“You forced it on them.”
“If they weren’t meant to be owned, then their skin would never be able to leave their bodies.”
“Oh, I’m definitely going to eat you,” Wade said, unable to stay silent any longer.
“Ah, the human from the bar. I wondered who sat with you.”
“He’s not your concern,” Riordan said.
“Perhaps I’ll find him and take him as well. It would keep you tractable if I did.”
“You won’t ever touch him.” Riordan’s words were said fiercely, with a rage that Wade could almost taste. It warmed him, knowing that Riordan was willing to stand between him and Niall’s wannabe god ambitions. Wade wouldn’t let him, of course. He was more than capable of taking care of himself.
“Perhaps. But I can touch someone else that you love.”
Saoirse jerked as if she’d been electrocuted, falling off the couch with an ear-piercing scream. Riordan and Donal both lunged for her, catching her before she hit the coffee table or the floor. Saoirse clawed at her bare arms so badly she drew bright red scratches down her forearms. Her brothers caught her hands, trying to hold her so she wouldn’t hurt herself, all while she kept screaming.
Lady Caith picked up Riordan’s phone before it could be knocked off the table. Wade threw himself out of the chair and clambered onto the couch the others had vacated. He ripped the gold ring with its fire opal off his finger and stuck his hand into the melee, searching for Saoirse’s. “Give me her hand!”
It took both Donal and Riordan to pin Saoirse down and unclench her fingers for Wade to slip the ring Orlaith had given him onto her finger. Magic instantly erupted from the fire opal, wrapping ribbons of ethereal light over her body. It sank into her skin, and Saoirse let out a lung-rattling gasp before going limp in her brothers’ arms. Riordan’s gaze snapped to Wade, his brown eyes wide. “What the hell?”
“That was the Summer Lady’s magic,” Lady Caith said, staring at the ring on Saoirse’s finger.
Wade saw she’d ended the call with Niall. “Yeah, it was a gift from Órlaith on her wedding day. Doesn’t work on me, but it’llwork for anyone I give it to. It’s spelled to give whoever wears it what they need in the moment.”
For Harper, it had shielded her from bullets and magic. He didn’t know what it had done for Saoirse.
Lady Caith pursed her lips and tilted her head. “Intent is a powerful thing with our people, and none more strong than those who descend from Brigid. The Summer Lady must find you exceptional to part with such power.”
“She likes me.”
“So it seems.”
Wade leaned back so Riordan and Donal could help Saoirse sit up. She was breathing hard, chest heaving from the need to get air into her lungs, but color was coming back into her face. Donal lifted her up and set her back down on the couch next to Wade, holding her upright until she gave him a tight little nod. “I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not,a dheirfiúr,” Donal said.
“Did Niall hurt your skin?” Riordan asked.
Saoirse scrubbed a hand over her face, wiping away her tears. “Yes. It echoed.”
“Echoed?” Wade asked.
Riordan grimaced. “When we’re forcibly separated from our sealskin, the holder can do harm to it, and we’ll feel it in human form.”
“The Summer Lady’s magic cut the connection of pain, I assume?” Lady Caith asked.
Saoirse nodded slowly. “I can still feel my sealskin, but not whatever Niall is doing to it.”
The haunted look in her eyes made Wade want to murder Niall. “No pain is great, but fuck Niall.”
Saoirse stared down at the ring on her finger and made an aborted motion to take it off. “I can give it back?”
Wade reached out to pat her on the head. “Nah. Keep it for now. You need it more than me.”
Her shoulders slumped in relief, and she sank down onto the couch.
“What now?” Donal asked.
