I place my mouth near her ear. “I am a friend of your ma’s.”
She tightens her grip on my arm.
“I must go in and help her before she does something she regrets.”
Her lips firm, but she nods.
I walk to the side of the balcony where the wall hides them from the view of whatever is taking place inside. I place the older girl down. Her knees give way, and she sits cross-legged. I fold the child into her lap. I straighten, and the younger girl grabs my sleeve.
The wind changes direction, and I sniff her scent. My heart squeezes; her scent is similar to Jess. That same cherry-and-pepper smell as my mate, but dialed down, and it’s much more innocent. She smells like a child. Like my child. Fuck me. I’ll do anything to keep these girls, and their ma safe. If that makes me a goner, a completely pussy-whipped motherfucker, then so be it.
“You’ll be okay, little one.” I pat the child's head. "I won't be long."
Tears shine in her eyes, and my throat closes. She drops her hand and cuddles closer to her sister.
The older girl gulps. Her cheeks are pale. She opens her mouth as if to say something, then gnaws on her lower lip.
“Promise, I’ll come back for the both of you.” I hold out my pinky finger.
She hesitates then wraps her own through mine. I shake it then rise to my feet and stalk through the door.
Jess leaps at the man, and he bats her away. Anger punches through my gut, and all my muscles tense. I twist to the side, open my arms, and catch her against my chest.
Her body freezes, then her head swivels up to look at my face. Her gaze widens; her lips part.
I dip my head toward her. “Your children are safe.”
“But the two of you aren’t. When will you Fae Corps learn to stop following your heart into a fight? Sooner or later, you are going to commit a mistake you won’t be able to recover from.”
Boris’ voice grinds at my nerves.
“But not this time.” I lower Jess until her feet touch the floor, then push her behind me.
“There you go again, thinking with your feelings, Chef. It is Chef, isn’t it?” Boris rocks back on his heels.
I snap my jaws. “You can call me death, bitch.”
“Temper, temper." He clicks his tongue. "Your little girlfriend offered herself up to me in exchange for the children. Motherly love is beautiful, don't you think? Not that you'd understand; you never did get the chance to know your mother."
“Stop talking about my mate, asshole.” The blood pounds at my temples. “And don’t you dare mention my mother, you piece of shit.” The fucker is trying to anger me, and to be fair, he is succeeding.
“I have every right to do so, given I was the last to see your ma alive,” he drawls.
“You fucking kidding me?”
“It’s only fair you know that I fucked your mama until she pleaded for death. I am going to take your woman and then I am going to wipe out her spawn, too. Nothing is going to survive this encounter, nothing except a very broken you, who I am going to cut into little pieces and send to Dante. You think that will ensure that he gets the message, hmm?”
Rage squeezes my chest until I can’t breathe. There is a pressure pushing down on the back of my eyelids. It’s one thing to insult me, but coming after what’s mine? My mother, my mate, the children who I have already accepted as mine, he has no fucking idea what’s in store for him. “I am going to tear you limb from limb, then skewer you and roast you until there’s nothing left of you. Your death will be much more painful than what Dante had in mind for you. I can promise you, unlike our new commander, I have no mercy in my body.”
“Yeah, but like your new commander—a designation he doesn’t deserve, by the way—you have too many emotions coming into play when it comes to your bitch and her spawn.”
He raises a hand, and his fingers glow blue. I move to the side, covering Jess fully, and take the strike, then dart to the left and back again, making sure that my body absorbs every single energy hit.
My skin hurts, fire crawls over my chest, and my leg muscles spasm, but I don’t let up. I will not stop until Jess and her family are safe.
I drop into myself, draw up the telekinetic energy, and knit a shield from the floor to the ceiling. On the other side is Boris. A very pissed-off Boris.
The energetic screen shudders then quakes.
“The fucker is charging at the barrier with everything he’s got.” I pant and turn to Jess. “Take your kids and go.”
“No.” She sets her jaw.
“Your girls are in shock; you need to get them seen to.”
“You’re right, but I also need to stay here with you and hold him back.”
“Your duty is to your children first.”
Her shoulders slump. “Hell!” She squeezes her eyes shut and turns. Then freezes. “Charley?”
“He saved our lives; we can’t leave him, Jess.” Charley raises her chin.
“Jess?” I frown at the teenager. Does she call her mama by name? It's not unheard-of, but guess I am an old-fashioned kind of man that way.
“I need to get you two out of here.” Jess moves her weight forward on the balls of her feet. “Already I was too late.”
“You were on time.” Charley sets the other girl on her feet. “He was on time, too.” She juts her chin in my direction. “That’s what counts, right?”
“You okay, sweetie?” Jess runs to the other girl and, dropping to her knees, hugs her.
Another blow pounds into the telekinetic screen.
There’s a ripping sound from the top, and sparks fly over me. The barrier still holds. But not for long. Blood pumps in my temples. My arms and legs tremble, and I know I have enough juice in me for another round of fighting, maybe two…then what? I shove the thought from my head. “Take them and leave, Jess.”
She springs up and turns on me.
“No.” Charley’s voice cuts the space between us.
Jess glances at Charley who folds her arms over her chest.
“Don’t be adamant, little one.” I rub the back of my neck. “This fight is—”
“One we can win if we are together.” Charley juts out her chin. “I am a dragon shifter and while I am not as full-grown as Jess, I have enough firepower to make a difference.”
Fuck me. I raise my shoulders and look at Jess.
Her lips twist. “You heard her.”
“Out of the mouth of babes and all that…” I roll my shoulders, wondering if I am caught in some strange dream, and no, it’s not a nightmare. Not when Fire and her Firelets are all lined up, fixing me with their amber gaze.
“Your platitudes suck, Chef,” Fire tosses her hair back.
I smirk. “You can suck on other parts—”
Charley clears her throat and claps her hands over Sweta’s ears. “Guys, just because I want to stay and fight the bad guy, doesn’t mean I want to listen to your kissy conversations.”
My face flushes. Fuck me again. I have to keep pace with not one but three smart women in my life? My hands…and heart, and yeah, other parts of me are going to be full and packed with emo. I have a strange feeling I am going to enjoy it.
There’s a ripping sound behind me, then the entire telekinetic barrier fades away.
I grind my feet into the floor for purchase. “That’s our cue, folks. You ready to face this monster and whip his ass?”
37
Jess
The telekinetic barrier falls away, and I raise my fists in front of me. I’ll protect my girls with my life if needed. A movement catches my attention, and my gaze flicks to the side. Tristan draws himself up to his full height. His biceps swell, and his chest seems to grow in size. His ears pull back, and he bares his canines. I swear the man seems to grow taller and broader in front of me, or perhaps it’s all that telekinetic energy swirling inside him that’s making him seem larger than life. At this moment, I know that I’ll never be alone again. I’ll never need to fight my battles on my own.
He'll take care of me. He flings his arms out, his palms held edgewise. He’s trying to shield us…all of us, my girls included, from Boris.
Warmth pools in my chest. My throat closes. All I have to do is accept him into my life. And I am so tempted. Right now, as he glares down the monster who’d tried to hurt me and my family, as he lowers his head and charges the bad guy, I know I have my very own prince charming, the one who’ll always come to my rescue, who’ll slay anyone who dares to look at us in the wrong way. A sob catches in my throat.
He comes to a halt not three feet in front of Boris. “I am going to kill you, asshole.” He raises his arm, and the tips of his fingers catch fire. Blue and amber, the fire sparks.
Next to me, Sweta gasps.
Charley turns to me. “Is it time Jess?”
I nod. “Gimme everything you’ve got.” Then I drop into myself. The energy of my dragon coiled so close to my breastbone unfurls and leaps forward to meet me. I lower the natural psychic barriers that keep it in check, and the energy whips forward.
A zing of green, and Charley’s energy slams into mine. Her energy filters through my essence, adding another wavelength. I absorb it and the accentuated flames of my dragon rise higher and hurl forward, through the psychic space. Reaching the sapphire-and-diamond sharpness of Tristan’s energy, they slam into him.
His body stills.
His shoulders freeze.
He raises his head and roars, and the flames shoot up. His entire body catches fire. He raises his arm and throws our combined energies at Boris. Amber and blue and sparks of green, the flames crash over Boris, engulfing him. Just as suddenly, the energy snaps out.
There’s nothing left. No body. No ashes. Nothing to show the ex-commander of the Fae once stood there. The fire retreats into Tristan’s body and shuts off. He stands there, his shoulders heaving, his back still to us. I race forward and grab his arm. He wraps it around my waist and shoves me partly behind his back.
“It’s not right.” His gaze sweeps the floor, the wall, the space where Boris had been.
“The fire swept him away?” Heat flushes my skin and sweat beads my back. My limbs tremble. Slivers of sensation crawl under my skin. I grit my teeth and force myself to stay upright.
“Why are there no remnants? He can’t have survived that; he shouldn’t have, yet there is no evidence to show the bastard is dead.”
“That’s because I am not,” a metallic voice echoes around the space.
Charley gasps and grabs Sweta close.
“The girls,” Tristan growls. He brings his other arm up at his side.
Even now, he thinks of my children first, and I…I am not sure what that means. He’s just met them. He’s not been introduced to them—though, he did save their lives, so that was a trial-by-fire, get-to-know-each-other kind of interaction, but still, you’d think he’d have questions, that he’d want to know whose they are, but nothing. The annoying man has just accepted them. As his own? Nah, that can’t be right.
He shoots me a glance. “Fire, you okay?”
“Yeah, am good. The girls are fine, too.” I gulp and jerk my chin to where a hologram of Boris flickers to life.
He’s still wearing that annoying suit, and he looks unhurt. “You didn’t think I’d actually leave myself open to surprises, after that last stunt that Dante pulled, right? I may have underestimated you guys again, but this is the last time. I am going to hunt down the innocent among you. Do you know how much a virgin female of any species fetches in the global marketplace?”
He raises his head, and his gaze sweeps past us. I don’t need to look behind to know he’s looking at Charley.
Anger grips my chest, all my pores pop, the energy of my dragon roars forward, and I don’t stop it. It lashes out at the hologram, just as Tristan strikes the telekinetic blow. No other way to call the stream of blue-and-amber energy that sizzles out of him and crashes into the hologram. The picture splinters.
“I won’t stop, not until you suffer the way I did. Not until you see your own families turn against you the way mine did.” His voice grows distant then dies away.
“Fucker, and there goes the chance of tracking the origin of the hologram. Bet Dante’s going to have a wonderful time picking apart how I’ve gone on this mission, which, by the way, we did complete, Fire. Can you guess that…Fire?”
He turns to me. His face fades in and out.
“I think that final outpouring of dragon fire…may have just done me in.” My knees buckle, and I sink to the floor, except I don’t.
Of course not, for Tristan moves so fast he blurs, or maybe that’s just this strange double vision that seems to have gripped me. My sight clears, and I realize I am in his arms. He’s holding me close. He swings me up, and I groan.
“Fuck, sorry, did that hurt?”
“No.” I gasp and, inch in closer. I bury my nose in his neck and draw in a breath. My head clears. Another long nuzzle, filling my lungs with that cinnamon-pinewood-scented elixir, and my heart rate stabilizes. I lick his skin, and the taste of him sinks into me. I fling my arms around his neck, making little mewling noises.
“Umm, your kids.”
“Yeah.” I bury my nose in the crook of his shoulder, “Don’t know why, but I just need to keep doing this.” I incline my head and bite down on his neck.
His muscles go solid. Something prods at my hip, and I lean back.
“Why, Chef, I do think you are happy to see me, too.”
“We need to work on your metaphors, so you don't resort to clichés; after we get you and the girls to safety.”
I smile then, allowing everything I feel for him to come into my eyes.
He frowns.
I raise a finger and draw it down the furrow between those beautiful eyebrows. “So fucking sexy.”
He sets his jaw. “Right, we are getting you out of here before you say anything you regret.”
“She’s in heat.”
Charley’s voice cuts through the thoughts swirling around in my head. I draw in a breath, and once more his scent fills my senses. I bite down on the inside of my cheek. “Sorry, girls, not sure what’s gotten into me, except I know I am going to be out of commission for a few days while I deal with…ah, whatever is happening to me.”
“I do know about the birds and the bees and about how shifters go into heat cycles,” Charley says in a bored voice.
I see the exact moment recognition dawns in her eyes, for her gaze flicks to Tristan then back to my face. “So are you and he together or what?”
“No.”
“Yes,” Tristan says at the same time.
I glare at him. “You are doing that whole dominant alpha-hole thing again, and you know what?”
“What?”
“I think I am beginning to warm to it.”
The color leaches from his face. “You really are not feeling well. There’s no way you’d say that otherwise.”
“On the contrary, I am feeling many things right now, too many to describe. Maybe I just need to show you?”
I lick my lips, and his gaze falls to my mouth. I didn’t just say that, did I? Hearing my own words makes me realize just how out of it I am. How drunk on his scent I feel. My stomach flip-flops, and my thighs clench.
The skin around his eyes creases.
“Don’t be angry.” I rub my cheek against his skin. His beautiful skin. His skin peppered with hair that chafes the curve of my face. Little pinpricks of pleasure pluck at my sensitized nerve endings. I burrow into his warmth.
His arms tighten, and he yanks me closer. “Let’s just get you and the girls back to Doc and have him examine you, okay?”
The oxygen in the space thins, and the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. Then geometric patterns flash by us, and the teleportation channel yanks me under.
38
Tristan
I pace back and forth in the corridor outside my bedroom. Okay, so I am still a bastard because I didn’t want her to be taken to the infir
mary. I know what’s wrong with her, and it’s nothing medical. She needs me. Wants me to put her out of the misery brought on by the heat cycle that she’s gone into, which I am responsible for in the first place…all of which begs the question: Why am I pacing back-forth-back in the corridor?
Doc’s gaze follows me from where he stands at the far end of the corridor. He doesn’t say anything. Just widens his stance, his pose relaxed, as if he has no cares, no worries. Which he doesn’t.
“I envy you, man.”
He scratches his chin, then lowers his head. “And here I was going to tell you the same thing. A mate and a family all in one go. You hit the jackpot.”
I rub the skin over my chest. “The girls are so damn pretty, so fragile and vulnerable. If anything were to happen to them…” The band around my chest constricts. My knees quake…they fucking quake already. I lean against the wall then lower myself to a seated position. “I think I am having a heart attack, Doc.” I gulp.
“It’s called getting a life, Chef.”
“If this is what it means to live, to feel so much that every time I take a breath it hurts, then I am not sure I want it.”
He stalks forward and squats in front of me. “You saved the children. You broke protocol and headed off after Jess. You confronted Boris alone, knowing it could have meant your being dismissed from the Corps.”
“I don’t put it past Dante to still get rid of me, but go ahead, since you are being so complimentary, which is…” I cock my head and pretend to think. “Never.” I let my lips curl in a smirk. “Keep talking Doc, it sure is good to know that you hold me in such high esteem.”
“Not of you, dickwad.” He jerks his chin toward the closed door at the far end of the corridor. “But her.”
“Don’t talk about her.” I frown.
My hackles rise. And really, Doc’s only trying to help. I mean, the man had been decent enough to give my mate a wide berth knowing that she was in heat, knowing I wouldn’t have liked him tainting her presence, and my suite for that matter, with his scent. He’d instead sent in Alice to examine her, and ensure that she wasn’t hurting, anywhere on the outside, that is. On the inside…I have a sense of what she’s going through.
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