“I don’t,” I bit out harsher than I intended. “I mean, I do. Obviously. But only because Shadowbrook’s bad news.”
She tsked. “Everyone in here’s bad news. And he’s better news than most.”
I fought the urge to grumble like a little bitch and picked up a bottle of argan oil, pouring some into my palms. I gently pushed her tank straps aside and goosebumps rushed across her neck just before I lay my palms on her shoulders and started massaging the oil into her soft skin. She hung her head forward as I worked the tension out of her muscles with firm circles and strokes.
I wet my lips as I worked along her shoulders and fought the urge to lean in and chase my touches with kisses. I put it down to my instinctual need to care for her, but who was I really bullshitting? I wanted her like I’d never wanted any girl. Being apart from her for this long had only confirmed that. I’d pined for her every night and day. I was beyond denying it to myself, but that still didn’t mean I’d cross that line. Especially as she was apparently someone else’s fucking mate.
I just had to protect her. And that would have to be enough to sate this primal need in me.
“I missed you, Roar,” she said with a sigh and my throat thickened.
“I missed you too, Rosa,” I said gruffly, not calling her little pup for once, because right now she seemed anything but a pup. She was a beautiful woman who’d been hurt and damaged in this cruel place. And I’d sworn to protect her. I’d let her down so fiercely that it killed me.
When she was half melting under my touch, I released her hair from its tie and continued working through the knots.
“I’m never going to let them take you away again,” I promised her, teasing my fingers through a matted section of hair, using the argan oil to loosen it.
“You can’t promise that,” she said. “Besides, I knew the risks.”
“You didn’t know Sin would free the fucking Belorian,” I snarled and her shoulders tensed up, probably twisting up some of those muscles I’d just relaxed. I tutted, figuring I’d work on them again as soon as I had her hair done.
“I think he was trying to help,” she said. “Though he sure as shit will listen to me next time. And I guess I did get into Psych…”
“What did you find?” I asked immediately. I’d forgotten to care about fucking Psych after losing Rosa and nearly dying because of that monster in the halls. But she’d gone there to find Sook Min. And our plan had hinged on that Polethius Mole Shifter.
“Roary, it was awful,” she breathed, her tone setting my pulse pounding.
“Did you find Sook?” I asked in concern.
“Yeah she…fuck, I dunno what they’re doing down there, but it’s not good. I saw them take something from her.”
“What do you mean?” I asked anxiously.
“She was in this operating theatre and they did something that took this…light from her.”
“Light?” I frowned.
“I don’t know what it was, but they put it in a jar. And then Sook started convulsing and – and…she didn’t make it.”
I rested a hand on her back, swallowing against the lump in my throat.
“It was horrible down there, Roary. They’re doing something terrible, I could feel it. I saw other Fae and there was something missing from them too. That light…it’s like it was their soul or-”
“Oooh getting oily in here. You’re basting her up real nice there, Lion man. Wanna put those big, strong hands to good use on my tight little hiney when you’re done?”
I twisted around at the sound of Plunger’s voice and found him tugging the sheet aside on my cell. I bared my teeth at him, snarling viciously as his eyes ran over Rosa in front of me. He was in nothing but his tight white underpants and some sort of red sauce was seeping through the material.
“Oh don’t mind my leakage, boy,” he said, rocking his hips from side to side so a wet sloshing sounded within the material. “Tomato sauce is great for smoothing out my johnson. Gets it all kinds of soft.”
“Get the fuck away from my cell or I’ll rip your fucking johnson off,” I snapped as Rosa growled her own warning.
“Suit yourself,” Plunger chuckled. “But your hand would slip right off my shiny smooth shaft so you’d have to keep on trying to tug and tug