“I believe so.” Surely, I would be able to feel if he would not? We are linked closely enough together for that.
“Good.” The word has a stubborn set to it. I want to smile. “Shame that’s the first time he saw me shift. I know he really wanted to see.”
“He will ask you to do it again.”
“I know.”
“You do not have to if—”
Quinn moves closer, as though he means to nudge my shoulder the way I have often seen him do with Asher, but then comes to a sudden stop and almost trips over his own feet. “I, uh, no, it’s fine. Obviously. I wouldn’t have said I’d show him if it wasn’t.”
Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I know better than not to take him at his word. We turn onto the street with the hotel and I tug on the tattered mess of my blessing to try to build some kind of shield that will continue to keep attention from us.
The lobby is starkly lit, but the young man behind the reception desk—the same one as before—does not look up as we pass through. We reach our floor in minutes, and Asher makes a beeline for Grant’s and my room, where he sets Grant gently on the bed.
He looks smaller like this. Even in sleep, there is somemovement, as though Grant cannot bear to be still, not for a moment. If not for our bond, I might think him truly gone right now.
“I’ll head back and clean up,” Asher says. Quinn moves toward the door, but Asher shakes his head. “You need to stay here, in case—”
“Take him with you,” I say.
“Vlad, you can barely fucking stand. What if Eirian comes here?”
“She will not.” She cannot. The wards are still strong enough that I do not believe she will break through them. “We will be safe.”
Asher wavers. He wants his mate by his side to keep him safe, too. It was a close call with Grant. If Eirian does return, Quinn will be the final line of defence between us and her.
“Go,” I say. I mean it. She will want to regroup, rethink her strategy. “You will be back soon enough.”
“Fine,” Asher bites out, but he snatches up the key card and holds it up for me to see. “We’re coming straight back here. Fuck knows what magic like that does to you vampires.”
I huff, more a reflex than anything else, but I do not hate the way Asher’s lips twitch in response before he and Quinn leave the room. Once they are gone, I kick off my shoes and let out a groan as I settle against the headboard next to Grant. He does not move, not even as he did after he had been outside and passed out—every time I moved that day, he curled into me or clutched at me as though he wanted to keep me as close as possible.
I brush his hair from his forehead and kiss him there. His skin, at least, is warm beneath my lips. His magic still moves around us, through him, through our bond. There is no reason he should not heal, and I suppose that is what his power is doing now. Healing him. All I can do is wait.
Dragging myself up to undress is painful. I should not have pulled on Grant’s power, that much is clear, and I briefly wonder if that will affect our bond. Maurice’s magic is what cementedthe one between him and Njáll. If we wish to do the same, is it even a possibility? Or will Grant’s sunshine magic burn me up?
I pull on my pyjama bottoms with another groan, and my arms shake as I tuck Grant into bed before I climb under the covers myself. I pull him closer, curling my body around him. It means I have my back to the door, but that is a small price to pay. At least this close, I know he is here. I know he is safe.
Between one breath and the next, exhaustion creeps up on me, and my eyes flutter shut.
vi
too big, dark and horned andterrifying, and I yank the steering wheel to the side and there’s a loud bang from nowhere and everywhere, and my stomach drops, world upside down for a second,just a second—
I open my eyes.
Something stings and I blink it away. Everything hurts. Everything hurts and it’s hard to keep my eyes open and the breath I draw into my lungs is ragged. What happened? Where am I?
I’m in my car. I know that. I’m in my car because—because I wanted to leave. Ihadto leave, so I got in the car and—
Where am I now? I blink rapidly because I can’t see anything through the windscreen, which has a massive crack in the centre. It’s dark out. Not much time must have passed since I—
Did I hit something?Someone? No, I don’t think so. I saw something. I’m sure I saw something, just standing there in the road, like it was waiting for me.
A deer? Pain throbs up my arm, through my temple. Seemed too big for that.
I try to draw in a full breath, but it’s impossible, only bringing jagged edges of pain. Fuck. I need to get out of here. I don’t know exactly what time it is, and I think I’m only a little way off the road, but I can’t hear another car. I can’t hear whatever giant animal I saw before. Can’t hear any animal at all, actually.
