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The muscles along my back bunch until his hand rests gently on my shoulder, his head bowed forward. Showing submission to my beast. “Come back, Drav. Clear the haze, it’s just us.”
“Draven, please. I’m safe with them and by your side.” That sweet voice again, twisting my neck to peer down at Emma, my little demon, who is sitting up with worry in her eyes. Her hand gently rests on my forearm, and her touch takes away the red haze blanketing my mind.
Everything still vibrates inside of me, but no longer threatening to snap. Lifting my head again, I find familiar hazel eyes connect with mine, and my lungs slowly deflate. Fynn. The longest friend I’ve ever had, who is like a brother to me. The one who has been with me at my worst, and I, him.
He smiles. “There you are.” Raising to full height, he places his free hand on my other shoulder, squeezing. “Lost ya there for a sec.”
I grunt. “You’re going to hold this over my head.” The fog clears away and my shadows dissolve, even though my hand still twitches to take Emma somewhere that is away from everyone.
A bolt of laughter spills from him as he winks. “Even when we’re both dead. Because for a minute there, you looked like you wanted to snap my neck.”
“I still do, you insufferable bastard,” I mumble.
Patting my shoulder, he holds his hand out for Cora. “May we see her?”
Stepping aside, but not far, I let them go to Emma. Cora doesn’t rush. She slowly approaches, sits on the edge of the mattress with a watery sheen in her blue eyes, and grabs Emma’s hand.
“Hey Cor,” Emma says, gripping Cora’s hand tightly back.
Ugly sobbing, she throws herself over Emma, hugging her as her back shakes with every cry. “I couldn’t save you. You died, Em. I tried and tried, but my power failed me.”
Emma just holds her, tears springing to her eyes as she listens while Cora struggles to speak through broken sobs. “K–Kye died, and I couldn’t save him, and then you…”
Emma’s hand pauses, the soft rubbing on Cora’s back. “Kye is happy, Cor.”
Her head jerks up at that, roughly wiping the tears away with quick swipes of the back of her hand. “What? How do you—”
“I saw him.”
Shock ripples through me as I stare at my mate. We all do. Only silence fills the room as we hold our breath.
“There is much I have to tell you.” Emma’s eyes find mine then, and what I see there has my heart tripling its pace.
Suddenly, light pulses from Cora’s hands, spreading into Emma’s body. Thankful is all I feel that she has a friend who will walk alongside the demons wanting to hunt her. And thankful she is healing her body back to full health because I have a gut feeling a darker storm is coming for us.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Emma
Cora’s power has cleared the exhaustion that was burrowing in my bones. And I’m thankful for her, all of them. Before I can explain what happened, they go to bring me food while I clean up. My clothes from the night I…died…have been washed, and the night I was brought back, Draven cleaned me and placed me in one of his oversized shirts.
But I want to freshen up now that Cora helped give me some energy back. The hot water immediately soothes any leftover aches in my muscles as I scrub myself raw, then dry off and toss on my all-black attire. It has straps wrapped around my body with placeholders for various weapons, the pants fitting snugly over my hips.
I can’t help the tug of my lips knowing Draven is right outside the door. An overprotective brute of a mate, but the thought warms me on the inside. Having him stand outside while I bathed was a task in itself because when I walked in here, he was stalking right behind me, hot on my heels. It's not that I didn’t want him in here, but more so that I didn’t trust myself. My traitorous body would have jumped on him, wanting to ease the ache that still lingers, pulsing in my clit.
I couldn’t understand it when I woke, but a deep, soul-clenching hunger for him overcame me, to the point of pain if I didn’t have him. It still lingers, but the others are waiting, and even though they would understand, what needs to be discussed is too important. We all need to be ready for the repercussions that may follow.
When I finish getting ready, I open the door connected to Draven’s room, but my feet freeze when I’m met with his deliciously muscled back blocking my path. Draven’s large frame leans on the doorframe like an unmovable boulder.
Biting my lip, I trail a single finger down his spine, watching his muscles tense where I make contact. A shot of arousal hits me hard down the bond. A faint whimper slips free unbiddenly, causing him to spin around, grabbing my neck and roughly guiding me back into the bathroom. The door slams as he kicks it shut, and then suddenly, strong hands grip beneath my thighs, hoisting me up until I’m set on the counter.
Before I can speak a word, his mouth is on mine, hot and heady. Taking what he wants, what he needs. I don’t protest, opening willingly because this need heating under my skin is making me go crazy with lust. He doesn’t just kiss me though. He’s savage. Feral in needing to taste me.
I kiss him back with just as much fervor. He rips his mouth off mine with a low groan, my heavy eyes fluttering open, watching his flash between blue and silver, his pupil abruptly changing from a slit to its normal orb.
He’s fighting himself. Restraining from the desire that is so thick we could choke on it. Swiping the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip, he dips down to press a soft kiss on the curve of my neck before inhaling deeply. As if he’s breathing me into him, needing my scent to sate some of the lust that’s pulsing in the air. To soothe his beast.
“Mine,” he grinds out before flattening his tongue, trailing a wet path up my neck to the underside of my jaw.
