“Hopefully dead,” I said. “I can’t feel their magic anymore.”
Wyn shook his head, shoulders relaxing. “Me neither.”
Not that I cared at that moment, because I could already hear the sound of vehicles approaching. That had to be Max’s reinforcements and a medical unit. Thank the fucking Goddess.
I carefully slid my arms around Dathal and kissed the side of his head. “Help is on its way.”
He didn’t reply, but before I could panic, Axel knelt beside us.
“He’ll be unconscious for a while as his body works to heal itself.” He set his hand on my shoulder. “What you did…giving him your magic…”
“What about it?”
“Did he accept it?”
I frowned, turning to look at him. “What do you mean?”
“Did his magic join with yours?”
Had it? “Maybe? I’m not sure. Why? What does it matter?”
Axel sat back, looking from me to Dathal and back again, his stare so intense I felt like he was trying to read my mind.
“I could be wrong,” he said, biting his lip. “But I think you might have just initiated a faejoiningpact.”
“A what?”
The rumble of engines got louder, and we both turned toward the noise.
“Shit.” Axel stood as the lead car pulled around the side of the main building and came to a stop in front of us. “If you want to join with Dathal, don’t mention what you just did,” Axel hissed. “Lady Sarhin will stop it before it can take hold.”
“I don’t understand.”
The car doors opened, and Axel hurriedly whispered, “It’s sort of like a shifter’s soulbond, but it’s something you choose. It’ll tie you together if you complete it.” Then he snapped his mouth closed as Lady Sarhin got out of the car, along with Nathan Calder and Clarissa Thornton.
Max deposited an unresponsive Yates on the ground as the others approached us. “How’s Dathal?”
“Unconscious,” I grumbled.
“Healing,” Axel offered.
Max glanced at me and I braced myself. “As far as mine and Wyn’s reports will read, you used your magic to save us when Wyn was injured. That’s all.” He gave me a pointed look, and relief flooded me. “Anything else is your business.”
I could’ve kissed him.
“Talis won’t say anything either,” Max added.
It was only then that I noticed he wasn’t with us. Wyn neither. But then I spotted Wyn getting treatment over at the police medical unit, Talis beside him.
“I told him Wyn needed his help more than we did,” Axel said, an edge to his voice, but I didn’t have the energy or the focus required to pull on that thread right now. He gestured to Yates, abruptly changing the subject. “Is he dead?”
“Unfortunately not.” Max’s lip curled as he stared down at him. “The witch in there with him is dead, though. I wanted to kill Yates too, but I suspect what’s in store for him will be way worse.”
“I’m happy that you did not.” Lady Sarhin’s voice was like ice as she came to a stop next to us and stared down at Yates. “I will see him and the others responsible rot in a fae prison for their crimes.”
When she saw Dathal, her expression darkened even further. She marched over to him, reaching into the bag she had slung over her shoulder. Her gaze slid over me, narrowing at the way I was holding him against me, but she said nothing. Uncorking a slim vial, she held it to Dathal’s lips. “Open his mouth,” she instructed Axel, and I struggled not to flinch at being so blatantly ignored.
Axel shot me a sympathetic look with the barest shake of his head. I wanted to laugh, because I didn’t need him warning me not to fuck with a member of the Fae High Court.
