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The dragon’s gaze shifted to where she held her shoulder in place. Then he wriggled back as though it was she who frightened him. When he began to thrash in a different, less violent manner, his body shimmering all over, she realized he was shifting back to his normal form.
Sure enough, a moment later Tristan rushed toward her to assess her wounds. Several expletives left his mouth. “Dammit, June. Why were you standing so close?”
‘Scuse me?“Oh no you don’t! You don’t get to blame this on me. How was I supposed to anticipate a massive dragon would appear in my vicinity and knock me into next Tuesday? If anything, this is your fault.”
He backed away as if she’d stuck him. “You’re right. I should have never let you come here.”
She was awash in a sudden wave of guilt, as ifshe’dhurthim, but she shook the feeling away, entirely sick accepting guilt over things she’d had no control over. Her brother. Her mother. None of it was her fault. She told herself that often, though she rarely believed it.
“How did they get in?” Cale demanded, turning toward Portia for answers.
Baffled, Portia replied, “I don’t know. They shouldn’t have been able to cross the boundary.”
Kyra chimed in. “We need to search the kingdom. There could be more.”
“My people and I will help,” Tristan offered, no longer making eye contact with June.
“We’d appreciate that, Tristan,” said Kyra. “Your dragons can survey the area faster than we can on foot. Once Anya returns, she should be able to sense if any are near, but until then I must ensure the safety of my people.”
“The human needs a healer,” Tristan added.
It didn’t slip her notice that she’d been degraded from first a name basis tothe human.
“I’m fine,” she said. “It’s just my shoulder. It’s out. I need someone to help me get it back into the socket.”
“I got it,” Cale said, and then reached for her.
Tristan’s arm snaked out to grip Cale’s wrist, a warning in his gaze. They glared at each other for a moment, and then, as if some unspoken conversation passed between them, Cale seemed to soften. “You’ve no need to worry. I know what I’m doing. It will hurt, but she’ll be in less pain than she is currently.”
Tristan’s gaze snapped to her face. She tried to conceal the severity of her pain. “Be quick, then,” he ordered.
With zero bedside manner, Cale lifted her arm and then slammed the joint in place. She cried out both from the pain and from the alarming speed in which he’d accomplished the task. She’d barely tracked his movements. Seconds later, more pain registered and her head swam with renewed nausea. She teetered on her feet. Color seeped from her vision. Someone lifted in her off her Jello-y legs and the motion made her want to heave. She heard voices muttering, muffled and distant, yet not. She struggled to hear them clearly.
“Right in here…” someone said. “…on the bed. I’ll fetch a healer.”
At some point her brain stopped spinning. When she regained her faculties and was sure the danger of hurling had passed, she braved a peek at her surroundings. The first thing she saw was Tristan’s face, hovering over her. The concerned seemed out of place in his features.
“Did I faint?”
Tristan nodded. “I could kill that demon.”
June sat up and took stock of her wounds. Her body ached, but she’d been in worse shape than this before. There were some scrapes and bruises, some dried blood on her leg. She noted the cut on the back of her knee then. She lightly touched the throbbing bump on her forehead. Her shoulder was sore yet working. She moved it around to test it, sighing when she achieved a blissful fluid range.
“Don’t be mad at him,” she said to Tristan. “My shoulder does feel better now… Wait! Did you call him a demon?”
“Aye. That’s what Cale is. Merciless demon bastard.”
“Surely you don’t mean he’s an actual demon. Like from hell?” She recalled her natural fear of him, the angry red eyes and horns protruding from his skull. But…demons were not meant to be attractive.
“I’ve heard of the demons from Earth’s storybooks. It is no’ the same. Like me, he and his kind are from another planet.”
“A whole planet of demons?”
“Unfortunately, their planet was destroyed by the very beings that attacked us today.” Tristan reached out to gently run his long fingers down her arm next to where a particularly long scrape marred her skin. His touch made her shiver.”
He took it as a wince. “Do you hurt much?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine. Really. I’ve had worse.”
