Page 94 of For Love and Blood and Fury

“Fuck! That feels like getting shot!”

Marisol left her hands where they were, helping Zuri cradle her arm to her chest with alarming confidence. She laughed.Laughed. “Have you been shot many times?” She let her gaze drift down Zuri’s torso. “I don’t recall any scars on your body.”

“Don’t you dare try to flirt with me right now,” Zuri warned, body thrumming in agony. “I’m hurting here, Nurse Ratched. You could have torn my damn arm off.”

“I can’t believe you’re such a baby.” Marisol leaned over her, wings shimmering into being until they were nearly opaque, white and gleaming. They didn’t so much blot out the sun streaming through the branches above her as much as they absorbed its light and reflected it in a prismatic display. “It’s really cute,” she whispered as she neared Zuri’s mangled shoulder.

“Call me cute again, Bambi,” Zuri tried to threaten, but it sounded too much likeI’m so glad you’re okayandI don’t want to lose you.

“Socute,” she said as gently as her lips grazing Zuri’s shoulder.

When Marisol pulled her shirt down and kissed the exposed skin beneath her collar bone, the warm electricity of her lips pulsed into the angry pain. Soothing it. Relief rolled over Zuri in gentle waves.

The moment Zuri felt whole again, Marisol put a warm hand to her cheek and held her in her syrupy gaze. “Better,baby?”

“Shut up,” Zuri rasped, barely audible over her pounding heart.

Chapter Fifty-Two

“Go faster,”Elena demanded through gritted teeth. Her head was pounding to make up for the fact that her heart didn’t race, the unusual discomfort leaking into her left eye.

Beneath them, the ground was standing still. It was like the damn helicopter was hovering rather than flying.

The pilot, sweat dripping down his sideburns, glanced back at her for a heartbeat. “I can’t?—”

“Now is not the time to tell me what you cannot do,” Elena warned.

“With these conditions—” The helicopter banked to one side as if proving a point. “It’s not safe to go above a hundred and twenty knots.”

“What is not safe for you has nothing to do with the weather,” Elena growled, bared fangs inches from his clammy neck.

“If I go at top speed, we’ll only shave off fifteen minutes or so,” he continued, both hands on the flight control between his knees. “But in this weather, we might not get there at all?—”

“Fly like your life and the life of every single person you know—your mother. Your son. The nice lady who cleans your South Miami townhouse—depends on it.” She was seething but couldn’t pull back.

The helicopter surged forward, dropping elevation before the pilot wrangled it back to steady. Librada’s hand on her shoulder stopped her before she could remind the pilot that he would not fail her.

“Elena,” Lib said with the lightest tug on her shoulder, her voice clear in the stupid headset she was ready to rip off. “At least they are safe.”

Elena whirled around. “It is insufficient that they survived an incursion that should never have happened.” It shouldn’t have been such a risk for them to go out during the day. Few possessed UV-resistant fabrics strong enough to gamble going outside.

Librada didn’t shrink. “But we have one of them now,” she said, hand still on her shoulder. “This is over.”

It felt so far from over to the sour ache in Elena’s stomach. It wasn’t just that her authority had been challenged, that her life had been threatened. She’d made her own choices. Knew the risks. Zuri and Marisol had not so chosen. They were hers to protect and she’d failed.

“They refused escort—” Lib started, but didn’t finish her victim-blaming when Elena shot her a glare. Hand retreating, Librada shifted her weight. “They are safe now,” she repeated.

Nearly two interminable hours later, they were landing on the helipad atop her penthouse. Exhausted from the UV that had blasted her from the less protected front window, Elena refused to slow down with the nearly setting sun at her back. Skipping the elevator and racing to the stairwell, Elena leapt over the banister and landed on the floor below.

Flying through the service entrance to her new home, she followed the sounds to where the members of her inner circle were standing in her office. To where Elena and Zuri were standing off to the side while a dozen of her most trusted stood staring at the vampire seated on the floor like he was meditating.

His calm demeanor was a thumb in Elena’s eye. This piece of shit was on borrowed time and he had the nerve to sit there, serene, rather than be sniveling in fear.

“Elena.” Marisol rushed toward her with Zuri right behind her. “God, you’re okay.” She threw her arms around Elena’s neck and pulled her close. The gentle scent of her perfume and skin soothed her.

Relief and affection and an overwhelming desire to cry strangled Elena’s heart and lungs. She didn’t care about appearances as she pulled Zuri to her side and held them both so close she might never let them go.

“Were you hurt?” Elena asked softly, leaning away just enough to look them both in the face. Marisol’s hazel eyes were so wide and full of questions. Elena hated the flicker of anxiety she was trying to hide.

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