Page 70 of Above Cursed Winds

Dread locked her limbs. Every breath was a mouthful of glass as she forced it into her lungs. Trembling, one foot finally skidded forward, then the other, and then she was running.

She finally reached the stricken man lying in a pool of his own blood. Crimson seeped sluggishly from the gaping wound on his neck where Rona’s fangs had apparently been forcibly ripped away. When Zia’s hands finally started working again, and they lifted to touch his torn flesh, something happened.

A shot of electricity tickled across her skin, a connection blooming silently in the depths of her mind. Suddenly quiet, Zia tentatively thrummed a psychic finger across the beautiful burst, wondering where it’d originated. As soon as she touched the mental weave, she stiffened in shock.

A mating bond.

Barely formed, unfinalized. A fledgling link that’d budded in response to her reaction to Jeremiah’s near-fatal injury. Frozen, she stared as his lifeblood continued to lethargically pulse from the wounds on his neck.

“Zia!”

Key’s voice yanked her back to the present, and immediately, her hands hovered above his wound. Deftly weaving the tissue together again, Zia compartmentalized her work and what she’d just discovered, needing all her concentration to aid the man dying in front of her.

Her … mate.

Blinking back the tide of tears that burned, Zia glanced at where he’d sprawled. Arms out wide, both wrists showed the beginnings of deep purple bruises, bearing witness to just how much he’d struggled, and just how viciously Rona had attacked him.

Deep, visceral wrath swelled within her, but she couldn’t concentrate on anyone but Jeremiah. Slowly healing the mess of tissue at his throat, she yearned for those summer-blue eyes to open as his neck slowly mended. The moment he was no longer in danger of losing his life, she sought out the one responsible.

Zia’s teeth bared. “What the hell happened?”

Surrounding the vampire were Nero, Gideon, and Luna, all three of them speaking in low tones. Rona remained restrained by the roots, but she was no longer struggling. In fact, it seemed the vampire was pacified, her eyes blank and sleepy.

“Rona was coerced,” Luna growled. “She stood no chance of resisting it; the compulsion was far too powerful.”

Nolan jerked in surprise where he stood off to one side, his eyes colliding with Zia’s. When he opened his mouth, Key called his name and captured his attention. A brief telepathic exchange ensued between the two, and Nolan nodded once before falling silent.

Shocked at the development, her attention jerked back to Jeremiah. While he’d suffered Rona’s attack, someone had clearly targeted him. Given their recent adventures, the odds of it being the Raeth connected with the Citizens was far too coincidental.

“Jeremiah,” she whispered, “please wake up.”

Gideon and Nero spoke softly behind her, and as soon as Luna was done healing Rona’s mind, Nero released her from the psychic stasis he’d placed her in.

The result was instantaneous. “Jeremiah!”

The vampire’s cry was beyond agonized, as she staggered over to where Zia continued to heal the unconscious elemental. Zia purposefully had to resist the urge to loosen her own wrath.

But as Rona’s hands delicately came up to clutch at Jeremiah’s arm, Zia realized her error. Rona loved the Elemental, and the fact that she’d been coerced into harming him had mauled her on the inside.

Luna crouched beside Zia, adding her own healing strength to Jeremiah’s recovery. Nero hovered above them, gently resting a hand on Gideon’s shoulder and squeezing.

“He’ll be fine.”

Zia hadn’t realized until then just how pale the Elemental monarch was, how his eyes seemed shadowed with the heavy burden of regret and concern. He’d just seen his wife ruthlessly attack his best friend, and he’d made a split-second decision.

Fortunately, it had been the right call. Zia didn’t envy him the nightmares that’d follow.

A cough sputtered from Jeremiah’s lips, then, his entire body tensed. The moment he opened panic-stricken eyes, Zia leaned in and whispered, “You’re okay. It’s over.”

The fear that punched through his emotional signature dissipated, and he searched the crowd assembled above him until he found the vampire.

“Damn, Rona.” Another weak cough. “If you wanted a taste, all you had to do was ask.”

Relief, diluted with equal parts burning fury at his misplaced humor, coursed through Zia’s veins. It was a testament of Jeremiah’s good nature that he hadn’t been surprised when Rona was sobbing above him as he woke, nor the fact that it’d obviously been due to some type of nefarious influence.

“Rona was coerced, Jeremiah,” Luna explained. “Someone compelled her to attack you.”

“Lovely.” Eyes heavy lidded, the wind Elemental made no move to stand. “I’ve always wanted to be on someone’s hit list. But this feels like a good time to nap.”

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