Page 72 of Monsters of Desire and Nightmares of Passion

“They’ll be here soon.” He points to Velvet. “She loves you. Her species only heal the ones they care about.”

Mrez sits in front of me. He takes my hands into his claws and licks away the blood left by Velvet.

“What are you doing?”

“Saliva helps the healing process. I can do what Velvet did.”

I trust Mrez. His licks feel nice and warm, relaxing me with his touch and allowing me to close my eyes. Mrez’s tongue licks my skin, cleaning away the blood and dirt I collected from climbing the stone wall and leaving the skin unblemished. He does the same thing Velvet is doing. I’m grateful to both.

However, fear poisons my mind. I need something, anything, to take the edge off.

My core warms up. Heat flows inside me. My breath grows labored. My heart beats like crazy.

“Let me see your back,” says Mrez. “One of them scratched you.”

I’m about to say it’s nothing. Then my mind wanders back to cliff. I see him again, the skeleton, hungry for me, for my body and mind, asking me to stay with him, to stay here and save them all.

I turn my back to Mrez. His claws gently pull the nightgown off my back. I’m naked. His tendrils embrace me, keeping me warm and stopping me from shivering. His warm, wet tongue licks the wound on my back. Velvet lies next to me on the ground, pressing her small head against my knees.

“Ouch.” It burns as he touches me. This wound must have been deeper than I imagined.

“Ivy, what happened?” The noise of footsteps mingles with the sound of Khal’s strong voice, filling the small cave where we’re hidden. He runs to me and wraps me in his arms. His strong muscles flex, showing off thick veins I would have gladly traced with my fingers and tongue on any other occasion.

“One of them scratched her,” says Mrez, though he sounds so far away. The inside of my head is full, as if someone has stuffed it with cotton balls.

Khal’s expression shows fear, and that’s a frightening thing to watch on a warrior like him.

“It’s a scratch. It’ll go away.” I can’t turn to look at Khal because moving hurts. I want to say something else, something to calm them, but I don’t. I’m just happy the guys are with me and there’s no way we can leave.

Khal looks at Draw and they exchange a few glances, then begin talking in that language only they can understand.

Khal

Small, black veins stretch from Ivy’s wound like tiny worms about to feed on Ivy and turn her into one of them. A bite from the lost Shadows is toxic for humans.

Seeing the scratch on Ivy’s back burned my heart like a hot red poke. We tried so hard to keep her safe, and for what? To lose her to the creatures that slither around The Valley? I can’t accept it. My roar shakes the stone walls.

“She’s poisoned,” I say to Draw in our language. He knows as well as I what that means. Ivy won’t survive. Our saliva won’t be able to save her. Velvet flies around her, purring and humming, crying for her. All four eyes of the small creature look up at me, seeking an answer, and answer to a question I’m too afraid to ask.

Draw is nervous. Seeing him nervous makes me twitch, too. Mrez is still licking Ivy’s wounds and closing the ones he can. Velvet’s humming reduces her pain level, but all that is only temporary.

“We have to get out of here.” I call out to the guys.

“We can’t,” Mrez replies. “The lost ones are still out there. We need to wait for them to calm down. That’ll take time.”

“We don’t have time.” Draw’s claws wrap around my neck. I see the stress in his fire eyes. “Bringing her here was stupid. We should have left with Ivy, gone somewhere where The Church of Light can’t touch her.”

I’m not intimidated by Draw and hold my ground, even though the sharp claws bite deep into my flesh and his stinger points toward my two hearts. “We couldn’t and you know it. We have to stop the rise of The Dark Lord.”

Draw releases me and shoves me against the wall. His shoulders sink in despair. I sit there, looking at the mouth of the cave, hoping the storm will pass. Instead, all I see are eyes staring back at me and tendrils of darkness clawing through the night, wanting to touch us, pull us out. The lost Shadows are hungry. They need nourishment. Their cries and howls reach us, and we shudder. I’m tempted to stick my fingers into my ears.

“Draw, Khal, come over here,” says Mrez.

“What’s wrong?” My voice sounds strong, but I feel helpless.

“Ivy passed out and now she’s shaking. The poison is working much faster than I imagined.”

Ivy lay unconscious in Mrez’s arms, shaking. A thick layer of sweat formed on her forehead. Velvet licked her hand in despair, crying softly.

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