“Flip my lid?”He chuckled.“I forget sometimes how youngyouare.”
“I’m not jail bait,”sheteased.
“Thank goodness for small mercies. Rest,míamõr.”
“Stay inmymind.”
“It would be my honor,”he told her, meaning it with every breath. She was giving him permission to keep their bond fully open. The trust the action evidenced nearly drove him to his knees. It was an incredibly intimate thing to share a mental link with another person. To know that they could see in your mind and feel what you feel was humbling andscary.
“Te necesito, Gustavo.”The words were nearly a whisper as he felt her drift off to sleep. She’d spoken Spanish to him. She’d told him she needed him. It was precious and, if he was being honest, incredibly sexy. One day, he’d tellherthat.
“Thank you for distracting me from attacking your mate,” he said as he turned to face Adam. He’d known the fae had been following him, but then he also knew that Adam hadn’t been trying to concealhimself.
“She could hold her own, but damn if that true mate bond doesn’t just make me crazy at the idea of her in danger,” Adam said. “Which is also why I understand why you lost it. I get it, but you need to let me know when it gets so bad that your wolf is ready to lash out at afemale.”
“I didn’t know he was to that point. Mostly he felt like she was challenging him. Being so agitated, it wouldn’t let go,” Gustavo explained but knew it was no excuse. He truly hadn’t thought he was so far gone that he’d attack afemale.
“How is she?” Adamasked.
“She’s hurt,” he said, his voice low as he tried to hold in the emotions that were threatening to pour out of him. “But she’s alive. And Jewel is, too, though their situation is dire. They are both being tortured by a vampire that Volcancommands.”
“What?” Adam asked, sounding as though the air had been knocked out of him. “A vampire? Torturing them? No wonder you lost it. I’m surprised you’ve held it togetherthislong.”
“I knew about the torture, but I didn’t know exactly what it was. She’s very ashamed of it so I will not share what it is, but it’s bad. And I am going to rip Volcan’s beating heart from his chest.AfterI break every bone in his body.” Gustavo’s wolf was salivating at the thought of ripping apart the man who was hurtinghismate.
“You’ll have a pack of wolves and a fae lining up to help,” Adam said and then growled as he threw a ball of magic at a tree. “We’ve got to get outofhere!”
“I agree,” Gustavo rumbled. “But I don’t know how to make thathappen.”
“What the—” Adam said as hefroze.
Gustavo turned to face him, but then his eyes shot skyward as thunder and lightning shook the realm. “What’sgoingon?”
“This isn’t just your run-of-the-mill storm,” Adam yelled over the wind that had picked up and was now whipping through the trees, causing them to sway violently. “There’s magic at work. Come on.” He waved for Gustavo to follow. “We need to get back to thefemales.”
They’d not gone very far and were back with the ladies within a few moments. When they rushed back into the clearing, they found all four females in a huddle, the three healers each had their head in their hands, their eyes closed tightly as if they were ingreatpain.
“What it is wrong?” Gustavoasked.
“When the storm began, all three of them grabbed their heads and started moaning,” Crinaexplained.
Adam walked over and patted Kara’s arm. “Kara, can you tell me what’sgoingon?”
She opened her eyes but didn’t let go of her head. “I can feel him, his worry, and anger. It’s like boiling water being poured intomymind.”
“I concur with her analysis,” Heather ground out through clinchedteeth.
“Why did it start with the storm?” Stellaasked.
“The storm is laced with magic,” Adam said. He closed his eyes and held up his hands. He began to mutter under his breath in a language Gustavo didn’t recognize. Light began to glow around the fae but was gone as quickly as it had appeared. “It’s dark magic. But there’s something else in it I don’tunderstand.”
“You think Volcan is doing this?” Crina askedhermate.
“I don’t know,” Adam asked. “But they’re powerful, whoever it is. I’m talking more-powerful-than-Perizadapowerful.”
“Whoa,” Crina said withwideeyes.
There was a huge boom causing all of them to duck, as if they were expecting the sky to fall in on them, but the storm just continued, and then it begantorain.
