Ian moves so quickly I don’t have time to react, but he doesn’t hex Rad. He punches him so hard that Rad reels, nearly collapsing.
I go to grab for Ian’s hand, but Rad isn’t done.
“Filthy omega cunt. Worthless whore.”
I draw my fist back and punch him in the mouth, putting every ounce of my strength and every minute of Marcus’ training behind the blow.
Rad lets out a grunt of pain and glares up at me, impudence in his eyes. He spits a mouthful of blood and a broken tooth at my feet and when he looks up at me again, he grins, blood dribbling from his mouth. “Are you going to kill me, beloved?” he croons. “If you kill me, you’ll never find out who Baphomet’s Prince is. At least, not until it’s too late for you. I may not get the privilege of breaking you, but he will.”
I strike with my affinity, determined to rip the identity of the infamous leader of the Soldiers of Saint Aldous from his head, but he snatches up his scribe, casts a quick spell and the room fills with black and purple smoke.
Arms go around me, and I fight until I catch Ian’s cedar-and-bergamot scent through the acrid, stinging odor of the magical smoke.
When the smoke clears, both Rad and Graeme are gone. The rest of my pack filters into the ruined kitchen, and while I know they’re trying to let me have a moment with my agitated alpha, I feel their attention as they look me over, making sure I’m unhurt.
Ian holds me close, his instincts riding him hard. His scent spikes as alpha power radiates from his strong body. He buries his nose in my neck, drawing my scent into his lungs, and shakes as he holds me.
Graeme stomps into the small kitchen a moment later, a scowl on his face. “He’s gone. Fuck! I chased him all the way to the end of the alley, but he fucking disappeared.” He drags a hand through his hair and kicks a piece of wood from his broken kitchen table. He glances around his destroyed kitchen. “Is anyone hurt?”
“Jack—” I gasp. “Is he?—”
“Stable, for now,” Ian says with a shudder as the tension slowly seeps from his body. “I stopped the progress of the ember and removed what I could, but as always, the residue of dark magic remains.”
“I would have lost a dear friend if not for you,” Graeme says, looking over to the couch where Jack sleeps. “We need to get him somewhere safe. One of my safe houses.” He looks around the wreck of his row house. “Fuck me, I am definitely not getting my security deposit back.”
* * *
We followGraeme to the safe house in the SUV, and as my men are getting Jack settled in one of the small bedrooms, Ian guides me over to the table in the kitchen and makes me sit. He takes the chair across from mine and draws out his scribe, then raises my hands and looks them over. My knuckles are split and beginning to bruise from where I punched Rad, but I’m too wound up to feel the pain. He brushes a soft kiss over my knuckles and then starts to heal the small wounds.
“Your left hook is really something,” he says, favoring me with a fond, wry smile. “Though I hate that you hurt yourself.”
“You didn’t go after Rad after he cast that smoke hex.”
Ian looks up from the sigils he’s weaving. “He could have used that hex to take you. I had to keep you safe. When I saw the smoke, you were my only thought.”
“You chose me.”
Ian finishes healing my knuckles and gives them one last kiss. “I always will, Juniper. You know that.”
I’m quiet for a moment as I take his hands in mine and heal his wounds just as he healed mine. Finally, I give his hands a squeeze and look up into his eyes. “Take me home, alpha? I’m ready to wear your bite if you’re ready to give it to me. There’s nothing stopping us anymore.”
Ian hesitates, and for a moment, my heart sinks. He searches my eyes, his own soft. “This isn’t because of what happened with Rad today, is it? I don’t want to mate you when you’re afraid.”
I favor him with a small smile. “You had that situation well in hand, my avenging angel. You’re brilliant. Strong and capable. Brave. Selfless. Ian, there are a million reasons why I want to mate you, and not one of them is because I’m afraid. Saints, I would have asked you to mate me right on Langford’s desk the moment you resigned.”
He laughs, and it’s that light, boyish laugh of his I love so very much. “You would not have.”
I roll my eyes, but a faint blush tinges my cheeks. “Langford’s already seen the pictures, Ian. He’s seen me knotted six ways from Sunday.”
“He destroyed the pictures. I watched him do it.”
“You were with him for a while.”
“We shared a celebratory drink while I worked on my offboarding. He told me I made the right choice, picking you. Not that I had any doubt. You’re always it for me, Juniper. Always my choice.”
“Then make it with me now, Ian.”
He squeezes my hands and nods. “My darling, there is nothing in the world I want more.”
