Chapter Twenty-Three
Veryl knew what had happened the second the gator’s blow struck and Simina went down. The sticky, glistening coating on the shifter’s claws was exactly the same as he’d seen in all the replays of the Ebon Claw’s final match. She’d been poisoned, and it had happened because she was trying to protect them.
Cato and Dez both launched at the other team, their own razor-sharp talons extended to full-length, ignoring every regulation to keep the deadliest parts of their anatomy safely within certain parameters. Their mate was down, and someone was going to pay.
Veryl quickly scanned the arena for the referee. “Poison claws!” he yelled when he found the big falcon shifter, whose wings were perpetually manifested, flying as quickly as he could to the center.
Several familiar figures followed on the heels of the referee. Help was coming for Simina, at least. For that, he was grateful.
Then Veryl dove into the fray, intent on keeping the other two people he loved most in the world safe from harm. Within seconds, he was no longer aware of what went on around them, dead set on taking down the bastards who had hurt Simina. He would fucking kill them, if it came to that.
He launched himself to tackle one of the gators from behind, but something hit his back as hard as a boulder before he could reach the other shifter. He went flying, spinning as he fell and manifesting his wings as quickly as he could to remain upright. The gator who had attacked advanced on him, enormous tail swishing behind him, ready to strike again. The man was all teeth and tail now, snapping his enormous jaws at Veryl. Only his torso, arms, and legs remained somewhat human. A second gator appeared in Veryl’s periphery.
If there were two coming for him, that meant either Dez or Cato was down too. Veryl’s gut burned with rage, but he didn’t dare look around to find his teammates. If let his guard down, the gators would kill him too.
Talons out, and wings at the ready, he crouched facing them both. There was no way he’d let them take him down without doing his level best to rip them to shreds in the process.
Before he could blink, a giant red blur barreled out of the sky, knocking one gator off his feet. Then a blue-winged figure came from the other side, toppling the other. Veryl stared mutely at the two figures that now grappled with the big gator shifters. Those weren’t his teammates, despite the wings being the right color. They were just as skilled at combat, however.
It gave Veryl the opportunity to survey the carnage. Three bodies lay nearby, and the sight turned his blood to ice. Slowly, one black-clad figure roused and sat up, familiar blue eyes flashing through his helmet’s visor. Cato reached up and unstrapped his helmet, yanking it off his head. His blond curls were plastered to his skull with sweat and blood, but he was whole.
A few feet away, Dez rolled over and lurched up onto his knees, looked around, then struggled to stand before losing his balance and falling back onto hands and knees, shaking his head.
“What the actual fuck?” Dez said. He leaned back on his haunches and scrabbled at the closure of his chinstrap. Tearing his helmet off, he tossed the armored cover away.
Veryl caught sight of Simina’s naked, bleeding body a few feet away and immediately sprang back up. The other two moved to action at the same moment, both running to her side.
“Please, no,” Veryl said.
“Someone help!” Cato bellowed as Veryl lifted their unconscious mate into his arms and held her to his chest.
“Don’t you dare fucking die!” Dez said, ripping off his gloves and cupping Simina’s face in his hands. She was limp in Veryl’s arms. Too limp.
Veryl held her tight, whispering into her ear how much he loved her, how much they loved her. When the medics arrived, they had to pry her out of his arms. He finally relented, standing back in a stupor as they took her vitals, assessed her wounds, and then loaded her into a small rotary transport.
He pushed his way toward her, desperate to keep her within his sight, but the big medic pushed him back. “No room for passengers in the transport. Just a pilot and the patient. She’ll get to the clinic fast. They’ll take care of her there, I promise.”
Two pairs of hands pulled him back, and his dragon calmed at the contact of his friends, but worry still ate at his insides.
“She has to be all right,” he said to them through their link. “I can’t survive if she isn’t.”
“She will be,” Cato said. “Because we can’t, either.”
When the transporter was airborne, they turned back to the remnants of their battle. Because that was what it had been, after all. Not a contest of skill, not a simple match to display their athletic prowess, but an all-out, bloodthirsty fight. Veryl’s talons still itched to draw blood, but the honor had been taken from him.
He glanced to his teammates and saw the shining red evidence of the damage they’d done coating their arms and hands, which was some consolation. He was infinitely grateful that neither of them had been badly injured.
Two familiar figures came toward them. The red and blue streaks he’d seen made sense now.
“You three all right?” Bryer Vargas asked. “Ig and I saw what happened. He recognized the scent of the poison. We couldn’t stand by and watch that shit happen to another team.” He frowned and glanced in the direction the medic had flown with Simina. “I guess it still happened. Doctor Taji’s stronger than she looks, though. She’ll be fine.”
“Thank you,” Cato said when Veryl and Dez were unable to find words.
Despite Bryer’s sentiment, Veryl worried he was just trying to sound hopeful. The poison had nearly killed him, but Bryer had survived, so perhaps there really was hope for Simina.
“Our transporter’s parked in the championship winner’s spot,” Ignazio said, holding out a tiny key fob. “Take it. Every second’s going to count. Make sure you’re there for her. We saw everything here, so we can help sort it out with the authorities.”
Veryl took the key fob and he, Dez, and Cato broke into a run, aiming for the exit to the arena.
The trio stopped in confusion when they reached the coveted championship-winner’s parking spot adjacent to the arena entry ramp.
“What the hell?” Dez said staring at the decidedly less than sleek looking transporter parked there. “This thing’s huge. It’s big enough for six, at least.”
“It’s family-size,” Cato said, swiping the keys out of Veryl’s inert hand and climbing into the driver’s seat. “Get in, we’ve got someplace else to be, and fast. We need to be there when she wakes up.”
He drove like his tail was on fire, which neither Veryl nor Dez complained about. They were all desperate to reach their mate, make sure she was all right, and prove to her that they were worth sticking around for.
“She knew those fuckers were going to try something,” Cato muttered halfway to the League Medical Institute. “Why else would she have dive-bombed our match? It wasn’t just to say she missed us.”
“If she hadn’t shown up, it could’ve been one of us,” Veryl said.
“Or all of us,” Dez added.
The transporter surged forward as Cato gunned the accelerator.
When they blew through the clinic doors on foot a few minutes later, it took half a dozen nurses and three security guards to keep them from tearing through the halls yelling Simina’s name. Veryl did start yelling, unable to restrain himself any longer. He was taking a deep breath about to call for her again when a man in a white coat rushed forward and clamped his hands on Veryl’s shoulders, shaking him.
“Cool it with the yelling! We heard you the first ten times. Who are you to Simina?”
“We’re her mates,” Veryl growled.
The doctor’s jaw dropped and he took a few seconds to recover. “Her mates? Since when?”
“Since we met on Earth a few weeks ago,” Cato said.
The doctor let out a soft whistle. “Three champions … Holy shit, this is unexpected. I apologize for my reaction, but you three are the last kind of men I’d expect her to settle down with.”
“Because of Talon Garrik,” Veryl said. “We know, and she didn’t exactly want to stay with us when she found out we were champions, but it’s the truth.”
“We have her marks,” Cato said and started to turn.
The doctor held up his hands. “No need. I believe you. The three of you remind me of him, in fact.” He chuckled softly and shook his head. “This is the kind of stunt he’d have pulled if she got hurt, so I have to say I’m not the least bit surprised. As for Simina, she’s been brought in and is in stable condition, but we won’t know the extent of the damage to her system until we complete a scan. Do you think the three of you can wait quietly here, or do I need to find you a private room so you don’t disturb the other patients?”
When none of the three answered him, the man said, “Right.” Turning to a nurse, he said, “Set them up in a room on the fifth floor. We’ll be bringing Simina up when she’s done with the scan.”
“No more fucking waiting, Doctor,” Cato said. “Let us see her now.”
The man shook his head. “She’s still unconscious. Let my team do their jobs. We’ll get her back to you as soon as we can.”
They were ushered into the lift and up several floors, then into a pristine hospital room with two walls of windows overlooking mountainous vistas. Less than an hour later, Simina was wheeled in on a gurney and transferred to the bed, her body limp, and her torso wrapped in a swath of white bandage.
The doctor came in, his face a stark mask of worry. “No change in her status since we spoke last. The wound refuses to heal as fast as it should, which is a side-effect of the poison. We’re flushing her system with fluids as quickly as we can. Fortunately, we’re in the process of synthesizing an antidote for the poison, but we don’t have a sample of it ready yet, and that was already slated to go to a different patient. I’m inclined to give it to her first, but it would be risky in her state.”
“She’s dying from the poison, and you think it’s too risky to give her the antidote in her state? What the fuck does that even mean?” Cato snapped.
The doctor held up his hands but held his ground as Cato advanced on him. “I don’t mean her injury. The antidote is completely untested. While it is designed to counteract the poison, we have no idea what other effects it will have on her system. Or, more importantly … on the baby’s.”
Veryl’s heart stopped and Cato froze with his mouth half-open.
“Baby …? She’s pregnant?” Veryl said, rushing to the side of the bed and dropping to his knees. He took Simina’s limp hand in his and kissed it.
“Yes, she’s a few weeks along, which means she likely conceived when she was on vacation. Her dragon has diverted all its power to protecting the baby from the poison—it’s created a protective cocoon around the fetus. My fear is that the antidote will weaken the cocoon and expose the baby to the poison before it’s fully clear of her system. It’s an impossible decision, I know, but please try to consider what Simina would want,” the doctor said. “I’ve known her a long time, know what she’s been through …”
“She’d do anything to protect her baby, just like her dragon is doing,” Veryl said, cutting him off.
Cato and Dez both let out startled exclamations of protest. “She might die without the antidote,” Cato said.
“No,” Veryl said. “There has to be another way. You two didn’t spend as much time with her as I did. You don’t know how much she wanted a child. This baby means everything to her.” He turned to face the doctor, who regarded him with a grim expression. “Can her system fight the poison on its own?”
“Our animals heal us, but the poison interferes with that link, which is what makes it so lethal. It’s worse yet because her dragon is focused entirely on the baby now. But all of the victims we’ve treated have been unmated champions so far.”
The doctor’s brows knit and he crossed his arms, staring down at Simina and considering. “Simina often speculated that a mated champion would have a stronger constitution to fight the poison’s effect. We’ve had no way to test this theory, but if you are indeed her mates—which I can see is true from the marks you all bear—you can reach her dragon through your connection, help strengthen it, and lend the power of your own to healing her. It would take longer than the antidote alone would, but would ensure the baby remained safe. Did all three of you mark her?”
Veryl shared a glance with his teammates. With a frown, he shook his head and looked at the doctor. “After we discovered she’d marked us without realizing it, we wanted to return the favor, but we never got the chance to even discuss it with her. Finding out we were champions spooked her. And now we can’t ask.”
The doctor nodded. “She’s avoided treating champions personally since Talon died. I could never get her to come out and admit it, but I believe she feared she’d meet another whose dragon spoke to her own the way Talon’s did. Champions aren’t exactly that keen on self-preservation—or settling down.”
“We want to settle down,” Dez said, a little desperately. “We want her.”
“But we refuse to mark her without her consent,” Cato said.
“Do we have a choice now?” Veryl said, staring at his friend, exasperated at Cato’s rigidity.
“That’s what you’ll have to decide,” the doctor said. “Her marks on you afford you that privilege. She has claimed you, at least. Whether you mark her and help revitalize her dragon, or have us administer the antidote when it’s ready, is up to you. But don’t take too long making the decision. I know how much Simina desired a child too, but we have to consider the alternative if she hasn’t improved by the time the antidote is ready.”
He left the room, and her three mates remained, staring silently at Simina.
“There’s no decision to make here, as far as I’m concerned,” Veryl said.
Dez moved to stand at his shoulder. “Nope. I wouldn’t call it a choice when there’s only one thing to do.”
Veryl turned to glare at Cato, who stood frozen at the foot of the bed, staring down at Simina with eyes full of fear. Veryl could sense his friend’s struggle through their link. Despite the fact that they hadn’t yet marked each other, he’d known the blue dragon long enough to know when Cato was scared, which wasn’t often.
“It isn’t the dilemma you think it is, man. I know consent is a big deal to you, but this is different. This is life and death we’re talking about.”
Cato shook his head. “There’s a chance this won’t work. They could both die if her dragon doesn’t respond to us. If she could say yes, we’d know it would work.”
“It will work,” Veryl said. “Her feelings for us were real. If they weren’t, we wouldn’t have these.” He tapped the back of his neck where Simina’s mark tingled.
“At the very least, we know her dragon wants us,” Dez added. “I say we ask her forgiveness after we’ve saved both her and our baby.” His earnestness caused Veryl to shoot him a surprised glance. Dez shrugged. “What? Whose do you think it is? I don’t care which of us is the father. As far as I’m concerned, we all had a part in getting her pregnant. We’re all going to have a part in saving our family.”
“Our family …” Cato whispered, his eyes shining as he stared down at Simina. He took a deep breath and it came out in a stuttering rush as he stepped around to the opposite side of the bed and faced them. “Let’s do this.”
Veryl’s heart soared at the determination in Cato’s eyes. They’d all shared the same desires for a long time. Now that it was finally within their grasp, there was nothing that could stop them. They just needed to make it official.
Without speaking, the three of them stretched their arms out. Veryl clasped one hand at the back of Cato’s neck, and the other at the back of Dez’s, and the others followed suit. His fingers twined with Cato’s against Dez’s neck, and Dez’s fingers sought out his at the back of Cato’s neck. Together, they leaned in over Simina’s bed, foreheads touching, and released their hold on their dragons.
Veryl inhaled sharply at the rush of energy that flooded into him as their marks sank into his skin. His neck tingled and his cock stiffened. His fingers tightened with the others, and a pair of lips grazed the side of his mouth while another brushed his cheek. The old ache of want he’d harbored for so long disappeared when he captured Dez’s lips in a slow, tender kiss, followed by Cato’s.
They were his now. Unequivocally his. And he was theirs.
After a long moment reveling in the new feeling of completeness, they pulled back. There was one piece left to add yet.
“Together,” Cato said, looking down at Simina’s unconscious form. He gently slid his hand beneath her head, cupping the back of her neck. They could have put her mark anywhere, but this made sense. Veryl and Dez slipped theirs alongside his, fingers tangling so all three had contact with the heated skin of the woman they loved.
The second their dragons melded their power into a mark at the back of her neck, Veryl was awash in pain. It was her pain, he soon realized, and Cato and Dez both let out harsh gasps that let him know they felt it too. But now that they were mated, they could work to take that pain away.