Page 53 of For Love and Blood and Fury

“Did I heal you?” Marisol looked down at her hands in disbelief as if she hadn’t registered that Elena had run to Zuri. As she stared, her wings faded away like smoke in the breeze.

Elena refused to let disappointment at the lingering pain in her hip take hold. She was standing and she was holding Zuri in her arms. That was more than she could’ve hoped for minutes ago. She masked her limp as best she could while starting for the greenhouse door.

“Wait,” Marisol pleaded, yanking a black garbage bag off a roll under one of Zuri’s plant-packed tables and then another. “Let me cover you.”

Marisol rushed ahead of her, holding the flimsy plastic sheets above Elena’s head like a makeshift canopy. It was a futile gesture. The thin material was no barrier to the sun’s relentless UV rays. But the sweetness of the act, the concern etched on Marisol’s face, touched something deep inside Elena. Something she’d thought long since withered and dead. She concealed the pain on her skin and masked her exhaustion.

“She’ll be okay, Marisol,” Elena promised, her voice softer than she intended when they neared the house. “Look what you did.” They stepped inside without needing to open the door, and Elena didn’t continue until Marisol was looking at her again. “I’m walking. My brain is coming back together. You’ve done something remarkable.”

“I don’t know how I?—”

“But you did,” Elena said before continuing to the bed. “Take that for what it is.”

Marisol nodded, but her worry was nearly palpable when Elena set Zuri down on the bed. Sitting next to her, Marisol took Zuri’s wrist in her fingers and checked her pulse against her watch.

Instead of telling Marisol exactly what her heart rate was, she let Marisol perform a ritual that was likely calming. Relief lasted only seconds before Elena’s memories slammed into her.

“Stay with her,” Elena said, her voice firm despite the tremor of unease that ran through her. It was a lightning strike before the thunder.

Marisol nodded, gaze fixed on Zuri. “Good idea, wash the mud off.”

Elena turned and walked towards the bathroom, her limp more pronounced now that the adrenaline had faded and the sun had drained her. She looked down to notice that half her body was filthy.

She closed the door behind her, leaning against the cool tile, her chest constricting with a grief that came before the thoughts were fully formed.

Images of the attack, fragmented and chaotic, flashed through her mind. The alleyway, the gunfire, the scent of blood and rage. The vampires, their faces twisted and fangs bared.

And then, a strange realization. They were all male. Every single one of them. The thought struck Elena like a physical blow. It was wrong. Unnatural. Males had no reason to attack her. They couldn’t usurp her position, couldn’t inherit her power, couldn’t form their own cartel. Couldn’t make new vampires and create an unbreakable bond. It made no sense.

Confusion gnawed at the edges of her recovering memories. She was remembering more, but somehow, it only deepened the mystery. The pieces didn’t fit.

Memories surged to the surface, a tidal wave of pain that threatened to drown her. Her progeny. Her children. Gone. Ripped from her like a beating heart snatched from her body.

She slid to the floor, her back against the wall, her hands clutching at her chest as if she could physically hold her shattered heart together. Sobs racked her body, tears streaming down her face. She’d lived for centuries, witnessed countless horrors, endured unimaginable pain. But nothing,nothingcompared to the agony of losing her family. Of so many at once.

The bathroom walls closed in on her, the air thick with her grief, the taste of her despair. She grieved with the intensity only a mother could, and after she finished, she crawled into the shower and comforted herself with fantasies of revenge.

Chapter Thirty-Three

It wasdark when Zuri woke up. She could tell even before she’d opened her eyes. The presence at her back also told her that once again she hadn’t slept alone.

Fucking vampires. A familiar wave of annoyance mixed with reluctant affection punched her in the throat.Always gotta be touching. She hadn’t pushed Elena away, she realized with a sigh. Hadn’t even tried. Some habits, it seemed, were harder to break than others.

At least this time she was letting her pretend to still be asleep. But the memory of Elena’s touch, the feel of her cool skin against hers, had faded compared to the visions that still blazed behind her eyelids. Lilith. The Aglion.

What the hell did I do?

Zuri’s chest tightened under the crushing weight of responsibility. A weight that settled deep in her bones. She’d stumbled onto something bigger than herself, bigger than her coven, bigger than anything she’d ever imagined. And she had no idea what to do next.

Of course it had fallen on her to carry it all. To figure out the unknowable. To protect Marisol and Elena with incomplete information.

No presh when only everything is at stake and failure isn’t an option. Fuck.It was too much. No one was strong enough to handle the fate of some nearly extinct beingsandtheir problematic ex-girlfriend.

As soon as she stirred, Elena was on top of her. Except it wasn’t Elena. Blinking until her vision was clear, Zuri turned onto her back to realize it was Marisol who’d been curled behind her like the cat she allegedly didn’t have.

Before Zuri could get up, Marisol was on her feet and at the side of the bed blocking her exit. “Lie back. Let me check you out,” she commanded, voice so sure and unwavering that Zuri obeyed out of reflex.

Marisol’s hand was warm and steady on Zuri’s wrist, her fingers pressing lightly against her pulse point while she looked down at her watch. Instead of pulling away and telling her to put away the theatrics, she let Bambi play doctor. Let her keep her brow furrowed in a serious expression. Zuri watched her, eyes on a swath of dark blonde hair that had fallen out of her ponytail and landed on her determined face.

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