Page 51 of Held By a Monster

It didn’t matter. Like the smarter one said, I would bide my time. They would make a mistake. They always did.

thirty-three

I was hyperventilating. Iknew it, Zeus knew it, the other ‘fangs knew it. Cavi was desperately trying to get me to slow my breathing. Quin hovered behind him, his normally lackadaisical demeanor gone.

“Cavi, do something.”

“What do you think I’m doing, Quin?”

“He’s going to kill us.”

Quin moved behind me and I felt a whisper as his hands came up.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting ready to catch her if she passes out. The least we can do is make sure she doesn’t get a traumaticbrain injury.”

I wanted to laugh at that, but I couldn’t get enough oxygen. My lungs were the size of marbles, and not the big ones either.

My vision was going black at the edges. At least Quin would keep me from hitting my head. I didn’t want Drym to experience me getting a concussion.

Big, dark eyes appeared in my narrow field of vision. Why was Bacon in my apartment? Her icy hands framed my cheeks and sucked more of my precious little breath away. Her skin was like ice.

Her hands moved down the sides of my neck, coming to rest over my collarbones. A pulse of energy crackled down my spine and suddenly I could breathe again. My vision cleared and my lungs expanded.

I closed my eyes and just breathed until I assured myself my body was once again under my control.

“Thank you.” I managed to croak at the smaller woman.

She waved her hands through the air. She tried to smile, but couldn’t quite pull it off. She blew on her fingertips, singed red and angry looking. “Don’t mention it.”

“What happened?”

Quin handed me a bottle of water. “Panic attack.”

“Not with me.” I rolled my eyes. “I know I was having a panic attack. I meant to Bacon.”

“Oh, well.” She winced as Cavi spread cream on her hands. “I’m an energy witch, so I just gave your body a bit of a reset button.”

“Did you burn your hands?”

She snorted. “Yeah, well, that’s the thing. I can’t use my abilities without getting shocked. The more I want to regulate the energy flowing out of me, the more damage is done.”

I must have looked horrified because she immediately started trying to reassure me.

“It’s okay, really! I don’t use my abilities often and all things considered, electrical burns heal pretty fast.”

Quin leaned his head down to her level, folding himself almost in half. “I don’t think that’s helping.”

“Nope.” I popped the P. “Making me feel worse, actually.”

Zeus came through my front door, his hair sticking up in all directions. He nodded at Bacon and then speared his fingers along his scalp, revealing how his normal hairstyle got so mussed. “What do we know?”

“I need a bigger house.”

Everyone’s eyes swung to me and I shrugged. My brain wasn’t quite up to firing on all cylinders, preferring to keep to safer subjects than the vision of Drym, completely limp as four men in all black tactical gear stuffed him into the back of a van.

Worrying about how if just two wyrfangs crowded my small apartment, it’d never be able to hold all six, was much better territory.

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