“But it is!” Drayven shouted over the clamoring crowd. “Ana won.”
The silence was loud as everyone absorbed this truth.
Tamina looked across at Ruspin, then back to me. “You can’t have him! I won’t let him go!”
A sudden heat tore a path across my chest.
Drayven bellowed, grabbing the mesh and shaking it, his horrified gaze on my torso.
I looked down at the bubbling crimson stain seeping through my top. What… The edges of the world went gray. A scream pierced the air. Metal clanged, and the world swayed and tipped.
I hit the ground on my side, trembling as shock overtook me.
“No!” Drayven’s shadow fell over me, snarls and growls erupting behind him.
Another scream echoed, but all I saw was him—warm moss-green eyes, hot breath against my cheek, my neck. Warm… My chest was warm, even though the world was darkening.
“I’ve got you,” Drayven said. “Out of the way!”
I was floating. It was…nice.
“Stay awake, Ana. Stay?—”
Darkness swallowed me.
CHAPTER 24
Every species has a mating instinct, but for some, the instinct is more than biological. It’s metaphysical. It’s ethereal…
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SUPERNAL
Isurfaced to the rumble of male voices, cracking open my eyelids to Vitra and Drayven standing at the foot of my bed.
Was I still dreaming? Some kind of kinky sex dream that… Oh… Oh shit…Tamina! The bitch.
I tried to sit up, but there was a boulder on my chest. “Ugh…how long have I been out?”
“A couple of hours,” Vitra said.
I swallowed to moisten my throat and looked down at my chest where a bandage peeked out from beneath the loose sleep shirt someone had changed me into. Hopefully Darla. “How bad is it?”
They both took a step closer, shrinking the space with their muscular frames.
“You’ll be fine,” Vitra said tightly. “Mr. Thorn stopped the bleeding.” His eyes narrowed at the words. “Darla applied a poultice to speed up healing.”
“I did indeed,” Darla said from somewhere beyond the guys. “Now, if you’ll move.”
The males parted, and Darla bustled in carrying a tray. “You need to eat, dear. You lost a lot of blood. Not as much as you could have, thanks to Mr. Thorn’s quick thinking.” Her tone suggested she was less than pleased.
Ididfeel weak and fuzzy-headed. Classic blood loss symptoms. My arms were tingly, too. The wound must have been deep to bleed so profusely before Drayven stopped it. “Howdidyou stop the bleeding?”
Drayven fixed his gaze on the window, twin spots of color appearing high on his cheeks. “I licked your wound.”
“Licked?”
“Yes.” A muscle ticked in his jaw.
“As in licked with yourtonguekind of licked?”
