Page 108 of Inflamed By an Incubus

This was all her fault.

She lifted her right hand and swallowed hard, an apology balanced on her lips as she edged her fingers towards Vail, unsure whether touching him would be a good idea or a very bad one.

Fenix beat her to it.

He gripped Vail’s arm just as the elf’s sweater and jeans disappeared, revealing the skin-tight black armour that hugged his tall frame.

“Vail, we’ll find—” Fenix cut off as a masculine grunt sounded, sharply followed by a feminine chuckle that was laced with amusement and pure victory.

Evelyn’s gaze shot towards the source of the sound just as Vail kicked off, wrenching free of Fenix’s grip with such force that the incubus fell forwards and landed hard on his knees with a grunt of his own.

Relief poured through her as she spotted Rosalind struggling against Archer’s grip, wriggling to get her arm free as she kicked at his shins. Archer’s eyes went all-black and he disappeared with Rosalind again just as Vail reached them. Vail bared his fangs as he spun in a circle, his eyes narrowing as they darted over everything, and it hit Evelyn.

He had known Archer wouldn’t get far with his mate.

And he knew the warlock would fail this time too, was waiting for him to reappear so he could attack him.

Her heart lurched for a different reason, even when she told herself that Archer wasn’t the man she had thought he was. Everything between them had been a lie. Hadn’t it? He meant her and these people—this world—harm. Didn’t he?

It was hard to convince herself of that.

The look Fenix gave her as he picked himself up said he could feel the conflict raging inside her and he wanted to comfort her, so she stepped away from him, not because she didn’t want him to comfort her but because she didn’t want to feel weak. Not right now. Relying on him like that would only shred whatever strength she had managed to gather over the last twenty-four hours. She needed to face this alone.

Didn’t she?

She glanced at him, her brow furrowing slightly.

Tempted to take the comfort he was offering to her.

But then Archer reappeared near the washing line with Rosalind, his face a black mask as he scowled at her and breathed hard, his chest straining against the tight breast of his long black coat.

Rosalind managed to break free of him this time, planted her hands on her hips and laughed right in his face. “You big dumb Crow. My home is well protected. I say who gets to come and go and I knew you’d make a play for the one solid part of your plan.”

She looked right at Evelyn.

Archer flashed his teeth at her and flexed his fingers. Tiny flickers of light chased around them but Rosalind didn’t seem at all bothered by the threat. She kept staring Archer down.

Vail slammed into him from behind, tackling him to the ground, and both men grunted as they hit the grass. Before Archer could even react, Vail had flipped him onto his back and was hitting him hard in the face. Blood burst from his nose and splattered over one side of his glasses and the light leaping around his fingers shone brighter, casting a violet, green and orange glow across the grass.

Archer brought both hands up towards Vail’s head.

The elf disappeared, leaving only a faint shimmering outline of him behind, and reappeared near his mate. Archer flipped onto his feet and turned on Rosalind, his eyes flashing dangerously. Vail grabbed her and teleported again, landing next to Fenix this time.

The air chilled and thickened as Archer pivoted to face them, his chest straining as he curled his hands into fists and wiped the back of his left one across his bloodied nose. The darkness swallowed the white in his eyes again as he stalked towards them, the dark slashes of his eyebrows drawing down as his lips compressed.

And the air grew so cold Evelyn’s breath fogged in front of her face.

Fenix held his arm out in front of her, placing himself between her and Archer, and she swore she could sense the tension in him and something else.

He was waiting for the right moment to strike.

“I have to say, I’m impressed with that tracking spell and I really want to know how you teleport like that.” Rosalind sounded as if they were having a delightful conversation, as if Archer wasn’t about to unleash hell upon them. She flicked her wavy ash-blonde hair over her shoulder. “Who did you track? Was it Evelyn? I’m thinking it was Evelyn. You’ve had plenty of time to cast the necessary spell on her since you’re a big fat phoney of a friend.”

Archer snarled and teleported, landed right in front of Rosalind and lunged for her.

Vail backhanded him, sending him flying across the grass.

Archer landed hard near one of the apple trees supporting the washing line, rolled at speed into the trunk and grunted as the impact shook the branches, causing a deluge of apples to hit him as he curled into a ball and covered his head with his arms.

---