A flash of red hair, her hand cupping a gun. He scooped her up, pulling her to his chest and dragging in her scent of peaches and cream. She was limp, head rolling on his arm to reveal her pendant cracked down the centre.
“Rae?”
Burns blistered down her arms, her skin splitting from the heat.
Mine.
Her eyes fluttered, and Titus almost collapsed from relief. “Vivian’s dead,” she said, voice hoarse.
Titus only tightened his hold, not caring that her Guildmaster was dead. He’d had twenty minutes of not being able to feel her, the ward cutting everything off. Twenty minutes of not knowing whether she was alive, or dead. His beast had gone mad, and it had taken all his strength to remain as the man.
Intense heat licked at his side, the ceiling whining as it began to crumple.
“We need to get out of here,” he said, ready to drift them back outside.
“Wait!” Her arms shook, likely the adrenaline. She hooked them around his neck, better stabilising herself as she turned to the man and wolf. “Bastion, you need to get out of here.”
Bastion snarled, canines much sharper than they should have been. “I’m not leaving –”
The air shifted, and a man with piercing blue eyes and dark hair appeared.
Titus immediately called his arcane, the power vicious compared to the wild magic that tingled against his chi.
“Nix?” Rae called, the Fae turning with an expressionless mask. He grabbed Bastion, and disappeared with a static pop. “What the fuck!”
The wolf snarled, his eyes showing nothing but feral instincts. If a man remained, he wasn’t present.
Rae reached for him. “We can’t leave –”
The Fae appeared once more, glaring down at the wolf who tensed as if to pounce. He grabbed the wolf by his scruff, and disappeared with him too.
Titus wasted no more time, holding onto Rae, he recalled the image of outside, and pulled them both through a drift. On his own, it felt like waving through water, but with Rae it was like moving through mud.
The sunlight blinded, the air crisp compared to the heat of the flames.
Rae groaned in his arms, taking a second to shake the drift’s effects.
“You piece of shit!” Lucifer growled, his wings spread and horns curling through his hair. “You honestly think you can just disappear, and never fucking call?” His hands were fisted at his side, sparks slipping between his fingers.
“It wasn’t about you,” came the smooth reply, and Titus had to shift to the side to see past Lucifer’s wings. A Daemon, one who barely looked at him before settling on Rae. Titus didn’t bother to hold back his growl, gripping his mate tighter.
Lucifer’s wings snapped tight to his back. “Fuck you, Kyle. People cared about you, you selfish prick.” With a snarl he stepped away, fury apparent in every line of his body.
Xander’s voice flowed through his mind.‘This might be a problem.’
‘Is that who I think it is?’Titus asked, Axel and Xander appearing beside him, positioning themselves as guards.
‘Yep.’Xander crossed his arms.‘What are we going to tell Alice?’
‘The truth,”Axel said, the connection spreading to include all three of them.‘She deserves to know her brother’s back.’
“Is it done?” Rae asked, wiggling in his grip. He gently set her down, making sure her legs fully supported her weight.
Kyle nodded, his expression cautious.
“What about my contract?” Rae pressed herself against his chest. “I was forced into my contract, I want to be set free.”
Kyle’s smile was sad. “It’s not possible, the magic’s complicated, and must be fulfilled one way or another once signed in blood.” He cocked his head. “But as the new Guildmaster, you’ll be given as much freedom as possible.”
