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“Terrance!” I scream as tiny droplets of blood splatter across my body. “T-man, I’m all right! You can stop now!”
Terrance whirls around at the sound of my voice, that all-black gaze looking me over from head to toe. My heart skips a beat at the sight of his rage, but I take a breath and will myself to be calm for him. “I’m okay, Terrance,” I say softly. “You saved me. You can calm down now.”
It’s hard to tell exactly where he’s looking with his eyes all black like that, but when they narrow, I know he’s honed in on the knife in my shoulder. “Nothing a healer can’t take care of,” I promise him. “Maybe you could calm down and find one for me?”
Terrance stands there, shaking from head to toe, and sucks in a deep breath through his nose. When he lets it out slowly, his rage settles a bit. His eyes are still black, but at least the trembling has stopped. It’s something. “Good,” I say. “Now, I know you’re still worried about me, and I know you’re still very pissed off, but do you think you could step out of the way and let someone heal my shoulder? It hurts pretty bad.”
Terrance growls, but stomps off. As soon as he’s out of the way, Nick and Oliver swoop in. Nick gets to work breaking me free from my chains, and I do mean that literally. He grabs the restraints around my ankles and my wrist and snaps them apart with his bare hands. I guess I can add super strength to the mystery that is Nick Gorgeous. Not that I’m surprised about that.
“Nora?”
I turn my head at the sound of Oliver’s voice and smile brightly. “It was you, wasn’t it? Who broke Elijah’s wards?”
Oliver’s face is pained when he nods. Seeing his distress wracks me with guilt. My smile fades, and I have to swallow a lump in my throat before I can speak. “I’m so sorry you had to use your magic for me.”
Oliver pinches his eyes shut and releases a sharp breath. He shakes his head. “Nora, I’m so sorry. I—”
“Move,”Terrance snaps, pushing Oliver out of the way and shoving Enzo in his place.“Fix her.”
Enzo bows as if he gets manhandled and ordered around on a regular basis, so I frown at Terrance on his behalf. “Be nice, you big grump. I’m fine now, and I’m safe, so calm down and stop being rude to people.”
Terrance growls at me.
“Careful, Nora,” Nick warns. “He may be responding now, but he’s still very volatile. He might not hurt you if he snaps, but the rest of us aren’t safe from him.”
“Sorry.” I look at Terrance again and force a smile. “Hey, T-man. I promise I’m okay. These guys are just trying to help. Take it easy on them, okay? Please? For me?”
Terrance huffs and crosses his arms over his chest, unwilling to calm down while there’s still a knife in my shoulder. Seeing that we’re at a standstill, Enzo moves his hands very slowly toward the hilt of the knife. “Nora, be very still,” he says. “I’m going to take the knife out now, and I don’t want to cause more damage than is already done. I’m afraid it’s going to hurt.”
“Okay.” I’m trying to look and sound brave, but it’s bullshit. I’m terrified. It hurt like hell going in, and I don’t want to feel that pain again.
“Hang on,” Nick says, stopping Enzo as he reaches for the handle of the knife. His eyes meet mine. “You should send your troll outside before he does this, because Terrance will lose his shit again if you start screaming.”
I roll my eyes. “Or, you could not be a douche and ask him yourself. He’s notmytroll.”
Enzo bites his cheek as if trying not to smile, and Nick smirks. “Actually, he isyourtroll. And you’rehishuman. He’s claimed you as his, and you’re the only one he’ll listen to right now, soyouhave to send him away.”
My eyes bulge. “Hewhat?” I shout so forcefully pain shoots through my shoulder. “You mean like amate?”
Nick smirks again.
Terrance huffs again. “Not mate. Clan.”
Terrance seems to be limited in his speech ability right now, so I look to Nick for further explanation. “When you triggered his troll’s instincts,” he says, “that was his way of claiming you as his own. Him taking you into his home confirmed it. You are his clan.”
Whoa. That sounds serious. I glance at Terrance. “We’re going to talk about this as soon as you’re not ready to kill someone.” When he gives me a curt nod, I manage a smile. “Nick’s right. You should probably wait outside for a few minutes while Enzo heals me.”
He clenches his teeth and glares at me, but I don’t back down. “I need Enzo to heal me, and it’s not going to be pleasant. You’re still worked up. You don’t want to hurt Enzo for helping me do you, big guy?”
His teeth grind, so I play the only other card I can think of that might work—I give him someone else to think about. “Why don’t you go check on Shandra, and I’ll come find you in a few minutes?”
He narrows his eyes and waits a moment just to be stubborn but finally grunts and walks off. Man, my troll is one adorable big lug.
