacting as her fangs slid free from her gums. They were small, bright white and new, but just the sight of them settled the panic in my chest. 

Sera didn’t flinch, she lowered herself, placing her neck just at Layla’s lips. 

As she bit down, a sharp inhale left Sera, but she didn’t fight back. 

I held Layla tighter, my entire focus narrowing to that single moment. The bond flickered, stronger than before but still fragile. 

Layla’s eyes opened wide, her pupils red with new blood, and I knew then that she would survive this. Thanks to my mother, thanks to me. 

For choosing something that she had no voice in. 

Dread filled me for a second, but it could not overcome the pure joy of seeing her alive. Layla finally pulled back from Sera, her body going slack again in my arms again. 

I pressed my forehead to hers, the bond still alight inside me.