by Katie Reus
He would choose her every single time.
Fear for Fiona licked up his spine as he raced back the way he’d come. The sun beat down on his back and tail as he flew. Fiona was breathing steadily, two darts sticking out of her spine as she lay on top of the unconscious male.
Ian landed gently beside her, pulled the darts out of her with a sharp precision then quickly scooped her up into his claws, gentle with her as he tucked her against his chest. The male Fiona had been talking to lay still on the ground, a dagger through his chest, but he was also breathing. Ian didn’t want to open up the wound, but this shifter was a wolf, so if the dagger was silver it would continue to poison him as long as it was embedded in his chest. Making the decision, Ian pulled it out and picked up the male as well even as blood poured from the wound.
Ian tucked him against his chest. The flight would be more difficult carrying two people but he had to get them to the Stavros estate as quickly as possible. It was the only way to save Fiona. She was breathing and her heart rate was steady, but she was unconscious. He tried to shove his terror back, to keep thinking rationally, but he was raging inside, desperate to save her.
He hated how rough this flight would be and didn’t like jostling their bodies, but there was no choice. It was too far to drive to Finn’s and there was a healer at the Stavros estate. It was the only place he knew of where he could get help.
It took twenty minutes at the pace he flew, far too long for his liking, to make it to the estate. Lungs burning, he made a hard landing on the roof of the mansion. There were only two guards on it. He knew they would have only seconds to make a decision on whether to attack him. He let his camouflage fall almost simultaneously as he placed Fiona and the unknown shifter on the ground. Just as quickly he shifted to his human form and raised his hands in the air to find two shifters holding crossbows on him.
“I’m not disrespecting your Alpha. I have two injured friends.” He might not know the unconscious male on the ground, but if the guy was a friend of Fiona’s, he was a friend of Ian’s. “I had nowhere else to go and I know Ophelia can help them. I’ll stay here until Finn needs to talk to me. Please help the female.” He’d only brought the male because he’d been with Fiona but the truth was, all he cared about was saving her. “Help her!” He’d beg on his knees if that was what it took. He’d shelve all his pride to save Fiona.
Chapter 7
Ian paced outside the waiting room while Ophelia did her healing magic on Fiona and the male he now knew was named Gray.
The only people left in the waiting room were his brother Rory and of course, Liberty. Everyone else had left because he couldn’t seem to stop snarling at, well, everyone.
Even Finn had given him a frustrated growl and left not too long ago.
Ian jerked when the door opened and Ophelia stepped out. She gave him a hopeful smile. “They’re both awake. I don’t know what was shot into Fiona, but I’m currently running her blood work as well as doing tests on the contents of the darts. Gray’s healing from his wound as well. Overall they’re healing like shifters should. The male’s wound actually punctured his heart so he’s lucky to be alive. With Fiona…like I said, she appears to be healing but I want to know what’s in those darts.”
Ophelia had barely finished speaking when Ian strode past her—or attempted to. She quickly blocked his path and put her hands on her slim hips as she glared up at him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Her dark curly hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she had on no makeup, making her look as if she was in college. Still, there was a fierce edge to the petite wolf. Right now she was directing all of her attitude at him.
“To see my…” His instinct was to say mate, and he didn’t care how insane that was. Fiona would be his. Now that he knew she wasn’t mated and she wasn’t even involved with her family anymore. Yep, he’d be claiming her soon enough. He’d already lived without her for over five decades. He would be patient a little longer.
Ophelia’s expression softened somewhat. “You can see Fiona. But not if you’re going to grill her about what happened. She needs to talk to Finn—who I’m going to get right now.”
“I don’t give a shit about anything else other than making sure she’s okay.” He needed to see with his own eyes that she was alive and healing. She’d been so damn still when he’d brought her here. Even if her heartbeat had remained strong, she’d looked…dead. He fought off a shudder at the thought. For so long he’d lived with the knowledge—false as it was—she was with someone else, always out of his reach. To lose her after finding her again?
Unthinkable.
Ophelia stepped back and let him head down the short hallway. Following Fiona’s scent, he stopped at the second door on the left and found her sitting up in a comfortable-looking king-sized bed. The room was set up similar to a hospital room, but there were no windows and it had a more welcoming feel to it. His brother had told him that this area was underground, heavily secured and insulated. It had been built for all types of supernatural beings, including vampires—most of whom couldn’t walk in the sun.
Relief filled Fiona’s eyes as she gave him a tired smile. “I was told that you saved me and Gray. Thank you so much, Ian.”
She didn’t mention Ava so he assumed she knew her friend had been taken. “I tried to go after your friend. I’m not sure what happened, but they vanished into thin air.” He was still racking his brain, trying to think of what might be powerful enough to do something like that.
Fiona gave a slight nod, her mouth pulling into a tight line. “Ophelia filled me in a little, but said you’d be able to tell me the rest. We need to talk to Gray and go after her.”
He moved to her side immediately, sitting on the small chair next to her bed. Even though he knew he shouldn’t touch her, he took her hand in his to feel the warmth of her. She curled her fingers into his.
It reassured every single part of his being that she was okay. “We’ll get your friend back, I swear it. And I will kill every single person involved in whatever this is.”
She gave another nod. “We need to talk to Gray. He was telling me about some bad stuff going on in one of the Hell realms and there has to be a connection to what happened to us. But first…” She paled slightly and rubbed a hand over her face. “My dragon is sleeping,” she whispered, so low he didn’t think anyone else could hear even if they were standing outside the door. Unexpected tears glistened in her blue eyes as she said the words, then spilled down her cheeks.
The tears pierced him. He wasn’t sure what she meant by sleeping, but he reached out on instinct and swiped away the wetness, cupping her cheeks in both his hands. “What do you mean?” he murmured.
She blinked rapidly to stave off more tears. He let his hands drop from her face, but grasped her hands in his. He simply couldn’t stop touching her, not when it was clear she needed the comfort.
“I can feel her, but she’s sleeping. It’s the only way I can think of to describe it. I can’t shift right now. I’ve called on my power and…she doesn’t respond to me.” Stark terror flashed in her eyes for a moment before she masked it.
But he understood her fear. If he couldn’t shift, couldn’t fly… It would be like losing part of his soul. Not only that, not being able to connect to her dragon would make her more vulnerable, less able to defend herself. Hell no.
It had to be whatever was in those darts. Something she would already know so he didn’t state the obvious. “We’ll figure out how to counteract whatever drug is in your system.” He’d sell everything he had, including his soul, to make sure she got her dragon back.
“Why were you there?” she asked. “Not that I’m not grateful, but did you follow me?” She let out a short laugh before he could respond. “I mean, obviously you did.”
He didn’t bother to deny it because what would be the point? “I did follow you.” And he wasn’t going to offer any other explanation than that. He’d done it and he wasn’t sorry. He’d f
ollow this female into Hell itself.
“Ah, okay, but we’re going to go back to that later. For now, I want to talk to Gray and I know we need to talk to Finn. I don’t care if his pack will help me. I’m going after Ava once Gray tells me where he thinks she’s been taken.”
Ian only realized he was growling when Fiona’s eyes widened slightly. As if she read his mind, she tightened her fingers in his.
“Gray is just a friend. I’ve known him since he was a pup. I helped him and his mother a long time ago. There never has been and never will be anything between us.”
Something about her tone seemed almost motherly. Combined with the pure scent of truth rolling off her, it instantly eased the tension growing inside him. Ian had saved the male only because he knew it would matter to her. Now he was truly glad that he had. “I swear I’ll get Ava back.”
“And I’m going to help you.” There was a fierce determination in her voice and expression.
He didn’t argue, knowing it would be pointless. “Do you want me to get Gray in here?”
Fiona swung her legs over the side of the bed. “I can go to him. Ophelia didn’t say how badly he was injured.”
As she stood, he held out an arm. To his surprise, she slipped her arm through his. She was wearing what amounted to hospital scrubs, but they were a bright pink. He wondered if that was Ophelia’s choice. Probably, considering what he knew of the doctor’s taste and humor. She likely made the males wear them as well.
As they stepped out into the hall, he realized how quiet it was. He couldn’t even hear his brother or Liberty in the waiting room. This place had to have some serious insulation. A faint scent of lust was trailing down the hallway, however, and Fiona must have scented it too because she shot him a surprised look. Gray was the only other patient here right now. When they reached his door, it was closed.
Fiona knocked on the door once and Ophelia’s voice called out.
“Come in.” The healer’s voice was strained, and when Ian and Fiona stepped inside they both stopped in their tracks to find Gray caging her in against the wall.
The male had his hands on either side of Ophelia’s head and was curving his body around hers in a very possessive way. He was staring down at her as if he wanted to kiss her senseless.
The female had a hand on the middle of his chest, her expression frustrated. “Get the hell back in bed,” she snapped. “The only reason I’m not putting you on your ass right now is because you’ve been injured. Do you want me to embarrass you in front of Fiona?”
Gray simply growled instead of responding. Ophelia rolled her eyes and ducked out from under him. She was much smaller than him so she basically just stepped to the side. The male swiveled, tracking her actions as if he didn’t notice, or, more probably, didn’t care about Ian and Fiona.
“We need to talk about who attacked Fiona and you, and who took Ava.” Ian wasn’t going to waste time bullshitting. He wanted answers.
Now.
Ophelia held up a hand. “Finn’s on his way down. Hold off on this conversation so you don’t have it twice. He’s the Alpha of this territory and you are in his house because he’s merciful.” There was an edge to her voice as she looked at the three of them, clearly wanting to remind them who was in charge.
Ian just gritted his teeth. Stupid shifter politics and hierarchies.
“Of course we’ll wait.” Fiona shot both Gray and Ian a hard look as she went to sit down on a love seat against one of the walls.
Ian noticed that she seemed to be struggling, and he wanted to intervene and help her but wasn’t sure if she would accept it. He didn’t have any right to her. She wasn’t his.
Not yet anyway, his dragon and demon side reminded him. But she would be very soon.
* * *
Fiona knew she shouldn’t lean on anyone right now, but she kept her fingers linked through Ian’s as they sat on the little sofa waiting for Finn to arrive.
Tension and adrenaline hummed through her, counterbalancing the strange weakness that had invaded her. It was as if part of her had died and no matter how much she called on her other half, her dragon remained unresponsive.
It was taking everything in her not to completely freak out. Because that would do no one any good and certainly wouldn’t help get her friend back. She refused to believe that Ava was dead either. She was going to do everything in her power to save her.
She wanted to grab Gray and Ian and leave and figure everything out on their own. But the Stavros pack had taken her in and their healer had been very kind. She couldn’t act rashly. Even if she hated waiting.
It was clear the others felt the same way. Ian was silent, a giant statue as usual, but his presence was soothing even if it was all-consuming. It had always been that way back when they’d been together. They’d hidden their relationship for as long as they could and when they’d been ready to leave together, to mate, her family had revealed they’d known everything—and that her mating with him wasn’t an option. The fallout from that… She still couldn’t think about that dark time. She’d had to kick him out of her life, to break his heart and hers in order to save him from her murdering psycho clan.
Which was why she couldn’t believe he was sitting next to her and holding her hand as if decades hadn’t passed.
Being so close to him again was wreaking havoc on her, and bringing up memories she didn’t want to think about. She shoved them all back. Now wasn’t the time to break down.
Just as she was about to jump up from her seat and go find the Alpha herself, Finn strode in, his expression dark. Earlier in the club she’d gotten a glimpse of him as the Alpha, but now she could see the true extent of his power. It rolled off him in waves.
“I’ve sent trackers to the area where you were shot. Now start talking.” He glanced around at the three of them.
Fiona nodded once at Gray, even as she squeezed Ian’s hand. She was so damn grateful for his presence right now. “I think you should probably start.”
Gray stood and gave a respectful nod to Finn. “Long story short, a friend of mine found out some bad shit was going down in a Hell realm. We went there and my friend was killed. I barely escaped alive.” He quickly launched into an explanation of what he believed was going on in the realm, relaying what he’d told Fiona earlier.
“And you don’t know what this testing ground is for? Other than to see how well the drug kills humans?”
“No. But if they could weaponize this drug, turn it into an aerosol weapon…” Gray lifted a shoulder. “I can’t say for sure, but it seems as if they want to kill a lot of humans. Not hard to figure out the end game is shitty for everyone.”
The room went silent until Finn rubbed a hand over the back of his head. “Fuck.”
Fiona could think of a lot of reasons half-demons or any number of supernatural beings would want to kill humans. Taking over the planet and ruling as gods was something she could easily see supernaturals wanting to do. She’d known plenty of arrogant supernaturals who didn’t want to live in the shadows. Who wanted to rule the planet and make humans their slaves. And this realm was a lot more pleasant than most of the Hell realms she’d been in. Maybe they just wanted to take over the realm because they preferred it, or their own realm was dying. The “why” was important, but stopping whoever was behind this even more so.
“Do you think Ava is alive?” Fiona asked.
Gray looked her straight in the eye. “I don’t know. She’s not human so I don’t think they can use her blood. They took her instead of killing her though, so I just don’t know.” He let out a frustrated sigh.
“But you have a good idea of who took her and where they went?” He’d been to the Hell realm. He’d know where the entrance was.
“Where they went, yes. And I made sketches of any face I remembered seeing in that realm. I don’t know how much it will help though. And as far as who, meaning names? No, I have no idea.”
“Is the entrance to the realm in my territory?” A
hint of rage edged Finn’s voice.
“It’s on the border, but not quite in it.”
Finn’s jaw clenched once, and his pale blue eyes went wolf. “And you didn’t think it necessary to tell me?”
There was a tense silence. “I should have. I apologize.”
Finn blinked once in surprise, likely at the quick apology, before the anger was back. “I’ll deal with you later,” he growled at Gray, before turning to focus on Fiona and Ian. “I know you’re going to go after your friend—”
“I’m going with her.” Ian stood, but didn’t let go of Fiona’s hand.
She moved with him, wanting Finn to know that they stood together. Literally and figuratively.
Finn nodded, as if he’d expected it. “I’m going to set up a team and we’ll all go together. Gray, I want those sketches immediately. And any information your friend had on whoever is behind…whatever this bullshit is.”
“My friend had started a working list of missing humans. A lot of them are undocumented immigrants. Half-demons were taking people they knew wouldn’t be missed. They don’t want to draw attention to themselves. I’ll get you that list as well.”
“This sounds organized,” Fiona murmured. Which wasn’t good.
“If you have a laptop, I can pull up the sketches now. I’ve got the images saved in the Cloud,” Gray said.
Finn pulled out his cell phone, made a quick call asking for a laptop. Then he turned to Fiona again. “How are you feeling?”
“Good enough.” Not a total lie. “I’m ready to leave as soon as possible.”
He watched her for a long moment, then turned to Ian. “Talk to you outside?”
Ian squeezed Fiona’s fingers once, then dropped her hand before striding out with Finn. She wanted to go with him, to be near him, but stayed where she was. The faster she let Finn and Ian talk, the faster they’d get out of here and find her best friend. Ava had been the one constant in her life the last fifty years, more sister than friend. They had to find her.
