“Is she okay?” Kyler asked.
Damien gave him a bland stare. “Would I allow anything else?”
“Not important right now,” Remy snapped. “Damien, my mate has been drugged.”
“Your mate?” Damien’s brow raised, then his lips curved into a smile as he glanced down at Starla. “She’s a fairy? Congratulations, you lucky son of a bitch. She’s lovely.”
Remy had to grind his teeth together to stop himself from snarling at his friend. He didn’t like anyone complimenting his mate, even someone he trusted. “Can you heal her?”
The demon strode closer to peer down at the sleeping female. “What happened?”
“I’m not exactly sure. I got a text saying she was in trouble and found her stumbling down the street a few seconds later. I think she was at the welcome party, but I didn’t have time to ask for details before she passed out.”
Damien’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t sense a trace of a spell, so one of her drinks must have been laced. Not much can knock out a full-blooded fairy, so it must be a powerful potion. Something that wasn’t made by a student but was more likely bought on the black market.”
“If students are using that kind of shit here…” Anton’s lip curled in anger.
“That’s a problem for later,” Remy insisted impatiently. “Can you counteract it?”
“You’ll have to cut her for me.”
Remy had been worried he was going to say that. He knew Daimon was a blood demon, which meant the main source of his power came from manipulating blood and magic together. Wanting to get it over with, he started to shift one of his fingernails into a claw but found he couldn’t do it.
He was no stranger to bloodshed. In fact, he loved a good bloody battle, with his fists and in his shifted form. But causing damage to an enemy or opponent was vastly different than causing harm to his mate. Even though he knew it was going to help her, the very thought of hurting her was completely abhorrent to him.
“I can do it,” Anton offered quietly.
The instant his friend stepped closer, Remy spun around, shielding her with his body to protect her. Turning his head, he let out a silent snarl of warning.
Anton held his hands up in surrender. “Whoa, buddy. I was just trying to help.”
Damien patted his shoulder. “It’s the mating frenzy. It would be best if everyone keeps their distance until they get a handle on things. Remy, if you can’t cut her, you might as well bite her.”
“Wouldn’t that also infect him with whatever potion she’d been given?” Kyler asked.
That didn’t matter to Remy. The only thing he cared about was healing his mate. Besides, if he got a taste of whatever was running through her bloodstream, he would be able to recognize it later. While he couldn’t bring himself to cut her, he didn’t have the same reaction to the thought of biting her. He desperately wanted to mark her and claim her as his mate, but he felt like an asshole doing it while she was passed out.
Damien huffed out an impatient breath. “It will be easy to remove it from him. Now, stop stalling. She’s your mate, for fuck’s sake. You’re going to end up biting her anyway, so you might as well do it now.”
His friend’s words rang true, yet he still didn’t feel right about taking advantage of his mate while she was defenseless. Despite this, the primal urge to sink his teeth into her grew more intense, gnawing at his self-control. It was a compulsive need, growing stronger with each passing second.
Torn between protecting her and succumbing to his baser instincts, Remy finally made a decision. He drew her closer and buried his face against her neck. Breathing deep, he inhaled her sweet scent into his lungs and felt a wave of lust hit him so strong it threatened to bring him to his knees.
Nuzzling the delicate curve of her neck, he pressed his lips against the pulse there. Her intoxicating scent teased his senses. The sheer force of his longing made his pulse race, but he fought to keep himself grounded, determined to ensure her safety even as his own restraint faltered.
Biting her neck would be too intimate to do with his friends watching. Even with his back turned, he didn’t want to share that experience with anyone but his mate. Instead, he lifted her limp arm and pressed a kiss of apology on her wrist. He would rather she be angry at him than leave her infected by an unknown potion until they could find another strong healer to help.
He felt his teeth extend into fangs and was careful to keep the pressure light as he bit into her wrist. There was no reaction from her, but the rush he got from the small taste of her blood was overwhelming. It triggered a surge of desire so strong that it made him feel absolutely feral.
Remy forced himself to release her, even though every cell in his body was demanding more. “Do it,” he said in a barely audible growl. “Now.”
“Hold her still,” Damien ordered. “I’ll force the potion out of her through the wound.”
“I didn’t sense anything in her blood,” Remy admitted.
Even though he had been distracted by the taste of her, he could tell she had strong magic running through her blood. However, he hadn’t sensed anything wrong in her bloodstream besides alcohol, and that worried him.
“You didn’t consume enough of it for it to affect you. It’s a powerful potion. Not something a student could manage to make on their own. It’s also laced with a powerful spell that makes it very difficult to trace,” Damien told them as he forced a small trickle of liquid out of the tiny holes on her wrist. He breathed out a sigh of relief when the task was done, the only sign of the strain he had been under. “She should be fine now.”
