first time, I was afraid of her. “Then I’ll have to do the only thing I can. Don’t think this is done, Summer. Don’t think it for a second, and next time I’ll do whatever I have to. I haven’t wasted ten years to fail.”
“Fail at what?” I tried to back up, but my feet were still in the air.
“Don’t forget what you’re capable of.” She seemed to deflate and looked like Erna again. “Summer, I fear for you. Don’t let them turn you. If they succeed, you’ll kill again. Can you live with that?”
I simply stared at her, my gut in knots.
“I’ll be back for you,” she vowed.
My feet hit the ground and there was a popping sound and then something hit me from behind and I slammed into the ground.
Marcus. It was Marcus on top of me, pressing me down.
“Stop firing,” Marcus shouted, covering me with his own body. “The witch is gone.”
Marcus rolled us over and I was in his arms, cradled with every bit of tenderness compared to Erna’s brute force. “Bella, are you all right? Where did she go?”
I took a deep breath. Having him close calmed me. “She teleported. She’s probably somewhere off plane. She keeps a couple of safe houses.”
“Summer, are you all right? Let me help you up,” Dev began.
Dean knelt at my side. “Come with us. We need to get you somewhere safe.”
A low growl started in the back of Marcus’s throat.
“Uhm, we should give them some space,” my mother announced. “Marcus gets grumpy when he’s overly stimulated. They might need some privacy.”
“Definitely,” Kelsey said under her breath.
“The witch could come back.” My father’s hand was firmly in my mother’s. “Marcus, believe me, I understand the impulse.”
“I do, too, and it’s cool. I’ve got him.” Taggart took up a military stance. “We’ll set up wards around the perimeter, and apparently the tall dude can talk to plants. Maybe they can tell him if she comes back. Adam will take the north side and that pixie thing can hang out, too.”
“Arwyna seems to know when the witch is around.” Kelsey gestured to the gorgeous ruby-red pixie fluttering around us. “I think she senses the energy or something.”
“The bikes are dead and night’s about to fall,” Taggart announced. “Like it or not we’re going to have to camp here. We’ll hike out in the morning and be to Tír na nÓg by afternoon.”
“We’ll be fine.” Papa looked like he didn’t want to go but sighed and turned anyway. “I can work something out. Daniel, let’s go and make sure our wife is all right.”
They began to move away, Kelsey and Dean joining them.
“Hey, Kaja, could you patrol?” Taggart pulled something out of his pocket. “You were damn good in the field, girl. Here’s your favorite.”
Kaja’s tail wagged and she took the treat out of his hand.
Dante pointed Taggart’s way. “You better not give her belly rubs, Taggart, or we’re going to have a problem. I’ll go help unpack. Shitty fucking mission. I’m supposed to sleep in the palace tonight. Not a damn faery forest.”
Taggart gave us some space and Adam took up a guard position on the opposite side. Both men turned their backs.
“What do they mean? You need to do something?” Had Marcus been hit by some stray magic?
“I am physically fine. Are you injured?”
I really looked at him for the first time and realized that his fangs were out and his eyes were completely black. He was so beautiful. His eyes…the purest night lit his eyes. I reached up and let my hand find the silk of his hair. “She didn’t hurt me. But I do have some questions I need to ask my mother.”
I was on my back in an instant, his body pressing mine into the soft grass as he breathed me in. He ran his nose along my neck.
He needed. I didn’t need to have a connection to him to know that he’d been scared out of his mind, and now he needed to ensure I was safe. And that I was his.
Somehow being his didn’t seem so bad now.
I turned my face to the side, offering him my neck. He hadn’t physically fed since yesterday, but I got the feeling this feeding would be more about comfort than anything else. He’d had a rough couple of days, and I was sure that me disappearing right in front of his eyes had done nothing to quell his anxiety.
Besides, being with him like this would do me a world