“His magic felt weird.”
“Yeah?”
Quinn hums.
“I have to call the others.” They’ll get rid of the body, if nothing else. And they need to know. They need to end their search. “Come on, up we get.”
We get to our feet, and now Quinn is shivering, but that might just be because he’s naked. It’s not warm in here. I squeeze the back of his neck before I step around him, taking a look at Sorrel’s body.
Oh, he’s dead all right. Blood stains his green hair, his pale skin. His eyes are still open, but they see nothing at all. I reach out with my blessing and get nothing back.
If he did get away with some of Quinn’s magic and some of mine, there’s no trace of it here.
“Asher,” Quinn murmurs.
“Yeah, okay,” I say. “Come on. I’ll get you in the shower and then I’ll call the others to come and take care of this. Okay?”
He bites his lip and nods. “Okay.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Quinn
Ishower,Ashersemistandingguard outside the door the entire time. Blood sluices down into the drain, but the water heats me up again. I feel a little queasy but only a little. It’s not like when I killed the vampire.
Tonight, I protected my mate. And when I hear him talking quietly on the phone, presumably telling the rest of the Hunt tocome here and help him with this, I relax because he’s here and he’s alive and that’s because of what I did.
I climb out and towel off, then slip into the jogging bottoms Asher put on top of the closed toilet. Water drips from my still-wet hair onto my shoulders, and I rub the towel over my head, then take a look at myself in the mirror.
Silver rings my irises even now. My wolf is close to the surface. I think he will be until this is done with, until Asher and I are in bed and safe. Right now, I’m still very aware of the dead fae downstairs—the spicy tang of what he is mingles with the almost overpowering scent of his blood.
Asher pushes off from the other wall when I step out of the bathroom. His eyes move over me quickly at first, as though he might find some injury I haven’t told him about, then slower, lingering a little.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“I mean—It’s a lot, you killing—”
“Asher.” I grab his hands and squeeze. “This isn’t the same. I’m okay.”
“Yeah?” He stares at me. “Yeah, you are.”
He kisses me softly, quickly, and we take a slow trip back down to the kitchen.
“It’s not over, is it?” I murmur. Asher sits on the stairs, then pulls me down to sit next to him.
“No,” he says. “But the twins are gone. You’re safe.” He presses a hand to my chest, where the mating bond is. Where my wolf is.
“I said I’d give them ten fights,” I blurt out.
“What?”
“The deal. I just wanted to fight. It was the only thing that made me feel better. They said I had to come for ten fights and that’s what I wanted anyway, so I agreed.”
Asher frowns. “And when they asked for your wolf?”
“I-I thought they’d never get it. I told them I couldn’t shift, but they didn’t care.”
