Shaking and weak, I forced my arm out from the duvet’s warmth and blindly patted the bedside cabinet for my phone.
“Fuck it.”
Of course. I didn’t have a phone. I hadn’t had one for months…
I sighed and closed my scratchy eyes. Stone had taken it. Giving myself a minute, I lay with my eyes closed and let my brain scramble back through my memory to why I felt like I’d been hit by a truck.
Mother fucking Wolf! Stone! His dick of a father. His sister—the bitch. And that weird Darkling Fae, Holt. Damn. He’dstabbed me with his magic. I blinked and shot upright. There’d been pain. So much pain. Enough that my heart raced, and I quickly patted around my body, dreading what I might find. My sigh was long and relieved when I found only a couple of soft dressings attached to my abdomen, and there was very little pain.
“Stone?” I croaked, barely even able to form his name. My eyes burned as an aching sense of loss hit me, along with a kind of exhausted anger that I didn’t understand. I pushed the covers off and dropped my legs over the edge.
“Whoa…” said a voice as I pushed into a sitting position. And promptly fell off the bed onto my knees. I grunted at the pain in my kneecaps, my palms slamming down onto the floor to stop my fall, grateful when, somehow, I managed to stop myself from face-planting. That didn’t stop the room from spinning, though. Shit, this was the hangover from hell without the good night out before. Saliva rushed my mouth, a storm whirling in my gut, so it was a hot minute before I could breathe deeply enough to make it settle and open my eyes. Through it all, a gentle hand rubbed circles in the middle of my back.
“Take it easy.”
I couldn’t acknowledge my friend when I was focused on keeping my stomach contents where they belonged and not spilling them on the beautiful carpet. I took a deep breath in and blew it out between pursed lips. Gods only knew why it helped, but it did. When I could lift my head without the room tilting, I peered up.
“Hey, girl.” My greeting was pathetic and raspy, especially when my lips stuck together, and my throat was so dry.
In true form, Blue grinned instead of giving me sympathy. “Hey. I’d ask how you’re doing, but I guess that’d be a stupid question.”
“Nah, I’m fucking amazing,” I croaked, my lips splitting as I smiled up at her.
She winced at the blood seeping from the splits but chuckled. “Come on. Let’s get you off your knees. You can save that position for Stoney-boy.”
Once I was on the side of the bed again, my feet flat on the floor this time, I peered around the room. It was beautiful—and familiar. I was back in Winter. And I couldn’t feel my mate. “Not that I don’t love seeing you, but where is he?” I rubbed the empty ache in my chest. My wolf whined as I touched her spirit.
I know, sweetie. We’ll find him.
“Did something happen to him?” Fear like no other clawed at my insides as I imagined that Darkling Fae ripping my mate apart while I was unconscious on the ground.
Blue waved her hand dismissively. “No, not really.”
Her face didn’t convince me, neither did the fact she wouldn’t look at me. “Blue.”
“What? He’s fine, honestly. He just had to leave for a bit.”
Hurt slammed through me. He’d left me while I was unconscious and injured? Had he changed his mind about us? About me? Yet, I could feel something in my chest. That little thread of his magic that seemed to connect us, like it had done ever since I’d woken up in Faery with him staring at me with his damn stormy, silver gaze.
“Where is he?” I gritted out, my fists clenching around the soft-as-snow bed covers.
She sat down, making the bed dip. “Connor and Vent took him back to Scotland until you’re recovered.”
I shook my head. It didn’t make any sense. “Why?”
Blue leaned back on her hands and cast a critical eye over me. “You know, you look like shit. You should shower and have some food before we discuss this.”
“Tell me where the fuck he is, or I’m going to kick your arse across this damned room.”
Blue raised a brow. “No offence, girl, but you ain’t kicking anyone’s arse, even this lowly human’s, not until you’re stronger. And that means a shower, clothes, and food. That weird Darkling Fae shot you full of holes with some voodoo magic. You still have wounds that would normally be healed by now. You need time to fully heal and regain your strength before you go find Stoney-boy and jump his bones.”
My glare could have frozen the giant ice sentinels that guarded this palace, but Blue didn’t give a shit.
“How’s she taking it?” Ember sauntered into the room, grinning at me before cocking her head at Blue.
“Oh, you know. As well as can be expected. She threatened to kick my arse, but I’d expect no less.”
Ember laughed. “Yep.” She came and sat on my other side, tilting me from Blue’s slight weight towards her. “Don’t worry, Shan, he’s fine. He just needed a bit of time to calm his head.”
