CHAPTER 28
Shaia stood her ground on trembling legs as Fuery prowled towards her, his hunger beating in her blood together with a terrible weight of darkness that pressed down on her. She weathered that darkness, holding their fragile connection open as it began to form again, hoping her light would reach him and free him of its grip. Hope that felt as fragile as their bond to her, liable to shatter and fade at any moment, and take the last of her strength with it.
“Fuery,” she whispered, keeping her voice soft and light, free of the fear that ran in her veins.
He wouldn’t hurt her.
He wouldn’t.
His crimson eyes narrowed on her face, and then lowered to her throat.
Her pulse ticked up, a staccato rhythm that sent a trickle of panic flowing through her and jacked her fear up another notch, until her legs felt like rubber beneath her.
She reached a hand out to him, and he halted and growled at it, his expression turning wary as he eyed it, as if she was going to lash out at him.
Only if he gave her no choice.
“Listen to my voice, Fuery.” She swallowed her pounding heart and forced herself to remain where she was as his eyes snapped back up to her face and he snarled, flashing enormous fangs at her.
She wasn’t going to be cowed by him.
She was strong, and he had taught her to fight well. If he became a threat to her, she would fight him. Even with the shackle binding her left wrist, she had the strength to call her dagger to her hand.
But gods, she didn’t want it to come to that.
“It is me, Fuery… your Shaia. Your mate.”
He paused again, his dirty face softened and he stared at her blankly, and she could see she was reaching him.
The relief that went through her had her lowering her guard as her hope blazed brighter.
Fuery was suddenly in front of her, his clawed fingers closing over her upper arms, pinning them to her sides, and his eyes on her throat.
She struggled against him, adrenaline rushing through her as she tried to get her arms free. “Fuery, no!”
Because he had thought he had killed her once, and it had torn him apart for centuries. If he killed her for real, it would destroy him, and the darkness would finally devour him before he could end himself, transforming him into a mindless monster who knew only an endless thirst for blood.
She managed to get her hands between them and went to shove.
Tremendous pain rolled through their link, stealing her breath and making her still as it battered her. Gods, he was hurting. He needed her.
He opened his mouth to speak as his corrupted eyes sought hers.
He went flying off her.
Shaia blinked as he suddenly sailed through the air to land hard on the grey flagstones of the fortress courtyard and tumble across them, grunting as he slammed into the wall and dust rained down on him.
“Fuck, Shaia… are you alright?” Hartt’s deep voice rolled over her from behind, a breathless note to it that spoke of exertion. “I got here as quickly as I could but tracking Fuery through his implant is difficult at the best of times.”
She wasn’t sure what an implant was, but part of her was glad to hear his voice and feel his presence. Not because he had saved her from Fuery, but because he might be able to save Fuery.
Before she could look at him, Fuery rushed past her in a blur and barrelled into him, his roar echoing around the broken walls of the fortress. Hartt grunted and she turned in time to see Fuery ploughing him into the low wall of the well.
“Fuery!” She managed two steps towards him before he halted her in her tracks.
He looked over his shoulder as he gripped Hartt by his throat, both hands closed tightly around it as he bent the male backwards over the well, in danger of sending him plummeting into it.
Gods.
The sheer rage, the raw fury in his eyes stopped her dead.
It drummed in her blood too.
Told her everything she needed to know.
He thought Hartt was going to take her from him, he feared that he was going to lose his mate, and it was giving the darkness a firmer hold over him, allowing it to drag him down into the abyss.
“Hartt, don’t—” She winced as Fuery flew off him, tumbled across the flagstones past her and rolled onto his feet.
Her mate shook his head, his shoulder-length black hair a tangled mess as thick hanks of it fell down from the thong he had tied it with at the back of his head. He hunkered down and growled as he bared his fangs at Hartt.
“You’re making him worse,” she bit out and Hartt spared her a glance.
She winced again as Fuery slammed into him, using the opening she had given him, and Hartt hit the well again. He shoved the flat of his palm against Fuery’s chin, pushing his head back as they wrestled with each other.
“Calm the fuck down,” Hartt snapped and for a moment, Fuery eased off, but then Hartt made the mistake of looking at her.
Fuery grabbed him by his throat and banged his head against the thick wall of the well.
Hartt snarled and teleported, and she gasped as Fuery almost toppled into the well, barely catching himself at the last second. He pushed both hands against the wall and spun to face Hartt where he had reappeared beside her.
“Gods, stop coming near me!” She shoved him too, and he growled at her as an affronted look flickered across his face.
“I came here to help you,” Hartt barked.
She knew that, but Fuery didn’t. All he could see was her dressed in nothing but her undergarments and a ruined, open tunic, and another male trying to defend her.
Shaia grimaced as Fuery hit him hard in the gut with his right shoulder, lifting his feet off the ground.
The hunger that raged in their bond grew stronger.
Awareness rolled through her as her brain caught up and she watched Fuery as he fought Hartt, dodging every attempt the male made to grab hold of him and flashing fangs at every turn.
The pain she had felt through their bond was responsible for Fuery’s hunger and the need that was driving him. It wasn’t pain born of the darkness, but it was pain that gave the darkness a stronger hold on him and was pulling him down into the abyss.
He hadn’t wanted to hurt her when he had turned on her.
He had wanted her blood.
His need to heal was driving him, his instincts hijacking control, a desire to survive that she was familiar with because it burned in her too.
She catalogued his injuries and focused on their bond and a trick she had heard mates could use. Her eyes widened as his injuries burned on her body, pain blazing in long lines over her chest, legs, and arms, and she gasped.
Fuery stilled and looked at her.
“No,” he growled, deep voice like rolling thunder, and turned towards her.
Hartt tackled him from behind, taking him down face-first onto the hard ground.
Fuery snarled, elbowed Hartt in the face and twisted beneath him as the male shifted his weight to one side. Before Hartt could defend, Fuery was on top of him, his fangs buried deep in the male’s throat.
The relief that went through Fuery was swift and had her head spinning a little as she sagged to her knees.
Her mouth watered as she watched Fuery, her own need for blood rising to the fore as the echoes of his injuries faded, leaving her aware of her own again. She pressed one hand to the long slash across her chest and the other against the shallow cut across her stomach. Both were still bleeding in places and her fangs ached, descending as she watched her mate feed.
Hartt muttered words beneath his breath.
Fuery reared back from him, his hands flying to his head. He gripped it hard as he roared and shoved off Hartt, staggering a few steps before collapsing to his knees.
She looked between her mate and Hartt as the male lay on the flagstones, breathing hard, staring at the lightening sky.
He was pale, too pale, his skin ashen and lips drained of colour, and when he slid a look at her, his eyes sent a chill skating over her skin.
Black blotches tainted his violet irises.
She looked to Fuery.
The crimson was gone from his eyes.
Because Hartt had somehow taken some of the darkness from him.
“It isn’t over,” Hartt husked as he rolled onto his side and struggled to sit up. “I have never seen Fuery this bad.”
She mustered her strength and crawled across the flagstones to Hartt, and reached out to grasp his shoulders to help him.
Fuery snarled.
The bond flared back to life inside her, warning her away from the other male.
She eased her hand away from Hartt and looked at Fuery.
He knelt on the ground, staring through dull empty eyes at the flagstones, his body motionless, as if he was trapped inside his own body somehow.
“The darkness is too strong this time.” Hartt moved beside her, finally easing onto his knees, and sagged forwards as he gripped them and breathed hard. “I have done all I can through our bond and the spell.”
“Spell?” Her gaze whipped back to him.
He nodded. “A blood bond with Fuery was never enough. I thought it would be… but when I almost lost Fuery the first time, I realised I needed a stronger power over him.”
She stared into Hartt’s eyes, at the darkness swirling there. “This spell allows you to steal some of the darkness from Fuery and take it into you. You are tainting yourself. Why?”
Hartt gave a stiff shrug, and she thought he wouldn’t answer her, but then he looked across at his friend and sighed, a softness entering his eyes that spoke of love and something more.
“I owe Fuery a lot… a life debt… the sort that is impossible to repay. He saved me once, and so I do what I can to save him… because I owe him.”
It was very noble, but also extremely dangerous. Hartt’s line of work placed him in enough danger of becoming tainted without him taking on Fuery’s darkness too.
How tainted was he?
Fuery suddenly collapsed.
She was by his side in an instant, rolling him onto his back so his head rested on her knees. He stared at the sky above her, his black eyes glassy, and her heart hitched as his pupils began to contract and turn elliptical again.
Hartt stopped beside her, his eyes on Fuery and his tone sombre as he spoke.
“It’s your turn now. I can’t save Fuery this time. Only you have that power.”