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“Good, kulta.” Rami’s voice was soft, soothing every hurt.

A different kind of heat sparked to life as his magic twined with mine. It danced through me, igniting nerve endings and coiling around them to stoke an ember of need in my core. His eyes went a dark cobalt, like he could sense the way my body responded to him and the feeling of his essence inside me. It left me craving something more physical. His fingertips trailed over my skin, up my arm, raising goosebumps in their wake. I shivered, overwhelmed by the intimacy of his touch.

Quinn cleared his throat. “Is it done?” His expression was nothing but calm control, but the words were tight with restraint. I tried to pull my head out of the thick haze of arousal.

“Yes.” Rami removed his hands, and my focus dropped down to my arm. The swelling was gone, and my skin was back to its smooth, creamy color.

“Holy shit,” I breathed, lifting the limb and rotating my wrist. Nothing hurt anymore, not even my back and ribs. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this good, even before the fall. I opened my mouth to say more, but the words were snuffed out as the front door slammed open with a violent crash.

32

ALARIC

I bit off a sharp curse when Lucian kicked in the front door without warning, both because the move jolted my broken body and because he’d just kicked the fucking door in. Add that to the list of repairs, right under the gate pillar that I’d crashed my car into. I’d been a reckless idiot to get behind the wheel in the first place, but when my brother’s thugs shoved me out of their SUV back in the parking garage, I didn’t have much choice.

I couldn’t be mad at Lucian, owing mostly to the fact that he’d likely saved my life. If he hadn’t been coming home right then, I’d have probably died at the gate. He adjusted his careful hold around my back as he helped me limp into the house. I needed several things right now: Rami’s healing, three fingers of Blanton’s, and a twelve-hour nap. Being unconscious didn’t count.

Fuck, I wish Pixie hadn’t seen me like that. I’d wanted her to keep the fantasy that I was just a pleasant dream. The reality that we’d always be out of reach was hard enough for me to bear—I didn’t want to burden her with it too. But I saw the doubt creep into her beautiful blue eyes. Saw the fear and confusion.

“Rami!” Lucian shouted, but the man was already charging toward us.

“Perkele,” he growled, taking my other side. “What happened?”

I drew a breath to answer him, and my chest seized so violently I wondered if my body was finally giving up. A strangled noise escaped, and I knew this had to be it. This was how I was going to die.

Then I saw her, and the fist around my heart released in an instant, warmth bursting through me instead. Time slowed, feeling thick like mud. It wasn’t possible. It just fucking wasn’t. She stood near the corner of the room, keeping out of the way, but when our gazes clashed, she lurched forward with a startled cry of her own and dropped to the floor. I followed her down, tearing out of Lucian and Rami’s grip.

My Pixie. My Heart.

“No.” The horrifying reality crushed me under its weight. She was supposed to be hidden. She was supposed to be safe. I didn’t know why or from what, but I didn’t have to. I trusted that the Fates had their reasons. Now she was here, in my home, exposed. Was this part of the plan? Or were the sisters taunting me before making their cut?

I couldn’t regret it even if they were.

Gods, I thought my Pixie was beautiful in the dreamscape, but that word didn’t do justice to the work of art she really was. She was still frozen, white as a blank canvas with a complex palette of emotion swirling in her blazing blue eyes. Dark hair, askew in a messy bun on top of her head, fell into her face. Her perfect mouth was moving, but she didn’t make a sound. I dragged myself to her with ruined arms, the pain shoved out of my mind.

As soon as we were within reach, she launched at me, and I caught her with a desperate kiss that I never dared hope could be real. To feel her lips against mine, to feel the warmth of her breath, released years of pent-up unsatisfied need. She matched my zeal, just as lost to the moment, and I swallowed her satisfied moan. She tasted like the sweetest elixir, her eager tongue tangling with mine. It was familiar and new at the same time. My beast roared, claiming victory.

“You’re here,” I gasped when we parted just long enough to suck down a lungful of air before diving back into her depths. I cupped her face while her fingers dug into my hair.

“How?” Her voice was raw, and we clung to each other, choking on the fear that we’d wake up to find it was all a cruel trick. That we’d be pulled apart again.

We were being pulled apart. Rami and Lucian were wrestling me back while Bellamy gathered Pixie into his arms. The twins created a barrier between us, and my gryphon slipped into a frenzy.

“Mine!” The savage snarl ripped from my throat as I thrashed, my beast so close to the surface that my fingers lengthened into deadly talons. He was ready to slay them all in a feral rage for daring to keep us from the one we’d been waiting so long for. But the rational part of my brain—the one not governed by animal instincts—grew loud and warned that she wouldn’t want to see their blood.

That settled my beast enough for me to wrench back control. The tension broke, and the pain rushed back in as the room exploded into fresh chaos. Rami and Luce forced me onto the couch, my arms pinned tightly to my sides. I ignored their questions, my focus still on Pixie. There was pain in her eyes as she fought to reach me.

“Let me go!” She dragged her nails over Bellamy’s arm, leaving trails of red as he tried to hold her back. He shot me an alarmed look like I might fly into another rage, which was exactly why they were restraining her. To keep her safe.

Rami squeezed my shoulder hard, drawing my attention. His severe expression told me that he wouldn’t hesitate to put me down if I so much as growled at her wrong. But the threat was gone. Without my beast’s rage to support me, all I had was pain. I was in bad shape, and the clock was ticking.

Lucian was pacing with frenetic energy in the wide entrance to the room. I wasn’t the only one struggling with impulses.

“Take a walk, Luce.”

He shot me a grateful look, and then he was gone. My eyes shifted back to where Bellamy was still holding our Heart, and I tipped my head in a nod. His arms loosened, and the decision was hers. She still looked like she’d seen a ghost, but she approached me with stuttering steps. They matched the erratic thumping in my chest.

“What mischief is this, Pixie?” I hoped to put her at ease with the question, bringing something familiar into the maelstrom of madness. Her perfect mouth twitched, and it was like the sun peeking out from behind a cloud. “Why is there blood on your beautiful face?”