Don't Touch My Men - Helen Scott Page 0,71

I had no idea. The idea of Grim sitting in some cell waiting for death right now made me sick to my stomach. He’d sacrificed himself for me, but I didn’t think either of us really believed he’d die in that dark place.

Until now.

“You should get some sleep.”

I glanced over at Ellis. He looked exhausted. Smudges darkened the skin beneath his pale blue eyes, and he had the beginnings of a beard. But even so, his hands gripped the steering wheel as if he was holding on for dear life.

“I’m not going to be able to sleep until we have Grim back home safe and sound,” I confessed. “I just wish I knew how to drive so you could rest.”

His eyes clung to mine for a moment, and then he was looking back at the road. “I couldn’t sleep right now either. We have maybe another half an hour, and then we need to get our gear and save Grim.”

“And the world,” I told him.

Ellis seemed to tense. “As hunters, we’ve all accepted that maybe this job will cost us our lives. That destroying the evil and protecting the innocents comes with a price. But I always thought I’d be the first to go.”

“Don’t talk like he’s already done,” I said, a little more firmly than I intended.

He was quiet for a long minute before he continued, “I always thought they needed me so much. It wasn’t until recently I realized I needed them just as much.”

I took his hand, and we both stared ahead. It felt like death was closing in around us. I thought Ellis could feel it too. There was this weird sense that if we had to die to save the world, we would, but we had to save the world first. No matter how exhausted we already were.

“Close your eyes,” he said.

“I’m not tired,” I told him, followed by a yawn.

He started to hum, and the melody felt familiar, but also strangely magical. My eyelids felt heavy. They fluttered, taking in the road ahead of me, and my mind started to forget that the fate of the world was resting on our shoulders. I closed my eyes. His humming filled my mind, and the road slipped away.

At first, I was mad when we pulled up in front of the house that I’d fallen asleep, but I begrudgingly accepted that it was what my body needed. As I helped the guys lay out all our weapons, Alastair was scribbling like a madman and tearing through books. I kept glancing his way, wondering if I should help, but Ellis and Hunter shook their heads when I looked in their direction.

Apparently, this was part of Alastair’s process.

He tossed a book on the ground, something I knew the mage would never normally do. He loved his damned books, but he was still scribbling on his paper as he opened the next book.

“We have everything we need,” Hunter said.

Swords were going on backs. Daggers and pouches of magic were tied to our belts.

Alastair suddenly looked up and held my gaze. “Here. Read this. Figure it out.” He pushed a book to the other side of the table, then went right back to work.

I frowned and walked over, then sat in the seat before starting to read the page he’d pointed to.

Binding cuffs are an ancient and rare magic. But as powerful as they might seem, the key to removing them is quite simple. Someone other than the wearer of the cuffs must spill their blood on the magic bindings, willingly, and repeat the following words.

“Shit!”

Hunter looked up from where he was cleaning his sword. “What is it?”

“I can…we can break the cuffs. I just need someone’s blood, willingly.”

“Sounds like a job for me,” Ellis said, standing and walking over.

I lifted a brow.

He shrugged. “I heal the fastest.”

So I showed him the page, and Ellis pulled a dagger from his belt. I winced as he pressed it to his arm, and then he said, “Et liberabo te de sua sponte cum sanguine.” He slashed his arm and winced. Blood pooled out of him, running down his skin and splattering on my cuffs.

I could tell he was about to kneel down and do the same to the ones around my ankles, when the blue light suddenly flashed a blinding ray of light. For a minute, I was left blinking, waiting for my eyes to adjust, and then they did. I stared down in amazement. The cuffs around my hands and ankles were