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Blood seeped from her ears and the corners of her blazing eyes, so the time for talking was over. He settled her on the cool stones while he shifted to dragon form, not bothering to strip off his clothing. He carefully picked Ash up with his talons, launched off the balcony, and flew toward Victoria’s cabin. He sent a frantic telepathic message to his sister as he carried his mate to its isolation.
Nadya is dead, but something’s wrong with Ash. We need Eiko. Meet us at the cabin.
Shit. Is she going to be okay? We are on the way.
Luca didn’t bother to respond. Ash had lapsed into incoherent mumbling, so he devoted every bit of his strength to making the flight fast. He had to protect his mate, but he didn’t understand what had gone wrong. What did she mean, pulled into their heads? She’d been fine, talking and laughing about their victory moments before.
He cut the two-hour flight time in half, fueled by worry. When they were a few miles from the palace, she lost consciousness, which eased his beast but not enough to let him breathe easily. He wouldn’t be comfortable until she was awake and well and knew what had happened and how to prevent it from happening again. He hovered in the air, looking for a suitable place to set his mate so he could land. He was relieved when the cabin door opened, and Viktorija ran out to help.
Give her to me. I will take her inside while you change.
The dragon nodded his cobalt head and gently laid Ash in his sister’s arms.
Thank you. Ger her to Eiko. I will be right in.
“Why in all the hells did you fly? We took a portal, and we’ve been waiting for you for ages, freaking out the whole time,” she snapped when he came inside a few moments later, his skin still flushed from the change.
"Ash was in no state to conjure anything, and I can’t make portals. She was bleeding from her eyes and ears and begging me to get her away. What would you have done?” Luca growled, brushing past her and looking for Ash. “Where is she?”
“Over here,” the tiny Japanese witch called from the fireplace. “I’ve made a pallet for her. Stop bickering so I can find out what’s wrong with our girl.”
Luca saw Ash breathing and resting peacefully, so he stepped away to dress in the clothing Viktorija kept there for him. When he returned, Eiko was running her hands over Ash’s body without touching her. As Luca approached, she looked up and folded her hands in her lap.
“She’s going to be fine,” Eiko told him. “She’s sleeping now, not unconscious. Before I explain what I think happened, please tell me about Nadya’s death. I need to see the magic.”
“Thank you, Eiko-sama. You have my gratitude and trust. Take what you need.” He knelt next to her and offered her full access to his mind. The witch was welcome to anything that would help Ash return to herself.
He relived the horror of the fight and his helplessness as Nadya’s darkness bound him in place, forcing him to watch. Even though he knew the outcome, worry tightened his muscles when Nadya ripped the sunstone out of Ash, causing her skin to blacken and flake off. When she’d seen everything up to their departure from the palace, Eiko pulled back. She smiled and looked at Ash with tears of pride in her eyes.
“Oh, you beautiful soul. My sweet girl. I am so proud of you.” Eiko kissed Ash on the forehead. “Wake up, Ash-chan.”
Ash shuddered and opened her eyes, which still glowed copper. She blinked as she tried to focus but looked confused. “What happened? Why are we at the cabin?”
Eiko stood and gestured at the sofa. “Why don’t you get comfortable while I brew a pot of tea? We have much to discuss and little time to do it. Viktorija-san, if you would assist me?”
The two women retreated to the kitchen, but the room was open and only offered the illusion of privacy. However, it gave Ash a moment to reorient herself. Her memory of Nadya’s death remained, but things got hazy after that.
“So, I didn’t…”
“Explode?” Luca grinned. “No, you didn’t. Well, not the second time. I got you out of there. You fainted during the journey, and we were here for twenty minutes before Eiko woke you because she saw the fight and its aftermath in real time. You said the Therians and Nadya’s vampires were pulling you into their minds and draining you.”
Ash shuddered as Luca helped her onto the couch. “I was fine, and when Nadya’s vampires started screaming, I could separate myself enough to understand how scared and confused they must be. That triggered an empathetic wave, and suddenly, I could feel the inner thoughts and feelings of every living thing in the palace and the humans in the villages below. I couldn’t turn it off. It was like I was being pulled apart and drowning at the same time.”
“You’re okay now?” Luca asked, unable to let his concern subside until he was sure the danger had passed.
She shrugged. “My genius witchy mentor would know better than me. I don’t know how that happened or what did happen. I’ve only been able to use telepathy through our mating bond or when a Therian spoke to me directly.”
Ash paused with uncharacteristic uncertainty as she considered her next words. With every step she took into otherworldly weirdness, as remarkable as it was, she was less like the woman Luca had taken as his mate. This latest change emphasized how far she’d evolved from the simple human she’d been not long ago. “Luca, during that fight, something changed in me. I don’t know how to put it into words, but I am not the same as I was before Nadya’s death.”
Luca felt the uncertainty coursing through Ash. He sank to the couch beside her and took her hands. They couldn’t rely on their bond to share emotions, but he felt her worry loud and clear. She was concerned that she was becoming too strange for him.
He almost laughed. He had never met another soul who was as fascinating as she was, and he couldn’t imagine loving or wanting anyone else as he did her. His smile blazed with love. No matter what color her eyes were, he saw his mate.
“You are the other half of my soul, Ash. Everything else is just details. Whatever you are, whoever you become, you will forever be mine.” He growled the last word possessively, and Ash shivered in excitement.
“I need you for eternity, Ash. We all change, and we’ll weather those changes together. You’re the child of a goddess, however human your birth, so there’s going to be weird shit. We thrive on that, my love.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her as his dragon roared with approval in his mind.
Ash melted into the kiss, and everything else faded as she wrapped herself in the warmth and comfort of his love. She wanted Luca to hold her as she sobbed through the emotions she needed to process, followed by a long nap in his embrace, but that would have to wait.
