I hadn’t seen him since that night in the bedroom with Jax when he’d refused to kiss me, and suddenly there he was, his blood on my face, regret heavy in his voice, the scent of death sharp on the air…
All of it threatened to break me.
“I’ll fix this,” I said firmly, trying to convince us both. “Hold still.”
A brutal cough rattled through his chest, wet and wheezing. When he looked at me again, his eyes were glassy, his brow wrinkled in pain and confusion. He blinked slowly, then looked up at our captors.
“Evander,” he whispered, but then shook his head, his brow knitting in confusion as if he no longer recognized the name.
I had no idea who Evander was, or why Elian was so oddly fixated on Keradoc, but it would have to wait.
“Elian,” I said, “listen to me. We need to remove these stakes, and—”
“No,” he panted, shifting his attention back to me. A new urgency flashed through his eyes, clearing away the haze. “You must… get out. Run, sparrow. You… go.”
All around us the magick flickered, the guards hitting the wall with fae magick and weapons both, Keradoc pacing like an animal trying to sniff out the weak spot.
“Haley.” Jax coughed, blood splattering his lips. “It was Gem. She… she betrayed… You need to leave.”
“Gem?” I gasped. “Shit. Shit! Okay. Guys? I need you both to stay focused. Jax, we can heal you with Elian’s blood. He just needs a minute to regain his strength. I need to get these stakes out, so shut up and let me concentrate.”
Elian pushed my hands away, dark blood leaking from his mouth in a seemingly endless stream. “Go. Find… find Hudson and—” Another wet cough strangled his words.
Next to us, Jax sucked in a sharp breath and closed his eye, a shiver rattling his body.
He could sense it, I realized. My fear.
It surged up inside me, but quickly fizzled in the wake of another emotion.
Raw, unchecked rage.
Fuck. This.
Irefusedto be scared. There was no reason for it. Both of them were going to be just fine. Hudson was fine. All of us were absolutely fuckingfine. We just needed to get on our feet—first mission. That was our lasagna. Stop the fucking bleeding and get these guys back on their feet.
“Here’s the deal, Elian,” I snapped. “I’m really mad at you, asshole. Like,reallymad. For a lot of things, not the least of which—” I gripped his shoulder and unceremoniously yanked out one of the stakes. “—is your vanishing act this week. We don’t hear from you for days, and suddenly you show up shot full of hawthorn and dragged in by armed guards like a stuck pig?” I ripped out another stake, enjoying his grunts of agony. “What kind of vampiredoesthat? God, I should put you out of your misery right now. One less cocky, obstinate, irredeemable bloodsucking fuckstick in the world.” Another stake removed, another clattering to the ground as Keradoc and his guards continued their assault on my barrier. “But you know what, Elian?Thatwould be giving you an easy out, and you haven’t earned it. So if you fucking die on me here? Yeah. We’re gonna have aseriousproblem—way more serious than a few branches of hawthorn impaling your chest.” I freed the last stake, then met his eyes once more. Not taking any chances, I sliced open my wrist with the stake, sucked the wound to get the blood flowing, then jammed it against his mouth. “Now feed, before I shove every last one of these stakes back in and finish the job Keradoc’s guards started.”
He tried to turn away, but the temptation of my fresh blood on his lips was too much to resist, as I knew it would be. He grabbed my wrist with a trembling hand and licked the wound, then sucked, his eyes locked on mine in a fierce battle of wills. We both knew he had no choice but to feed, but he wasn’t about to do it happily.
Too bad. I needed him alive more than I needed him happy.
Ignoring the surge of pleasure in my veins, I let him take his fill, waiting until the first pangs of dizziness hit me before I finally tore my wrist from his mouth.
The color had returned to his face, the haze clearing from his eyes. The gaping wounds in his chest started closing. Slowly, but still. Progress.
Blood ran down my arm. I lowered it to my side and curled my fingers, letting it pool in the cup of my hand until it coated my ring. Then, pressing my hand to the floor, I whispered another spell. The magickal shield brightened in response, but the incessant barrage of dark fae magick was taking its toll.
We didn’t have much time.
“We need to help Jax,” I said to Elian.
Wiping the blood from his mouth, he nodded and crawled over to the demon, who was turning paler by the second. Elian bit into his wrist and held it to Jax’s mouth, urging him to drink as I carefully removed the bolts.
Even with the healing magick of vampire blood coursing through his system, Jax’s wounds would still take time to heal. But devil’s traps could drain a demon’s life force at the soul level, and their removal had an immediate effect. All at once, the color returned to his skin, and after another minute, he finally turned away from Elian’s vein, offering a curt nod of thanks.
“Better?” I asked.
“Nothing I won’t survive.” Jax wrapped an arm around his midsection, stifling another bloody cough as he scrambled to his feet.
