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Maddox crouched down, lifted Piper’s hand, and pressed his palm to hers. A red light seemed to slick its way up the veins of her arm, shoulder, neck, and then up to her head.
Levi, what happened? asked Harper, frantic. Is Piper okay?
Maddox is healing her, replied Levi.
We’ll come to you once the kids are safe.
The ability to heal generally wasn’t something demons could boast having. But Maddox’s kind were an exception. Descendants possessed angelic blood, since one of their earliest ancestors had been a fallen angel. What many didn’t know about Maddox was that he had archangelic blood—that made him more powerful than the rest of his breed, not to mention far more dangerous.
Finally, the redness faded from Piper’s veins.
“She’ll be fine, though she might sleep a while.” Maddox gently lowered her hand to the floor. “How is it she suffered a brain hemorrhage?”
His stomach sinking, Levi swallowed. He’d suspected that was the case when he saw the blood. “I have no clue,” he said, his voice thick. “I thought she’d been dealt a psychic punch at first. I didn’t notice she was bleeding until just before I called out to you.”
“A hemorrhage like that is typically caused by a direct strike to the brain.”
A strike that would have killed her if Levi had reacted too late. She could have died on the ground beneath him … and he’d been so preoccupied with the assailant’s movements that he wouldn’t have noticed.
The thought was enough to smash open the box containing Levi’s emotions. Anger raged in his blood. Fear of losing her clogged his throat. Resolve to find her attacker beat in his chest like a drum. His demon was unnaturally still and quiet, barely in control while caught up in a fury that clawed at its insides.
Levi scooped her up and stood. “Thank you for healing her.” Nuzzling her hair, he carried her to the sofa and then gently set her down.
“Raini likes her a great deal,” said Maddox. The demon was cold, calculated, and not one to help out of the goodness of his heart, but there was nothing he wouldn’t do for his woman.
“Raini will be pissed when she hears what happened,” said Hector.
Maddox nodded and returned his vacant, vivid blue gaze to Levi. “You should let me heal you.”
Now that the adrenaline was bleeding from his system, each of Levi’s wounds burned, prickled, and throbbed like a bitch. Still, he waved away Maddox’s offer.
“If you won’t allow me to do it for you, at least do it for her. She will be upset when she wakes, because she will know that each person with her at the park got caught up in the crossfire. I expect she’ll feel guilty and believe she has brought her troubles to everyone else’s doorstep. If she wakes and sees you in this state, it will only upset her more.”
Because it would be physical evidence that Levi was caught up in the crossfire and suffered several wounds protecting her. He sighed. “All right. Thank you, though I know you’re mostly offering because Raini will ride your ass if you don’t.”
A smile briefly flickered in Maddox’s eyes. “She is determined that I will get along well with the mates and anchors of her friends so, yes, she will give me grief if I fail to offer aid where it is needed.” Just as he’d done with Piper, he pressed his palm to Levi’s and healed him.
Knox’s mind touched Levi’s. Where are you?
My apartment, he replied.
Knox, Harper, and Larkin appeared a few feet away in a burst of flames. Knox’s ability to travel by fire wasn’t common knowledge—it was one of many secrets he kept.
Levi lifted a brow. “The kids?”
“Both are fine, albeit a little shaken,” said Harper, looking down at Piper. “Khloë and Keenan are watching over them.”
Brushing hair away from Piper’s forehead, Larkin slid her gaze to Levi. “Why did you rush off like that?”
His gut hardened as he revisited the memory. “I realized she was bleeding out of her ears, mouth, and nose.”
Knox looked at Maddox. “Brain hemorrhage?”
“Yes,” replied the descendant. “She’s fine now, but it was a close call.”
Larkin’s face tightened. “So she was dying a few feet away from us, and we had no idea?”
Harper swore. “I’m gonna kill him. Whoever he is, I’m gonna kill him.”
No, she wouldn’t. Levi would get there first. “I couldn’t understand why he seemed to be drawing the scene out. Now, I’m thinking he hoped to distract us so we wouldn’t notice she wasn’t simply unconscious.”
“Here’s what I don’t get,” said Larkin. “He can evidently deliver blows to the brain itself that are strong enough to cause a hemorrhage, yet he didn’t do it when he attacked her at the deli. It would have made the whole thing easier for him. But he didn’t do it, just as he didn’t hit anyone else psychically tonight. He could have taken us all out—or at least tried. Why didn’t he?”
