“We need to find him. We’ve searched the destroyed mansion and looked in a few other places, but we’ve turned up nothing.” Hartt ran his hand around the back of his neck, and Mackenzie felt his fatigue, how badly he needed to rest. She admired him as he took command of the situation despite how weary he was, discovered another quality she liked in him. He huffed. “The last time I came here, you sensed magic on me. Can you use that magic to track him?”
The petite blonde released her mate and crossed the grass to Hartt, ignoring how Vail growled low in his throat and looked as if he wanted to drag her back to him to stop her from being near Hartt. Mackenzie made a mental note of that—some elves didn’t lose that instinct to keep their mate away from other males once they had claimed her.
The witch raised her hand and went to press it to Hartt’s chest.
Mackenzie snatched hold of her wrist before she could make contact, loosed a vicious snarl that shocked even herself as fire blazed through her, heated her flesh and brought her dangerously close to going nuclear.
Rosalind slowly turned wide blue star-pricked eyes on her. “Oh, I like you.”
She might like her, but Mackenzie didn’t like the fascinated edge her eyes gained as she turned away from Hartt, coming to face Mackenzie instead.
“What are you?” The witch’s eyes narrowed on hers, a scrutinising look filling them. Before Mackenzie could tell her to back off and make her regret asking that question and looking as if she wanted to dissect her just like a blood mage, Rosalind waved her away and her nose wrinkled. “Forget I asked. Let’s focus on the more important thing here—you have what I need to find this witch.”
“I do?” Her eyebrows rose high on her forehead.
Rosalind nodded eagerly. “You touched him recently, didn’t you?”
Hartt growled, sounding terribly like Vail, a possessive snarl that sent a thrill chasing down Mackenzie’s spine. She glanced at him, lingered when he looked ready to murder someone.
“Not like that,” she bit out, hoping her firm tone would make it clear he was reading into things, completely blowing this out of proportion. “I grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving when I was having a meeting with him.”
And boy was she glad she had now, even though it had made her feel like a desperate fool at the time.
“I should be able to track down his location with the right spells.” Rosalind flicked a nervous glance at her mate. “But it might mean I have to tag along, following the spell like.”
Vail shook his head, strode to her and gathered her into his arms. “No. This female is of Hell. Hartt and Fuery live there. The wretch too. I… I do not think I could… not right now. I cannot go there right now.”
Rosalind wrapped her arms around his waist and settled her head on his chest. “No one is going to make you go to Hell, Vail.”
“But if the witch is there… Little wild rose will leave me.” Vail shoved his hands into his wild blue-black hair as the onyx scales of his armour rippled down his head, leaving it unprotected, and then did something that made Mackenzie believe not just some of the stories about him but all of them.
He pushed away from his mate and dug his claws into his scalp, his face twisting in a grimace that flashed huge fangs as he snarled and growled. He paced away from everyone, roared as he lashed out at an apple tree, cutting deep grooves in the bark with his black talons. Regret washed across his features, his expression growing pained as he turned to the tree, as he pressed his palms to the point he had wounded and closed his eyes. Mackenzie’s widened as the tree healed, the damage he had done to it reversing to leave not even a scar behind.
“Vail,” Rosalind whispered and went to him. She stroked her hand down his spine as he braced himself against the tree and leaned forwards, hanging his head between his arms. “I will not make you go to Hell… and I will not go without you. I’ll never leave you.”
He turned his head towards her and lifted it, his look bleak.
And then he was holding her again, crushing her to his chest and burying his face in her fall of golden hair.