Chapter 21
Guardian Manor, Tetartos Realm
Uri’s back hurt like a motherfucker.
They almost hadn’t gotten out of there at all; it had been close. The last lock hadn’t blown all the way through. He’d just gotten a redhead out of her cell when he had heard Conn’s telepathic, Fuck! Uri, Sander, get your asses out! Sander had been left guarding the tunnel that was Uri’s exit. After quickly scooping up the female, he’d started teleporting in stages. He heard the blast and managed to protect the female in his arms, but he’d felt the searing heat and impact as he was teleporting out. He knew his skin was flayed, he could fucking feel it. There was likely debris in the wound too, which was just lovely. That would need to be ripped out.
He took stock of his injuries; some bones were broken.
The soft breeze in the courtyard of the manor felt damn good. He inhaled the sweet scent of the trees and grass and heard the light tinkling of the fountains. Hell yeah. Gone was the acrid stench of smoke, blood, and death.
He was weakening, just beginning to double over, when Drake took the redhead from him.
He hit the ground on his knees, and Alex was there behind him. He heard her breath catch, most likely seeing the damage. He felt her light touch to his bare stomach; she felt amazing even in his current condition.
A split second passed as all hell broke loose.
Trying to concentrate on knitting bones and flesh, he didn’t register what was happening around him. When he heard a snarling growl and felt pissed hellhound emotion coming through his blood bond, he looked up. Shit. Havoc was in front of him, spewing flames at Drake’s feet. The Guardian leader moved clear just in time for his boots not to get torched.
His chest lurched as he moved to get the damn animal out of incinerating distance. Alex let her shield loose with enough power that it covered the three of them. Blasts of fire hit the barrier before dissipating safely away, and Havoc was crouched a few feet in front of him, but the beast was fucking whole. Relief hit hard, along with weakness that made him grit his teeth.
“What the fuck?” yelled Sander.
“Shit, it’s not a hellhound attack; the hound’s Uri’s. Hold your fucking fire. Literally, you fucking dumbass.” This was from Jax.
Uri noticed Drake didn’t stick up for the beast, no doubt he’d have been happy if Sander had fried Havoc’s ass. Smoke billowed from their leader’s mouth, making the female in his arms cough.
“Dorian, come take this female to Sirena,” Drake bellowed, his voice booming in the mostly quiet courtyard.
Uri noticed most of the Guardians, with the exception of Sirena, Gregoire, Conn and P, were there in the courtyard with them. The others were likely taking care of the patients, or working on data in Conn’s case. They all sported looks ranging from shock to, in Dorian’s case, amusement as he took Drake’s bundle and left with her through one of the French doors.
“What does that mean? Uri’s hellhound? Did I miss a meeting or something?” asked Brianne, standing there with her mouth gaping open.
The shield released around them, and he felt warm healing coming from Alex’s smooth hands. He had to stifle a groan at how good it felt. “Sirena can take care of it. Don’t waste too much of your energy,” he whispered.
He felt a wave of… possessiveness or jealousy hit strong through their link and grinned to himself. He touched the small hand that still held his stomach while the stubborn female finished healing his wound. It felt amazing, and nothing like being healed by Sirena. Alex’s touch, and energy, was like a pulse straight to his cock. He dropped his mental shield and let her feel what she was doing to him. She gasped and moaned lightly, holding even tighter to the skin at the front of his body.
At Havoc’s confused agitation, Uri snapped back to reality. Somewhat. He sent a message to the animal meant to calm the protective pup. He would hate to see the bastard grilled by Drake, which was still a possibility. He understood that the beast had assumed Drake was attacking. It was the dragon’s proximity to Uri and the hound’s issues with that particular scent that made Drake the most likely threat in the hound’s mind.
“He thought you were the threat.” He bit back a grin at the look in his leader’s eyes. He saw Drake glaring daggers at the beast, but there was something else there too… Amusement? Maybe even a little respect?
“I got that. I should be thankful the bastard didn’t aim higher. A teleporting hellhound isn’t fucking good, Uri.”
Uri nodded. It wasn’t a good sign that the beast obviously got some of Uri’s power in their blood bond. Not if anyone in the Immortal Realm saw that and thought Uri’s blood was the answer to leaving Tetartos.
Shit. He’d deal with that later. The pup was still eyeing Drake closely and he grinned at that. Havoc was smart; at least he hadn’t gone for the kill with the dragon, remembering on some level that Drake was not to be harmed.
Damn, he was exhausted and still needed to get some internal damage repaired. He also needed to have Sirena check Alex’s knife wound, and get them both refueled.
Havoc was still on alert, even when the animal nuzzled at Alex, making her chuckle low, before vigilantly continuing to guard them. The giggle loosed something in him, soothing something deep inside. He realized he loved the happy sound she made, enjoyed this closeness of having a mate after so many centuries alone.
Drake blew out an irritated breath. “Get Sirena to fix your back, refuel, then I need you to check the memories of the victims and the prisoner we captured while we were there. He was one of Cyril’s lab people. Conn went to toss him in holding,” Drake said.
“Everyone will meet in the manor’s war room in three hours. A lot has happened that you need to know, and we need the information you get from the tech,” Drake said with a fierce look.