I brush my fingertips gently over his cheek and then quickly realize he’s naked and covered in blood. Brogan tosses over a towel to cover his lower half and then squeezes my shoulder as I turn around to Manon and launch myself at her in a crushing hug.
“Thank you. I knew if anyone could help, it’d be you. I can’t tell you how much this means.” I’m getting choked up again, my throat tight, reeling from the events of the past hour. Getting that close to losing one of my mates before I’ve even claimed him as my own is pushing me dangerously close to an edge that I don’t want to topple over.
“You’re welcome, Echo. We owe you from all the times you’ve helped us.”
I shake my head. She just saved Finn’s life, and I’m aware of exactly how terrified I was at the thought of losing him. Nothing I’ve done in my life compares to any of that, but when I say as much to her, she just clicks her tongue and squeezes my arm.
“You don’t realize how many people you’ve helped, Echo. You weren’t around to see what happened after you helped us. Seriously, you’ve saved a load of people’s lives.”
I’m pretty sure I’ve reached my emotional limit because I feel like I’m about to start sobbing any minute. Manon seems to sense that and changes the subject slightly.
“Since when do you have mates, anyway? If I’d known, we could have shared tips about how to juggle four men.” She grins at me.
“I only met them this week,” I say and then point out each of them. “Soren, Brogan and Finn.”
“Shit, that’s pretty quick to be sharing your first near miss with one of them.” She smiles at me. “Well, if you ever need a little break from the testosterone, you know where to find me. We can have coffee or something.”
As if sensing that I’m one more nice word away from totally breaking down, she pats my hand and squeezes. “Well, we’d better be getting back.”
I nod and wait as Soren and Brogan both thank the two of them profusely for helping. Once they’re done, I transport the two of them home and then head back to the garden.
I’m a little dizzy from all the world-hopping in such a brief space of time, and Brogan scoops me up into his arms, hugging me so tight I can barely breathe. I let his warmth sink into me and swallow a few times to get myself under control.
Still, my voice comes out quiet and a little tight when I manage to speak. “He’s covered in blood. Will you help me move him to his bed once I’ve cleaned him up a bit?”
“Of course, babe.”
Brogan then helps me to bathe off the worst of the blood, while Soren sets about disposing of the bodies and cleaning up Finn’s place. I smile at them both gratefully, thankful that any of the previous tension between them is put by the wayside when one of them is injured.
Brogan then lifts Finn’s solid, muscular body with little effort, although Finn’s body is bigger than his. He carefully places him down on Finn’s nest, which Soren has replaced with clean sheets, and then tugs me down so that my body is pressed up against Finn on one side, with Brogan on the other.
All the events of the day catch up with me and my eyes are so heavy, I can barely keep them open as I drift off to sleep. But not before I feel one last body joining us, with Soren climbing in and slotting his body on the other side of Brogan. I sink into sleep, all my mates all together.
15
Finn
I’m daydreaming, distracted when the first one comes through. Thinking about Echo, my perfect mate, the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. I’m thinking about our future together, her in my nest with me holding her soft body against mine. My lips on her neck, pressing open-mouthed kisses where I can, and breathing in the heady scent of her.
Me, sharing more of my hoard with her, the collection of items that I’ve been gathering together for decades just for her.
I’m so swept up in the warmth that the very thought of my mate brings to my soul. I barely notice the warningtugfrom the gate. It’s not until she does it again, this time even more forcefully, that I’m drawn into action.
I shift into my four-legged form and am through the gate in an instant, but just as quickly, I’m disabled by a flash of green light.
They must hit me with a spell or something because one minute, I’m charging through into the antechamber and the next, I’m dizzy, seeing double and barely able to stand on my own four legs. There’s a searing pain in my flesh as they slash at me with a blade, which should be impossible. The ease they cut through my scales is almost impossible, as though it’s my two-legged form’s flesh, not my impenetrable hide.
That they’ve cut me and the pain it brings shocks me into freezing and the scent of my blood fills my senses.
Another sharp stab of pain and I roar, twisting with ungainly steps to see another of the soul-eaters at my side. I might have double vision, but I realize at that moment that there is more than one of them. In fact, to me it looks like I’m surrounded, overpowered by at least ten of them, but the double vision is playing tricks on me, so when I swipe a claw, it hits at nothing.
My confusion gives them the opportunity to breach the gate. These aren’t the same mindless creatures that broke in earlier in the week and made their way through my defenses by sheer luck. These are calculating, cognizant, and they clearly have a lot of firepower, enough to disable a fierce dragon as strong as me.
I’m still dizzy as I advance after them, lumbering like a wounded elephant. Inside my home, my tail smashes furniture, my gait lopsided. I can’t walk straight and I stumble into walls, crack my sofa clean in two, smash the legs off my dining chairs.
And then they advance on me again, slashing and tearing at my flesh with their blades. I roar with fury and frustration. I can’t see straight and I’ve never felt so helpless in all my many years.
I cannot let them get beyond my cave. They are dangerous enough without the power that the many, many souls downstairs would give them. If they ingested them all, the creatures would be unstoppable.
