Despite what the woman said, he seems intent on fighting. So does Anarchy, whose magic is the purest of dark magic. And… so does Lucian, who is angling his body so that his broken wing must be less visible from the front, even if all his other wounds are on display. Even though he, too, must be aware that his chances of surviving this fight are the slimmest of all.
And…dammit… he’s grown on me.
All three crimson wolves have hunched low to the ground, as if they’re preparing to leap forward, their growls ringing through the air.
“We’re here because of me.” My voice rises above the snarling and growls and draws the woman’s attentionimmediately to me. Of course, I’m under no illusion that she didn’t notice me before now. “Because I’m hurt.”
It seems like an obvious thing to say. I mean, she has eyes, and I’m lying right here, all busted up.
But what she might not have figured out is what I’m forced to admit next. “Because I can’t heal these wounds on my own.”
The tension around me now is so thick, it would take my claws to cut through it.
The woman purses her lips while the little boy looks up at her again, this time with his eyebrows raised, seemingly for instructions. At the same moment, the little girl snuggles closer to her mother’s side.
Whatever communication passes between them, it isn’t spoken aloud.
But the three wolves stop growling and stand a little more upright, indicating a reprieve from their murderous intent, however short that reprieve may end up being.
“Ask your protectors to stand aside,” the woman says to me. “You and I will decide how this is going to end.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
None of my “protectors,” as the woman calls them, look happy about her proposal that they should step aside, but already, I can feel the illusion of painlessness wearing off. Not horribly. Just enough for me to notice and decide I really don’t like the resurgence of pain.
I want to believe I’m tough enough to withstand any agony endlessly, but, fuck it, I’d rather not.
The keeper is already kneeling to me, as if he knows I’m about to agree.
“No,” he whispers. “You should not allow this wolf to get close to you.”
“We don’t have a choice.”
This brings a glower to his face and increases the whiteness of his current demon form’s eyes.
But he doesn’t argue further. “At the first hint of danger, I will step in,” he says, loud enough that the woman will certainly have heard him.
Anarchy takes her cue from Diavolo, both of them backing off to either side of me.
Lucian continues to surprise me when he stands his ground for a moment longer. “I risked my life for my sister today,” hesays to the woman, squaring off with her as she steps toward us. “I won’t hesitate to do it again.”
“I understand and respect your position.” She acknowledges him with a nod before the three crimson wolves spread out ahead of her, the two females positioning themselves between her and the keeper, while the masculine wolf approaches Lucian, urging him away from me and toward Anarchy.
The boy—Theo—hangs back a few steps while his mother kneels beside me, still holding the little girl on her hip.
Both of them consider me carefully.
The feather in my shoulder is within their reach and I consider for a moment if I should be concerned the mother will try to use it against me. I quickly dismiss that possibility. She has far more power at her disposal to worry about retrieving a weapon that’s dug deep into my torso. Especially when she doesn’t even glance at it.
“You’re a creature of darkness,” the woman says, her focus on my face.
Strangely, what she said doesn’t sound like an accusation.
In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d say there was a hint of curiosity in her tone.
The press of her lips softens. “And yet you appear to have gained the loyalty and protection of other dark creatures. That is a very rare thing indeed.”
She can only mean the keeper and Anarchy. I’m a little surprised when her focus flickers to Lucian, too.
