Page 53 of Of Flame and Fate

He shrugs free of Gem’s hold when he loosens it. “I also don’t release my music. It’s concerts only.”

“So you hide in the open, all the while preventing anything magical from knowing you’re there,” I reason.

He rubs his shoulder again. “Something like that,” he says. He addresses Gemini, careful not to make direct eye contact. “Look, my people aren’t going to just let me go. I’m under contract. They’ll want to know where I am and who I’m with.”

Gem steps forward, looming over him. “If there’s anyone left, they’ll be dealt with. I assure you, no one will stop us from taking you.”

Johnny’s face blanches. “Did you kill them?”

Gemini doesn’t answer.

“What the fuck?” Johnny says. “They were just people, roadies. They weren’t going to do anything to you, asshole.”

I force myself between them. From one blink to the next, I’m suddenly off to the side. I barely felt Gemini graze his fingers over my hips when he lifted me, and only mildly felt my feet press to the ground. But here I am, back where I started.

“Tomo,” I plead. “Don’t hurt him.”

Gemini shoves his face into Johnny’s, forcing him back. “No human was hurt. Our job as Guardians of the Earth is to protect, not harm. That doesn’t mean we’ll allow them to harm us, or interfere with our duties. Tonight, those duties involve taking you back to our Den.” His gaze turns to steel. “And if you ever insult me again, you’ll be eating from a tube in your stomach.”

Johnny rises to his full height, attempting to appear tough. But there’s no stopping the quiver in his voice or his blanching skin from paling further. “Did you eat anyone?”

“I don’t eat people,” Gemini snaps, his patience wearing thin.

“Dudes!” Shayna races toward us, skipping to a halt when she sees Johnny and the mere centimeters separating him and Gemini. She lowers the ax she’s carrying to the side. “Destiny isn’t doing well,” she says. “She stopped bleeding, but we need to get her back, like, now.”

Behind her, Gemini’s twin wolf pads forward. His hackles rise and his feral eyes latch onto Johnny. He growls low and deep, lowering his head as if ready to attack the moment he gets the word.

My knuckles skim down Gemini’s spine. “If you allow your twin back inside you, will you be more pissed or will he help you calm?” His narrowing eyes tell me enough. I sigh. “We’re not all going to fit.”

“Fine,” he says.

Like black paint streaming across water, Gemini’s twin dissolves into his skin, becoming one all mighty being.

Johnny has had his share of surprises. A wolf, the size of a full-grown tiger merging with a man, was yet another he wasn’t prepared for. He backs away, almost falling against the curb.

“Let’s go,” Gemini says.

Shayna leads us to the closed off parking lot where a helicopter is waiting. The tour bus is gone, so are the other cars parked in front of it. Johnny may have “people” except it doesn’t appear they bothered to wait for him.

Bren and Emme stand a few feet from the copter doors, and even further away from each other. Even from here, I feel the invisible wall of emotion between them.

Destiny is sitting on the ground. The bun she fastened on the top of her head is unraveling and barely keeping her long hair away from her pale-as-death face. Her clothes are smeared with blood and she lost all the feathers she painstakingly threaded through her hair. It breaks my heart to find her like this, and while she’s no longer seizing or bleeding, she’s not in good shape.

“Did Emme manage to heal her?” I ask.

Shayna’s ponytail swings from side to side as she shakes her head. “No. Emme says she couldn’t. Whatever was happening just seemed to stop.” She blows out a breath, fluttering her bangs. “Tye’s hoping the witches can help her. He’s already alerted the Pack and requested theycallfor Genevieve’s return.”

“And how is Tye doing?” I ask.

“Not good, T,” she says, sounding sad. “Destiny is his best friend.”

Yeah. She is.

Tye is crouched beside her, speaking quietly, his chin length blond hair swaying around his chiseled features. Worry tightens his brow, but here he is, doing his best to keep her calm.

He grins and says something that lights up her eyes. A soft smile plays across her face.

Until she sees Johnny.

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