Page 131 of Inflamed By an Incubus

“Archer!” He squinted, trying to spot the warlock.

Fire licked at his ankles, forcing him to move, and as he skidded down the rubble, a shape formed inside the flames before him. Two shapes. Archer grunted as he was hurled backwards, sailing past Fenix to land on the top of the pile of rubble.

“Idiot. Get out of here! You’ll be burned alive.” The warlock picked himself up, wiped the back of his hand across his face, smearing ash across it, and kicked off, leaping back through the wall of flames. “I can get her out of the building and save her.”

Evelyn shrieked.

Archer bellowed again.

Fenix rushed through the flames, grunting as they scorched him, searing his feet and his legs. He staggered to a halt on the other side, his eyes widening as he found Archer desperately trying to get hold of Evelyn. She fought him, lashing out at him with her talons, raking lines of fire down his chest that had the warlock unleashing another agonised cry, but didn’t deter him.

And didn’t burn him.

Maybe Fenix should have thought this through more, should have considered Archer would use a spell to protect himself from the flames, but the warlock had sounded so pained and he had reacted on instinct.

An instinct that had told him to protect the warlock his mate cared deeply about.

And he would do just that.

Fenix teleported between them just as Evelyn went to strike Archer again and she stilled, her glowing golden eyes enormous as they met his. She never had been able to hurt him. He grabbed both of them and teleported again.

Landed hard on the patio of the mansion and collapsed to his knees as his head turned.

“Fenix!” Rosalind sprinted over to him, Vail hot on her heels.

Vail grabbed him and hauled him away from Evelyn as she writhed on the flagstones, her heat making the stone bubble. Archer staggered to his feet and stumbled after them. When the air was cooler, Vail lowered Fenix to the grass and Rosalind sank to her knees beside him. She cast a worried look over him, one that lingered on his legs.

“You’re going to be fine,” she murmured and Fenix wasn’t sure that he would be. His legs were still burning, the scent of his own charred flesh thick in the air, and the pain was building inside him, pushing him towards oblivion. She glanced at Vail. “Help me.”

Vail nodded and held his hands out over Fenix, hovering them a few inches above his body as he closed his eyes and sighed out his breath. Rosalind went to work too, placing her hands on Fenix’s shoulder and hip, and warmth ran through him, chased by an eerie cold.

“Idiot,” Archer muttered, clutching his left arm to his side. Blood glistened on the sleeve of his black coat and Fenix stared at it and realised something. Archer wasn’t healing. Had the warlock tapped himself out trying to save Evelyn?

He went up in Fenix’s estimation, cementing the feeling that he really was her friend.

And Fenix’s too now.

“Idiot yourself,” Fenix croaked and a wry smile curled Archer’s lips.

Fenix tilted his head back and yelled to the heavens as pain shot through him, his mind emptying and darkness swirling around him, followed by a warm light that was strangely comforting. For a moment, he feared this was it, the light everyone said not to go towards, but then it took on a shape.

A decidedly feminine shape.

He couldn’t make out any details of her face or her figure, but he could see the violet flowers threaded in her hair like a crown as clear as day.

And then she was gone.

And so was his pain.

“What the fuck?” he muttered and cracked his eyes open.

Rosalind leaned over him, her blue eyes bright. “Did you see her?”

“Her?” he husked, recalling the female he had seen and how comforted he had felt, as if she had been embracing him. As if she was home. “Who?”

Rosalind lifted her head and beamed at Vail. “He saw her too! This is wonderful, Vail. Your connection really is back to full strength.”

Fenix edged his gaze towards Vail and wasn’t sure what to do or say as the usually grim elf dashed tears from his lashes only for them to be instantly replaced by more.

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