Page 137 of Devoted

My heart skipped a beat. “What else feels wrong, baby?”

“Head’s al’muzzy.” His words were slurred, and he suddenly listed to the right. I caught him before he’d moved more than an inch. “Ears don’t feel right, Zeke. Noise needs to stop. Don’t like it.”

The fear from earlier resurfaced, but it was so much more potent now. It wasn’t just about whether Sam would accept me, or if he would be traumatised by what he’d seen.

Something was wrong. My instincts told me this wasn’t his OCD or anxiety.

This was something much worse.

My wings ripped from my back as I prayed Rami was one of the Seraphim who’d returned. Lifting Sam into my arms, I pulled him tight to my chest. “Don’t panic. I won’t drop you, and it’s much faster this way.”

There was no answer. My throat squeezed as I looked down to see Sam’s head lolling against my arm, his eyelids fluttering.

Fuck.

I didn’t waste another second.

Launching into the air, I shot for the back of the house. I landed so hard on the patio that cracks appeared, but I didn’t pause. Kicking the back door open, I carried Sam in. “Rami! Rami, please fucking be here!”

The big guy bustled into the kitchen, several others on his heels. “I’m here. What happened?”

“I don’t know,” I said. Micah swept the dining room table clear with a blast of power, motioning for me to lay Sam there. “He said he could hear a loud humming. Kept tugging at his ears. Said something felt wrong, then he went like this.”

‘This’meaning barely conscious, all his limbs twitching. His eyelids were fluttering, whites showing between them.

Rami already had his hands on him, touching different parts of his body as his power sought out the problem.

“It’s not a panic attack, right?”

“I don’t think so.” I clutched Sam’s hand. It was so cold.So cold.

Despite my earlier annoyance, I sought out Benji among the others. “It’s not, right?”

“No.” Benji’s mouth was set in a grim line. “This is something else.”

There was no relief in the knowledge that I was right. A panic attack might make Sam feel like he was dying, but it didn’t hurt him. Not physically, anyway. Mentally and emotionally were another story entirely. “Rami, anything?”

“There’s something happening in his brain.” Light was pulsing where Rami had his hands on my mate’s temples. “But I can’t tell what. It’s like something is blocking Sam’s neural pathways. It’s shutting his body down, but I can’t stop it.”

A yawning chasm opened underneath me as the monster roared. No. This couldn’t be happening. “I’ll mark him. Then he’ll have my healing powers.”

Marking wasn’t the same as mating, but it might give Sam an edge. Sure, if he died, I would too, but that was fine.

I didn’t want to be alive if Sam wasn’t.

“No, don’t do that.” The voice was so unexpected that it stopped me in my tracks. My head wasn’t the only one to snap around. Stood in the doorway to the kitchen was Ferry, the former Grim Reaper who’d spent centuries transporting souls over the River Styx.

In any other situation, I might have questioned what the fuck he was doing here, but that wasn’t important right now. “Why not?”

“Because his brain is already fighting, adding a mark might have an adverse effect,” he said grimly. “Has he been compelled recently?”

“Yes, about thirty minutes ago.”

“And does he have a neurodivergent or neurological condition?”

Benji’s face paled as it clicked. His compulsion had done this. For some reason, whatever he’d done had caused Sam’s body to start shutting down.

I put that knowledge aside for another time. Right now, my focus was on saving my mate. “He has OCD.”

---