fine.”
He stared at me for a beat before nodding his head, though I was sure he saw through my act. “Do you need any help with dinner?”
“Nah, I’m good here unless you don’t want to help her with her homework?” I said the last part quietly so Rasha wouldn’t overhear.
“I like helping her.” He looked truly offended that I’d insinuate otherwise.
I grinned at him. “That’s ‘cause she actually listens to you. When it’s me helpin’ her, it’s like a damn world war in here.” He chuckled and started to turn around, but I stopped him with my voice. “Bas?”
“Hm?”
I stepped up to him and pressed my lips to his forehead. “Thank you.”
“It’s my pleasure, Hiro.” He grinned and kissed my lips before walking back into the living room.
The thing was, I could tell he really meant that.
Chapter Sixteen
Basil
A sudden sharp pain pierced my chest, making me gasp and cry out as I fell to my knees. A lightning bolt flew over my head a moment before Jorah cried out, “Holy shit! That almost hit him!”
My chest tightened, and I couldn’t breathe.
A hand on my shoulder pushed me to the ground until I was sitting. Nikolai’s face appeared in front of me with a concerned expression, asking, “What’s wrong, Bas?”
“Can’t. Breathe,” I gasped out.
His eyes widened before he pulled a tonic out of seemingly thin air and held it to my lips. Someone was sitting behind me, letting me use their chest to lean on, and they tilted my chin up—Jorah, it was Jor behind me.
Nik poured the tonic into my mouth, and I choked it down. I felt the healing magic warm in my belly and travel through my body, but there was nothing to heal. I still couldn’t breathe, and I was fucking terrified.
Then it hit me.
I wasn’t terrified. Hiro was. I wasn’t injured. Hiro was.
“Hiro,” I croaked.
Nik’s eyes widened again. “This is Hiro? He’s hurt?”
I nodded, relieved that he understood.
Jorah asked, “Can you tell where he is?”
I shook my head.
Jor pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Hiro’s number. I heard it ring and ring and ring until his voicemail picked up. He hung up and tried again.
“He’s hunting. Centaur.”
Nik grimaced. Centaurs had developed a bad rep during the Berserker War because many of them fought with the berserkers. Not all centaurs were bad, not even close, but after being on the front line for months and seeing them in action, well, it was hard to think of a centaur as being anything other than the enemy. I supposed that was how Hiro felt with witches.
I rubbed at my chest while taking deep breaths until I could speak. The pain and fear were still there full-force, but knowing there wasn’t anything physically wrong with me made it easier to push through the pain. Knowing something was wrong with Hiro made me ready to go into battle for him.
I took my phone from Jorah and tried calling him myself. He didn’t answer, but my phone started ringing with an unfamiliar number. I blinked at it, but answered, “Hello?”
“Basil?”
My throat lurched, and I breathed out, “Rasha?”
“M-my dad i-isn’t home… and Ms. Ulma isn’t either… D-Daddy told me to c-call you if I n-needed to.” She was crying. Fuck, she was crying.
I mentally asked Blaze to come to me and shift to his dragon form before she even finished. “It’s okay, sweetpea. I’m on my way, okay? I’ll be there in a few minutes to come get you. Everything’s going to be okay.” Hearing her upset and scared made a surge of adrenaline shoot through me and pushed the pain down.
“Okay.” Her voice was so quiet. “Is Daddy going to be mad I used th-the emergency phone?”
“No, sweetie, he won’t be mad at all.” I grabbed Jorah’s phone out of his hand, and he didn’t even protest. Putting the phone on speaker, I looked up Ulma’s number and dialed it on Jorah’s phone while telling Rasha, “I’m going to try calling Ms. Ulma on another phone, but you stay on the line with me until I get there, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Hello?” Ulma’s voice came over the other phone.
I’d been going over and having lunch or dinner—sometimes both—with Hiro and Rasha every day for the past month. In that time, I met Ulma—again, since I’d paid her before—and she and I exchanged numbers, just in case.
This felt like one of those just in case times.
“Hey, Ulma, it’s Basil.” My voice was strained and sounded pained.
“Is everything okay?”
“Rasha is home alone… Hiro isn’t