Page 130 of Inflamed By an Incubus

He hung limply from Mackenzie and Hartt’s hands, his bare knees on the grass and his head bent forwards. His glassy golden eyes remained fixed on the ground as Mackenzie released him and eased to her knees beside him. She smoothed her hand over his bare back, whispering something to him. Trying to bring him back from wherever he was? He wasn’t here, that was for sure. Someone had really put him through the wringer. Was it blood loss that had him unaware of the world or the trauma of what the mages had done to him?

Another fireball exploded into the air and Mackenzie looked over her shoulder at the burning end of the mansion.

“That isn’t good. The rate she’s burning, she’s going to die and resurrect in only a few minutes.” Mackenzie’s golden eyes shifted to him, the concern in them genuine.

“I can’t let that happen.” He took a step towards the mansion, unsure what to do to stop it. If Archer hadn’t been able to halt her shift, what hope did he have of bringing her back from it? He had to do something though.

Because he had seen in her eyes that she didn’t want to forget him.

A low chuckle had his gaze edging towards Drystan.

Archer grabbed him by the back of his neck and hauled him onto his knees, and the mage spat blood on the ground near the warlock’s boots, earning himself a black look. Drystan was pushing his luck.

Fenix gave Archer a look that ordered him not to kill the mage and squared up to Drystan, coming to stand over him. “Tell me how to break the curse.”

He might not be able to stop Evelyn from dying and resurrecting, but he could make sure that when she came back, she still remembered him and she was still the Evelyn he loved with all of his heart.

Drystan flashed bloodstained teeth in a sly grin and then laughed in his face. “I will tell you… if you swear not to kill me.”

Fenix wasn’t sure that he could make that promise. “You have to swear in return that you’ll leave her alone.”

The mage didn’t look inclined to agree to that. Neither of them trusted the other. Fenix needed to know how to break the curse though, before Evelyn died and was reborn, so he would be the bigger male.

And if the mage came after them, he would kill the bastard.

“Very well,” Drystan muttered.

“You’ve got my word.” Those words tasted bitter on Fenix’s tongue, made him want to choke as the thought of letting the mage go after everything he had put them through scoured his insides raw and made him want to immediately take them back and kill him. He pushed out, “Tell me how to break the curse.”

“I would have told you without the promise.” Drystan smiled slowly again, a vicious edge to his crimson eyes that Fenix didn’t like. The male was up to something. “I have waited so long to capture Aderyn and use her to resurrect my wife, but that is no longer possible. I know when I am outmatched.” He tipped his head back as far as he could manage and cast a black look at Archer. Archer returned it, sneering at him and flashing his fangs for good measure. Drystan grimaced as Archer tightened his grip on his nape and shifted his focus back to Fenix. “I am forced to concede and yet I will also take great pleasure in this, because I have also waited so long to see your face when you learn the only way to break this curse is to do the one thing I know you could never do.”

Fenix didn’t like the sound of that.

Drystan’s grin widened.

“You have to kill her yourself.”

“You’re lying,” Fenix barked and glared down at him, sensing no trace of a lie in his aura, but gods, the mage had to be lying. It had to be a trick.

“He’s probably telling the truth.” Archer pressed his claws into the mage’s neck. “I can take a look, do a deep dive into his mind to make sure, but it’s dangerous.”

Archer held his free hand out and a slender black glass vial appeared in his fingertips.

The phoenix Mackenzie was fussing over suddenly jerked his head up.

Snarled and launched at the mage, ripping him away from Archer and killing him with a vicious twist of his head that popped it clean off.

Archer’s eyebrows rose. “Or maybe not.”

Fenix shot to his feet. “What the fuck, Mackenzie?”

She was on hers too, her face twisting in harsh lines as she stared him down, her eyes glowing brightly. “My brother isn’t well! The mage got what he deserved.”

Archer huffed and disappeared, and Fenix thought it would be the last he saw of the male.

But then a masculine bellow tore through the night.

Fenix teleported in a heartbeat, aware of where Archer had gone and what he was trying to do. He coughed as rather than landing in the room where Evelyn was, he landed on a heap of rubble in a huge opening in the building. Smoke billowed around him, invading his lungs, and he lifted his arm to shield his face from the heat of the flames.

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