“Dude, go wolf until we can find you some pants. No one needs to see your hard-on,” Knox grumbles as he dramatically covers his eyes and then tries to cover mine. I swat his hand away and then look my fill with a salacious, teasing smile on my face.
Torrez’s laughter rumbles against my cheek, and I pinch his nice naked ass.
“Patience, Witch,” he teases with a wink before shifting back into his wolf and rubbing up against my side. I groan and push him away from me as he does his best to make me even more disgusting than I already am.
Enoch, Kallan, and Becket stand awkwardly off to the side, and I open my arms in invitation and wait. Kallan hugs me first, and I’m grateful when none of the guys make any sounds of protest. He gives me a couple hard back slaps, and I try not to wince from the pain it causes. I laugh as he releases me and steps back. Enoch steps into me softly, his embrace hesitant and timid. I squeeze him as hard as I can, and when the guys continue to stay quiet, he relaxes.
“I’m so glad you’re okay, Vinna. We were all worried for a bit there, and it’s good to hold you and know you’re fine.”
I smile up at Enoch as we separate, and I hear the faintest hint of a growl behind me. I ignore it and give Enoch a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder. I look over at Becket, and I have no idea where things stand between us. We reached some kind of weird truce when we were in that cell together, but I don’t know if that falls under the age-old clause of what happens in the dungeon stays in the dungeon. Becket extends his fist, and I awkwardly bump knuckles with him.
“I’d hug you, but I know for a fact that you haven’t showered in days, and you’re bleeding and shit.” He gives me a cheeky smile, and a small weight lifts off my shoulders.
“I can take all of you somewhere to get cleaned up,” a voice announces from a doorway across the room, and I look over to find Siah leaning against the frame. His ice-blue gaze runs over me and lands on the blood still slowly seeping out of the claw marks on my left side. Some of the worry that’s settled in my chest—and will sit there until I see Ryker and all the others—recedes ever so slightly now that I can see Siah’s safe and sound and standing fifteen feet away.
Siah waits for a response, and as much as I want to get as far away from Adriel’s lair and all the shitty memories entombed here, between dealing with injuries and figuring out what the fuck to do next, there’s no chance I can leave this place in the rearview mirror tonight.
“Lead the way,” I tell him and then move to follow him out of the room.
I walk through the tall black double doors and try to find some comfort in knowing I will never have to walk back through them again. I wish that fact made me feel better, but in truth, I’m pretty sure this place will haunt my nightmares for a long time. So much death and pain, blood and terror. It’s like I can feel the echo of it in the walls of this place. Adriel is dead, and his reign of terror ends with him, but I don’t know if we will ever be the same after what he’s done to all of us. We’ve lost parents and loved ones. Had our trust broken and our sanctuaries violated by his influence. Each of us has been marked and broken by his brand of pain.
A shiver runs through me at that thought, and Valen puts his arm over my shoulders and tucks me into his side. His warmth chases away some of the cold from my ruminations, and I bask in its comfort.
“It’s over,” he reassures me on a soft whisper, and I stare in his hazel eyes and feel the truth in his words.
“It’s over,” I agree, and in that moment, I don’t see the scars. I see the good. Like my mate holding me as we walk down a hallway, triumph behind us and possibility leading the way.
27
Ifollow Siah through another tall set of black doors, and tingles of recognition wave through me. This is where Adriel said I would be staying before I got myself thrown in a cell. The gray bedding is rumpled, and the look of the room isn’t nearly as kept and clean as the last time I was in this space. Someone’s been staying in here, which is weird since wasn’t I supposed to be the one staying in here? Well, before I tried to kill a lamia with a pool cue, that is. That same comforting scent touches the air in the room. And I look at Siah, questions clear in my gaze.
He rakes his hands through his brown hair and steps back from me. “Um, this is my room,” he tells me, and my eyebrows shoot up to my hairline in shock. “I was surprised when he announced this is where you’d be staying. I don’t know if he was doing it because he thought you’d be more unsettled having to stay with someone you thought had betrayed you or if he suspected our connection even then,” he explains.
I think about what it could have meant for a beat and then decide I don’t care. Adriel’s dead now, and I don’t need to spend time trying to unravel his fucked up mind. I step further into the room. Bastien, Knox, Valen, Sabin and Torrez all pile in behind me, and I look around the space, even more curious now that I know who it belongs to. I don’t know Siah well; he’s kind of a hot ball of mystery at this point, and I don’t spot anything around the room that further clues me in to the different facets of his personality.
I look back at my guys, glad that it’s just us for now. I’m antsy with the need to see Ryker and ensure with my own eyes that he’s okay. Enoch and Becket are down the hall in Sorik’s room, and Kallan headed off to find Ryker and send him our way when he saw how many of us were in need of healing.
Knox and Bastien both whip off their shirts and wipe at various wounds on their chests and torsos with towels that Siah hands out. I try to do the same, but I wince with pain as I try to pull my shirt higher than the bottom of my ribs. Valen comes to my rescue and helps me take off what’s left of my ratty, stained sweater. I smile at him, and he gives me a peck as he pulls his shirt over his head. He turns to toss it on the ground, and I see a massive cut down his back that’s bleeding. I hiss at the sight of it.
“You look a hell of a lot worse than me, Vinna, so don’t go getting any ideas to shove me at Ryker first when he walks through the door,” Valen warns.
I would probably argue if I couldn’t feel warm blood dripping down my frontandback right now. I place my hands on Valen’s back and shove Healing magic into him. He gasps as my teal magic surges through him, and I can feel all of his injuries as they quickly heal. The cut in his back knits together, and when I can’t sense so much as a bruise anymore, I release my hold on my magic. A wave of dizziness hits me, but I mask it.
“Ryker can heal us, Vinna. Save your energy,” Valen scolds.
“You were bleeding, and you’re welcome,” I snark, and he rolls his eyes at me.
“Thank you,” he tells me with a cheeky smile and then flicks my nose.
Sabin chuckles at our exchange and then calls dibs on the shower. He sprints through the doorway Siah motions to before Knox or Bastien can rob him of it. Torrez blinks into a man, and Knox groans his dissatisfaction.
“Abracafuckyourself, sparkle wand, I’m a shifter. This”—Torrez smiles and motions down his body—“is part and parcel. Just don’t look at my dick if it intimidates you.”
I crack up and immediately regret it. Now that adrenaline isn’t flooding my system, I can feel every bruise and scratch. “Sparkle wand,” I repeat on a giggle, and Knox glares at me playfully.
“You let Ryker call me Squeaks,” I challenge, and he cracks up.
“Yeah, but Squeaks is so cute and accurate.”
