Page 8 of Of Flame and Fate

“What’s wrong?” Gemini says.

“There are . . . holes,” she tells him.

“The demon made them when it borrowed through the muscle,” Gemini explains.

Emme’s light fades slightly, because yes, his comment is as nasty as it sounds. But then the glow intensifies against my eyelids and her need to heal grows urgent.

I force my eyes open as her light fades. My sisters surround me, including Celia who couldn’t seem to stay away, her long brown and gold waves brush against my forehead as she peers down.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“Sure,” I say. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

It’s a stupid response, of course. I’m just excited I didn’t burn the house to the ground. Believe it or not, I’ve blown my share of buildings to bits.

Celia exchanges glances with Shayna. I didn’t even know Shayna had arrived. Her large blue eyes blink back at me and her sleek black ponytail bounces as she speaks. “Dude, you had a demon digging its way through your body, toward your heart, to lay its eggs. That’s like,epic, even for you.”

“It happens,” I mutter.

My comment earns me collective growls from the wolves.

Emme’s hands slip away. Sometimes, she doesn’t have words for me. Shayna, always has plenty. “I know you’ve had a rough night and all, T, but try not to upset the furries. They don’t like evil things especially when they’re trying to hatch other evil thingies inside you. You know what I mean?”

“Understandable,” I agree. I lift my head, but even that seems like too much of an effort, the muscles along my neck feeling more like tight rubber than anything that belongs on my body.

Koda and Aric are restraining Gemini close to the door, their muscles bulging as they struggle to keep him in place.

“Why are you holding him?” I ask.

They ease their grip, not that my beloved appears any less irate. “Gemini, didn’t take your pain well,” Celia explains quietly. “He settled with us here, just not as much as we’d like.” Her husky voice softens as she speaks to him. “How are you?” she asks him.

He doesn’t reply despite that I know he heard her. She doesn’t push, and thankfully, Aric doesn’t push him to answer.

There’s a towel around me, one of the thick white ones from the linen closet near the door. I hold it against me as I peel my sticky back from the cobalt blue tile that makes up my bathroom floor.

Celia helps me into a sitting position, her inner tigress giving her freakish strength even in her delicate condition.

“Thanks, Ceel,” I tell her, my attention staying on Gemini. “I’m all right,” I assure him.

He shakes his head slowly, the tendons along his dense frame taught and stressed. “The only reason you’re alive is because the parasitic demon was male, and males can only nest in the heart. Had it been a female, your body would be riddled with malevolent eggs.”

“Oh.” I swallow hard when my stomach lurches.

Celia clasps her mouth. “Are you sure it was a male?”

“Yes. It had four penises as opposed to two.”

Koda and Aric nod, agreeing and seemingly satisfied that the creature with four penises was less harmless than the one with only two.

My sisters may or may not have gagged, and I may or may not have joined them.

“This isn’t going to happen again,” Gemini tells me.

“No, kidding,” I say. “I’ll be damned if I step foot in Egypt again.”

Cracking jokes and my gift for sarcasm have saved me from falling apart more than once in this twisted world. I’d rather bitch and laugh than cry or scream in fear any day.Weres, bless their snarling and growling little hearts, don’t have much of a sense of humor. Aric and Koda glare. Gemini grows alarmingly still, menace dripping from his body like sweat or maybe even blood.

“Ah,” Celia begins, her attention shifting between me and Gemini. “Why don’t you give us a minute? We’re all a little wound up.”

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