Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
I nodded, dropping to one knee so she didn’t have to stare up at me. “Yup. A big old fireball, and then she lobbed another one my way, but I was better at ducking that time. Singed my shirt.” I held up an arm to show her.
I wasn’t better at ducking. Liv had thrown off that shot or she’d been so shaken by the news Evan had delivered that she couldn’t aim properly.
A part of me wanted to believe the former. I’d almost gotten to her. There was a part of Liv still there in her cast-iron breast armor. I had to find that part and bring her back to me. Or find a way to hold her down until I could locate that piece of her soul and shove it back in her body.
Luna slipped into a robe her mother held out for her. Mom obviously knew to keep one around for her tiny werebaby. The mom didn’t look like a were to me. If I had to bet, I would say she was human or something close.
“I think that would hurt,” Luna said. “That witch sounds mean. Our witches are nice.”
I hoped so. I was worried because Liv had gotten deep enough into the wards to shake the ground beneath us.
“They are nice, and Relda can help with that burn of yours. It has to hurt.” The nurse was dressed in comfy clothes and had a lovely British accent. She turned Evan’s way. “Are you all right?”
“I’m good, Rose. Kelsey kind of threw her body in front of mine,” Evan admitted.
The doors to the clinic flew open, and my massive wolf boy slid into the room on four feet, Trent and Gray running behind him. His big old paws hit the slick floor, and he did that all four paws went different directions thing that I always find hysterical.
“Thank the goddess,” Trent said, moving toward me. “Eddie couldn’t get to you and then he could but he didn’t come back. Then Fen caught your scent.”
We were levels down, and we’d walked around all yesterday. Fen’s senses were far beyond even a normal alpha. He could track us through thick rock and a throng of other beings worried about what had happened.
“Don’t you change. Luna’s here and she doesn’t need to…” Evan began.
But Fen didn’t listen to her. He changed in between steps going from four to two feet with complete and effortless grace. “What happened? Are you okay?” He took a long breath. “I smell magic. Dark magic. And…” He turned my way. “Mom, you’re hurt.”
“What happened?” Gray asked, moving in, and then there were three big dudes crowding me.
I held my hands out, trying to get some space. “It was Liv. I suspect she’s the one who made the nest shake, though I’d like to know how she did it. I think we should check the wards as soon as possible.”
“Eddie, I need you to take me topside.” Trent held out a hand.
Fen popped right back into wolf form and went to stand beside his dad.
“I don’t think that’s…” I began.
But Eddie had hands on them both and they were gone.
“Necessary.” I sighed and looked to Gray. “Liv’s gone. She’s got a teleportation spell now. It would have been nice back in the old days when I had to drive everywhere.”
“I think she paid dearly for that power.” Gray touched my shirt, pulling it up to get a look at the wound. “Are you okay?”
“We can’t possibly know because she won’t sit long enough to allow me to examine her, and I’m fairly certain she’s going to tell me not to let Relda try to heal her.” The nurse had her daughter on her hip, the little were hanging on her while watching everything that went on.
“I put the king’s blood my mom sent down here.” Evan crossed to the refrigerator. There was a lock on it, and she pressed in the code. “It should work.”
“That’s for you,” I replied.
Evan pulled out the thermos I’d seen Fenrir carrying the day we arrived. “It’s way more than I need, and I happen to know that Relda’s going to have a hard time with that wound. Rose, we were facing one of the Profane.”
Rose set Luna down with a sigh. “She’s right. The Profane use spells that resist magical healing. They resist regular healing. Vampire blood is the only thing that can heal it unless you can find an angel to touch you or you want to wait a couple of weeks before you can move comfortably again. Maybe months, the way that looks.”
“Great. We have a ton of vampires down here,” I pointed out. “If we can’t find Casey, I’ll wait until the primals are up.”
Rose’s head shook vigorously. “No. Oh, no. We don’t use primal blood to heal. It often…changes the person being healed. It can go wrong sometimes.”