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“Where did Ervo go?” I asked him, wrapping my arms around my middle as my stomach growled loudly.
“I don’t know,” Nev admitted, gesturing me toward a bare patch of dirt. “I’ve never seen my brothers react like this. I knew the mate bond was intense, but the way they woke up…” he shook his head. “They lost their minds. It makes me wonder if my feelings for my female aren’t what I think.”
“Not everyone reacts the same way to stress. I don’t think losing your mind to panic is a sign that you’re in love with someone, or—“
A familiar roar above me made me jerk my head upward, cutting my words off completely.
The massive phoenix spiraled toward me much more smoothly than I’d done when I attempted the same thing—but instead of crashing, or even landing, he grabbed me with his gigantic claws and soared into the sky with me.
Despite the shriek that escaped me as I was ripped away from the ground, no panic accompanied the flight upward. His grip on me was tight without being painful, and I knew that in either form, he was stubborn enough not to drop me even if he was shot out of the damn sky.
A few minutes later, I realized where he was heading.
Back to his treehouse.
On any other day, that would’ve been fine. Welcome, even.
But this wasn’t any other day.
“Viervo!” I called, hoping the use of his full name would shock him into listening to me. “I followed the female fae and saw where they took the other women. We have to get the other guys and go after them!”
The phoenix roared at me.
But, a few minutes later, he spiraled back into the trees.
My side met his chest as he landed on a thick branch, and a moment later, my feet were on the smooth wood and my back was pressed against it too. Ervo’s hands lifted to the trunk on either side of my head, and I tipped my head back so I could look him in the eyes as he glowered down at me.
His chest heaved, rising and falling rapidly against me.
“I told you to stay in the tree,” he finally said, his voice furious and uneven. “I told you to stay in the fucking tree, Mare. And then I woke up, and you were gone. And you never gave me your name yourself, so I couldn’t try to call you to me. And—”
I put a hand on his chest, directly over his pounding heart. “I followed them. I couldn’t stay put while they were all being taken away. Didn’t you find my scent in the trees?”
His responding grimace told me that he either hadn’t looked, or hadn’t found it.
“Did Priel and Lian use North and January’s names?” I asked.
“It didn’t work.” Ervo’s eyes shut, his breathing still harsh and uneven. “We think the female fae’s ceremony stopped it.” His eyes opened again, and damn, they were pissed. “Youleft.”
“I had to do something. You vanished into the dome, and it was so silent.” I gestured in the direction of the place. “I was terrified, okay? But I knew I couldn’t fight them, and I needed to dosomething.”
“You scared the hell out of me,” he snapped. And then he took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. “But I’m proud of you.”
My throat swelled. “Me too,” I admitted quietly.
His hand wrapped around the back of my neck, and the other arm slid around my waist as he pulled me to his chest and hugged me hard. My arms went around him as I hugged him back even tighter, holding him fiercely.
We stood like that for longer than I expected, but shit, I hadn’t realized how much I needed it.
“We’re going to help the other men get their females back,” Ervo eventually said in a low voice. “And then I’m not going to let you out of my arms for an entire week. Understand?”
My body warmed further. “I understand.”
Seven
There werehundreds of men gathered when we finally landed back by the dome. The dome, which was in pieces, now. I supposed that was probably for the best.
At the front of the group, Lian was pacing, and Priel was arguing with Aev. Their eyes were shifted, and there was something much more wild-looking about all three of them.
