“Bijarki,” he called out to the incubus, who—as if reading Draven’s mind—left the succubus with Jovi and went to offer his shoulder as support to the Druid.
“The succubus is badly injured,” Bijarki noted. “She’s part of a tribe, judging by the color on her.”
“What about the others?” Draven asked.
I felt my blood rising up to my temples as I stood helpless with my brother’s head in my bloody hands.
“They’re dead,” Jovi replied, struggling to stand on his own shaky knees and support the wounded succubus.
“Guys! Phoenix!” I barked at them, stuck between fury and desperation.
“We need to get them all downstairs to the basement, where they can get the right treatment,” Draven replied calmly. “Aida,” he called out.
Aida looked over her shoulder. Field was hunched on the floor, lethargic and visibly weakened from his injuries.
“You deal with Field. I’ll tell you what to do downstairs. Help him up.” Draven started assigning roles and responsibilities with the proficiency of an army general. “Vita.”
Vita sat in front of me, trembling from the shock of everything that was happening.
“I need you to help me get downstairs,” Draven continued. “Bijarki will help Serena take Phoenix into the basement, and Jovi can bring the succubus down himself. He saved her, so he’s responsible for her.”
Vita pulled herself up and went over to Draven, placing his hand on her shoulder.
Bijarki joined me and helped pull Phoenix up from the floor.
All I could do was pray to every single entity in Eritopia for my brother’s life. I held him from one side, Bijarki held him from the other, and we carried him down to the basement.
Aida
[Victoria & Bastien’s daughter]
My mouth was dry and my heart pounded in my chest. Field didn’t look as bad as Phoenix, but he didn’t inspire much positivity either.
Field couldn’t take his eyes off Phoenix as Bijarki and Serena carried him out of the foyer.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t take my eyes off of Field. He moved to get up, and I pulled myself back, giving him space. I wasn’t sure he needed my help, and I didn’t want to ram myself down his throat like some kind of nagging girlfriend. He stood and seemed to handle himself pretty well.
I felt relieved. He was going to be okay.
His hair was ruffled, and his bare chest was scratched and cut all over by shape-shifters, but he still towered over me confidently.
I followed the rest of the group, expecting him to accompany me.
Something thudded.
I turned and found him fallen to his knees, trying to get back up. I cursed myself for thinking he’d be okay and hurried to him. I drew in an anchoring breath and touched his broad, firm shoulders. I had tried so hard to keep my distance from him and not come across as the little wolf-girl with a crush, but it seemed like Eritopia was bent on throwing him into my arms.
Field looked up and tried to put on a reassuring smile, but his hazy expression made it obvious that he was seeing double or triple. I figured he was more amused at seeing two or three of me at once than he was happy to see me.
I helped him stand back up, and he put an arm around my shoulders.
“I’m sorry. I’m heavy.” He grunted from the pain and held his side with his other arm.
“Let’s just get you downstairs,” I replied and helped him toward the basement.
He hissed at every other step and struggled not to lean on me too much. I didn’t mind, though. I was strong and perfectly capable of supporting him. I was also determined not to come across as a fragile little girl—not in front of Field.
It took us a few minutes to stagger down the staircase, but eventually we made it into the basement. I looked around. Vita and Serena were with Phoenix and Draven, while Jovi and Bijarki stood by the succubus. Her presence made me wary—none of us seemed to know yet if we could trust her, not even Bijarki.
I didn’t want Field anywhere near her. We didn’t know who she was, what she wanted, or how she’d stumbled upon the mansion, and I definitely wasn’t going to allow her to look at him.
I shook that last thought out of my head. I sounded overprotective and jealous.
Snap out of it.
We reached one of the spare beds and, after a few grunts, I managed to get Field to lie down. His face was ashen from the pain and, as I looked over his magnificent torso, I could see why. A dark, reddish purple bruise bloomed on half of his ribcage. Either broken or cracked ribs, for sure. It broke my heart to see him this way.
I rushed to get some water and clean towels and began dabbing his wounds, one at a time.
He was quiet, and I was grateful for that. I bit into my lower lip and moved slowly in order to cause him as little discomfort as possible. Seeing him in pain clawed at my insides and made me angry at him for his lack of regard for his own safety and at myself for not being able to keep a clear head.
“I’ll be okay,” Field said, as he watched me press a wet towel on the deep cuts on his shoulder.
I shot him an irritated look, channeling all of my frustration into it.
“Yeah, but let’s hope the pain will remind you to be less of an idiot next time and not fly through doors,” I replied and bit my lower lip again.
“I had no other choice, Aida.” My name rolled off his tongue in a way that made me stop what I was doing and take a quick, involuntary breath.
I quickly averted my attention to the scratches on his abdomen, near the horrific bruise that got worse with every minute.
“Yeah, well, maybe try a little harder next time and remember there are people who care for you and can’t stand to see you hurt!” I snapped, trying to make my tone deep and unforgiving.
His frown made me regret it. He appeared to be genuinely touched by my words, and I felt bad for being so sharp.
After all, what would I have done if I’d seen Phoenix knocked out by a bunch of shape-shifters? I probably would’ve wound up way worse. I didn’t have wings. I couldn’t even turn into a wolf. I would’ve been useless.
He seemed to notice me soften up a little bit. I could never really hide myself from him, no matter how hard I tried. His eyes twinkled as he watched my trembling hands trying to clean a deeper cut right above his belly button. I had a hard time keeping myself focused on my task with my knuckles brushing over his abs. They were firm and tense beneath his skin.
“You seem to be taking this very hard,” he quipped.
I swallowed. Keep your cool.
“We’re in this together. What would you expect me to do? Shrug it off and let septicemia take care of it?” I replied, somewhat proud of myself for my fast comeback.
“We are in this together. I just didn’t realize you felt so strongly about my wellbeing.”
Field’s counterattack made me freeze. My eyes fixated on a little patch of skin, just above his belt, where a shape-shifter had viciously clawed.
I looked at him, and his expression further demolished my resolve. I could feel my tough-girl talk crumbling with each passing second. His dark, serious eyes seemed to peer right into my soul.
“I’m just worried, Field, that’s all,” I muttered, my voice pinned in my throat. I couldn’t focus on cleaning his wounds while he had that constant effect on me. And my wolf senses be damned, he smelled amazing—a mixture of musk and wilderness and mountain air that I’d learned over the years to instantly assign to Field as his natural scent.
All I had to do was finish cleaning his wounds and get as far away from him as possible. I looked away and resumed my task, dampening the towel in fresh water and dabbing at his cuts one at a time.
I tried to tune him out, but I couldn’t help but register the sound of his heart beating. The rhythm echoed in the pit of my stomach, and my hands had a hard time obeying my brain. I felt him watching me.
Don’t look at him.
Of course I did. And there it was, his sig
nature smirk with that killer dimple. An unfamiliar warmth twinkled in his eyes as he watched me.
“What’s so funny?” I snapped.
An excruciatingly long second passed before Field decided to share his thoughts. “I just…we never really do this, huh?” he replied, his voice low.
“Do what? You slam into doors and me nurse you while cursing my existence? Yeah, it’s a first, for sure,” I shot back and pressed a little too hard into one of the cuts.
He groaned from the pain, and I quickly dabbed the same spot with fresh water to soothe him. He chuckled, tempting me to press even harder, but I couldn’t bring myself to be so vindictive with a man who had nearly gotten himself killed to save his friend.
“No, I mean, talk. Just be near one another and talk,” he said, continuing to bombard my defenses.
My cheeks caught fire. What is happening here?
“There’s not much talking going on right now. It’s just you being delirious and me trying to make sure you don’t get blood poisoning,” I persisted.
“We should try this again in different circumstances.” He smiled at me.
It was a soft, endearing side of him that I had never seen before. I wasn’t sure whether it was just his loss of blood speaking or whether he was warming up to me, but I felt like I was melting, one inch at a time.
My skin kept touching his while I daubed his wounds, and all I could do was count my breaths silently, doing my best to keep a straight face and not give in to a dangerous instinct that pushed me to get closer.
I’d been head over heels for this man for as long as I could remember. It was innocent and adorable at first, but then I grew up and found it difficult to look him in the eyes, knowing that each night another woman held him close and whispered words of love into his ear.
Now that Maura was gone, I felt incredibly vulnerable in front of him. She’d been my reason to keep pushing him out of my mind, to tell myself that there was no way he would ever really see me.
Yet here he was, lying on that bed, his body literally in my hands, looking at me with an expression that I’d never seen from him.
Jovi
[Victoria & Bastien’s son]
The reality of what had just happened started to sink in by the time I reached the basement and helped the woman onto one of the beds. Serena and Vita were trying to wake Phoenix up. Bijarki left Draven leaning against a cabinet next to Phoenix’s bed and joined me.
I felt horrible. My body hurt down to my fingers and toes, but it was the sight of Phoenix, unresponsive and so badly injured, that tore me apart. I had been the crazy one. I had left the safety of the mansion to rescue a complete stranger.
He’d jumped in and faced off against a dozen shape-shifters so I could get out of that swamp alive with a creature we knew nothing about.
A succubus, as Bijarki had so quickly identified.
I watched as the incubus retrieved water, herbs, and towels to treat her wounds. She’d taken quite the beating in that jungle. Long, deep cuts ran from her shoulder down her arm and down one of her legs.
She clearly didn’t like us much. She could probably feel that we didn’t trust her. She tried to push Bijarki away, hissing at him like Lucifer on a bad day.
Bijarki didn’t pay much attention to her. His focus was aimed at her wounds. Her skin was silvery like his, and her blood resembled liquid mercury as it seeped from the cuts. Her body was a sight to behold, even beneath the layers of red paint and swamp dirt. Her shoulders were wide, while her hourglass figure was toned with heavy training.
Her hair was long, the color of the night sky. Even tangled with twigs and leaves and mud, it preserved its specific brilliance. Her lips were full and seemed soft, and I leaned in, tempted to touch them.
“Jovi, snap out of it,” Bijarki said, tearing me out of my silent analysis of the stranger I’d risked everything to save. “Be careful. You don’t know what she’s capable of.”
Guilt washed over me anew. I’d risked my friend’s life for her. If he never woke up, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.
“Get away from me,” the woman growled at us and pushed Bijarki away. Her voice was hypnotic, a low and guttural melody that sounded alarm bells in the back of my head.
“We’re trying to help you,” I said. My voice sounded weak, and I mentally slapped myself for my inability to come across as firm and unyielding in front of this stranger with unknown intentions.
“Sit still, succubus,” Bijarki snapped, “unless you want to crawl out of here while bleeding to death.”
That worked better than my pathetic attempt at calming her down. She stilled but kept her stunning body stiff, while Bijarki cleaned the cuts and applied a mixture of nasty smelling herbs down their entire length. I could tell he had done this before, perhaps one too many times.
I looked at her and found her watching me, her eyes wide with a mixture of gold and green, shadowed by long, black eyelashes. I took one of the damp towels and started cleaning the dirt and paint off her body. I started with her face, since the thought of my hands anywhere near those incredible curves made me want to hit myself.
Slowly but surely, I was able to uncover the most beautiful face I had ever laid eyes on. She looked like she had been expertly crafted from my wildest dreams and coated in a thin layer of silver. Her skin was smooth, almost luminescent. And her eyes were fixed on me, drawing heat into my chest.
“What’s your name?” I asked, unable to take the silence anymore.
Without taking her eyes off me, she breathed deeply and let out a heavy sigh. Her chest caught my attention, and I mentally kicked myself again.
“Anjani,” she finally answered. There was that voice again. Her perfect face showed absolutely no expression. She baffled me.
“Like I said, Jovi, stay sharp.” Bijarki trashed my moment again. “We don’t know what her allegiance is or what she’s doing here.”
“My allegiance is to my tribe and no one else!” Anjani shot back, her chin high and ego apparently bruised far worse than her gorgeous body.
Stop it.
“Where is your tribe?” I asked, determined to keep Bijarki’s focus on treating her cuts and out of the conversation. He wasn’t exactly a model of trustworthiness either. She focused her attention on me again, and my heartbeat moved into my throat.
I stole a glance at Phoenix. Serena was cleaning his head wound while Vita mixed some herbs and strangely colored liquids in a bowl, following the Druid’s muttered instructions.
“My tribe is on the northern slope of the jungle mountain, a day’s trip from here, more or less,” Anjani replied, surprisingly calm and accurate. I turned my head back to look at her. Those eyes could capture my soul and hold it hostage for eternity.
“Whatever it is you think you’re feeling, chances are it’s not real.” Bijarki’s voice crashed down on my softened senses. “It’s in our nature.”
The woman scoffed and turned her head to the side, her eyes shut tight.
“Protest all you want, succubus,” Bijarki growled at her, “but until you tell us what tribe you belong to and what you were doing around here, you’re not to be trusted.”
“I strongly recommend that you secure her arms and legs, just in case,” Draven interjected from Phoenix’s bedside.
“I’m Anjani, sister of the Red Tribe up north,” she shot back, her husky voice tainted with pride. “We owe our allegiance to no one but ourselves! Azazel has not turned us!”
A long moment passed before Draven spoke again.
“As far as we know, almost all incubi have switched to his side, for the sake of survival rather than anything else,” the Druid replied. “We don’t know enough about the Red Tribe to simply take your word for it.”
“Fine. Then tie me down. But when my sisters ask about my treatment here, I’ll be sure to give them the full details,” Anjani spat back.
Bijarki paused the treatment process and tied her wrists and ankles to the bed’s iron frame with wide st
rips of linen.
She was met with silence. She looked uncomfortable and deeply offended, and I somehow wanted to make it better. I continued cleaning her skin, reaching down to her chest. She suddenly turned her head to face me.
“Go any lower, and I will tear your head off,” she whispered, sending chills down my spine.
Bijarki noticed the tension as he applied the medicine on the last leg cut. “Jovi, what did I tell you—”
“I heard you the first time!” I snapped. I had zero patience left. I switched my focus to Anjani. “You can struggle and growl all you want, but the facts are obvious. You are hurt and filthy, and I can’t let your wounds get infected from all this swamp dirt. I didn’t risk my life and my friend isn’t lying there unconscious for you to die on us because you’re stubborn!”
I had mustered all my strength to project all of that in one fluid sentence. I even surprised myself.
Anjani’s expression softened. She turned her head away, silently allowing me to continue wiping her down, one inch of perfect skin at a time.
I couldn’t help taking all of her in—each curve, each line. Even the crimson paint and the patches of animal hide stretched over her breasts spoke of a fierce young woman, genetically engineered to seduce yet expertly trained to hunt and kill.
Bijarki left us for a brief moment to speak to Draven, but I registered the look he threw me over his shoulder. It was riddled with warnings.
I was well aware of the potential dangers, but I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to see this incredible creature safe. The touch of her skin shot billions of electric signals through my fingertips.
The way she shifted on the bed made me realize that she was responsive to our contact. I just wasn’t sure whether her response was one of discomfort or something else.
My head was heavy with guilt whenever I looked over at Phoenix, but every time I looked back at Anjani, my chest constricted, and my senses threw me for a loop.