Oh crap.
I hit the ground. Chin first. Stars, entire galaxies rotated through my vision. I had forgotten that about being hit on the head so hard—stars.
The world went black except for the bright points of light.
And then nothing.
***
I woke in the SUV, Koun trying to feed me from a cut in his wrist and Thema smearing her blood all over my scalp and all over my crown.Le breloquestill hadn’t let go of me and some of the headache I was experiencing had to be from the too-tight crown and the plastic headset that was broken and trapped underneath.
Oh yeah. And Opal’s claws.
My stomach roiled. Nauseated. Sick. My tongue felt scalded and there was a horrible taste in my mouth. A burning sensation like I’d sucked on a thousand hot peppers.
Arcenciel blood had been in my mouth. Had I swallowed some? Gotten it in the cuts where I’d bitten my lips and cheek? Was it toxic like their venom?Crap. Had one of freaking dragons bitten me? Again?
If so, as usual lately, I hadn’t shifted when in danger.Crappity crap.
“My Queen. Drink,” Koun said, implacable and yet kind. He cupped the back of my head and placed his wrist against my lips, and I sucked it down.
Cold gross blood.
Good vampire blood,Beast thought.Strong blood.Before I could stop her, she bit into his wrist, killing teeth lightly piercing his skin.
I swished Koun’s blood around in my mouth, letting it heal my tongue and take away the bitter taste of arcenciel blood. I tapped his elbow and he twisted his wrist to disengage my killing teeth from his blood supply without tearing his muscle and tendons. “My lady,” Koun murmured. “Are you well?” I pointed at my mouth and he held out a glass. A champagne glass he picked up from somewhere in the SUV. This had to be Bruiser’s personal vehicle. I spat into it.
Arcenciel blood wasn’t venom, but I wasn’t taking chances with it doing something weird to me. I’d accidently gotten high on Arcenciel blood once. Not happening again.
I drank a few sips of his blood, enough that my head cleared, and strength eased through my strained muscles and bones. Pain from being shaken like a bunny in a dog’s teeth flowed out of me too. Cold blood was still gross, but it had its place in my diet.
I tried to stretch and knew I wasn’t healed yet. Not enough. “I got shaken by an arcenciel.”
Almost casually, Koun said, “And clawed, and dropped. You dislocated your right shoulder, damaged your left hip, have a lovely pattering of bruisers down your right ribs, visible beneath your pelt. You will not feel your best until you shift.”
I grunted. I remembered most of it. I needed to shift, but until I could, I drank vamp blood, which made a world of difference to my pain level.
When Koun’s wrist healed on its vampire-own, I pulled back.
“Did they get the heartbox?” My voice sounded vaguely like rusty nails being pulled from a coffin lid.
“No, my lady. I have it here.” Koun tapped something that rang with a hollow wooden sound.
I patted the cold flesh of his arm with three fingers. It hurt too much to move my entire hand. “Good work. Nice riding too. Very rodeo. Did you kill the dragon?”
“No, My Queen. I had armored you with a silver-bladed athame on your left calf, in case witch ceremonies were necessary or in case you needed to kill some witch-spawned evil. I borrowed your blade before I tried to ride the dragon.”
“Oh. Good for you.” I didn’t remember wearing a silver-plated blade, but I did remember that riding an arcenciel was considered the best way for anyone to timewalk. “Did you timewalk? And where are the dragons?”
“I remained in current time, astride, until they vanished,” Koun said, an odd timbre in his voice, “at which time I fell a very long way to the ground.”
“How far did you fall?”
“I would estimate two hundred feet. Or so.”
I thought about that for a while as Thema finished healing my scalp, got up, and walked away without a word. I realized that my head was on Koun’s bare thigh. Way too close to things I did not need to be close to. I tried to figure out where to put my hands so I could lever myself up, and I couldn’t figure out a safe place. Instead, I asked Koun, “Are you broken?”
“Yes, My Queen. I have two broken ankles.”
