An Unacceptable Mate

Chapter Forty Two

Blood. So much. Blood. Beautiful, glistening blood. All over my hands.

Acera hauled me out of the way as a rogue came hurtling towards me out of nowhere. Usually I was fast enough to take vampires on, but with an entire army of them at my doorstep, I was less capable and, let's just say, overwhelmed.

I was aware that everyone else staying with us were somewhere amidst the battle, but I had not spotted Inerra once. A small part of me feared he had fled; deserted us; left us to suffer the rath of Violem, who also had made no appearance. As of yet, anyway.

The sun was soon to make its appearance and I could only hope that this would all be over by the time it did.

Scotland was notorious for being cold, of course many people knew this, but this place in the highlands had a particular chill hanging over the hills like a cloak of ice. It did not affect the already cold-blooded vampires, but I was almost seizing up.

    "How many?" I shouted to Acera who was a blur, trying to protect me as much as possible. They were definitely trying to kidnap me. I was like a honeypot and they were all the bees.

  "Two hundred and three!" he shouted back. "Four...five!"

My hand flew out like a bolt of lightning, slamming the bloody stake into a female's chest. Her face paled and her eyes bulged from their dark sockets. Over two hundred killed between us and counting. I hoped the others were having as much, if not more, success than us. There were at least three thousand rogues, an insane amount to take on when there were only fourteen of us, myself included.

Ok, it was more than insane. It was impossible.

Especially if Inerra had decided to leave us.

Blood flew everywhere and the night-sky seemed to darken and the number of rogues felt like it was increasing. My heart hammered in my throat as every time I blinked, I felt like my life would end. The moon was my only source of hope, and my mate. He stuck to me like glue and I was unhappily aware that he would sacrifice himself entirely just to keep me alive.

I kicked my leg out, somehow claiming one of the threats before slamming a stake into their chest. The trees loomed ever closer and after another ten minutes in which I lost nearly all of my energy, we stumbled into the woods.

My chest rose and fell rapidly and my throat and lungs burned from the rush of air entering and leaving. The landscape spun intermittently as the exhaustion started to take its toll.

  "Charlie, down!" Acera screamed.

I ducked niftily, not even questioning his words. Something smacked against the tree in front of me – a body. I shook my head as the dizziness started to oppress me yet again.

  "You can't fight anymore," he said, quickly taking me off of my feet and running at full speed through the forest.

I panted. "No...we have to...help them...Acera...Acera..."

He was torn from beneath me and I was left to tumble over the ground, granted with a mouthful of dirt. I coughed and spluttered, trying to search for my mate as best I could. The world spun around me so quickly I lost my balance.

    "Inerra?" I breathed, squinting as I leant onto a tree for support. A figure stood a few metres away with blazing blue eyes.

  "I'm sorry," he began to say, face emotionless, but eyes sparkling with remorse and regret.

I started to frown, but my mind imploded so stopped. "It's ok, I'm over it..."

  "No, not that," he said quickly, gaze growing even more apologetic. I stumbled back as he took a step forward.