Page 91 of Pain

Zandren

“Where the fuck is she?” Maxar boomed, his voice echoing out into the darkness. “You left her?” A hand gripped me by the hair and yanked my head so I was forced to tilt my neck backward and stare up into the angry eyes of the mage hovering over me, fire flickering in his amber irises. “How could you—”

His words were cut off as the portal opened up and another body came barreling through, landing in a heap with a pained, “Oof.”Followed by a, “Fuck.”

Little One.

Thank gods.

Maxar released my hair and went to help her up. “There you are,” he said, checking her out, patting her down to make sure everything was in one piece.

“I’m fine,” she said, dismissing him as she ran to my side to help me up. “How are you feeling?” She made me sit up first, not allowing me to stand. I didn’t like this helpless feeling one bit. I was a protector. Not the other way around. “Zandren?” Her voice filled with worried urgency. “You can hear me, right?” She glanced at the other two, who looked no worse for wear. “Could he have lost his hearing in there?”

Maxar frowned and shrugged, all the ire from a moment ago snuffed out now that our mate was with us again. “I mean, it’s possible his ear canals didn’treassemble. Never heard of that happening, but maybe. Or his eardrums burst from the impact?”

“I’m fine,” I said with a groan, reaching up and cupping Omaera’s cheek. I brought her face down to me for a kiss. “Just reorienting myself.”

She exhaled in relief, smiling against my mouth. “You scared me.”

With another kiss to her perfect mouth, I pulled in the deepest breath of my life, inhaling her sweet scent of honeysuckle, lilacs, and cayenne. “Sorry, Little One. Just … enjoying being home.”

Her smile was small and sweet. “Being in Hell definitely makes you appreciate where we’re from, huh? Earth’s all kinds of fucked up too, but at least it’s beautiful. And cooler.”

I grunted and slowly pushed myself to stand.

“You good on your own?” she asked, running her hand down my arm.

“Never better. Now that I’m not being boiled like a lobster, I’m awesome.” And that wasn’t an exaggeration. The cool desert temperature revitalized me like a bath in a glacial brook. My strength came back. My senses were all in top-notch working order once more, and I could even feel Omaera’s emotions again. She was still worried about me, but also relieved.

“Let’s head to the truck then,” Maxar said, hiking his backpack onto his back. “Hopefully, it’s still there.”

I didn’t even consider the possibility that our vehicle might not be where we left it. But abandoned cars tended to draw the attention to law enforcement. Or people who liked to chop them up and sell them off for parts.

There was also the annoying little fact that Howar probably knew by now that his ambush assassination attempt didn’t work and we were still alive. If the vehicle was still there, the likelihood of it being booby trapped, or surrounded by more vampires out to kill us, was pretty good.

I didn’t have to say any of this out loud though. I could feel that Omaera’s head was already there, as I’m sure she could feel mine. Maxar and Drak would easily be thinking the same thing. Even though we didn’t see eye-to-eye-to-eye onmostthings, we were all pretty well versed in the ways of subterfuge and war.

“So, how are we going to handle this?” Omaera asked, leaving me in the backof our little four-person convoy and catching up with Maxar.

“I’m thinking the Care Bear back there can sniff ‘em out and let us know if there are vampires hiding out around the vehicle—if it’s still there.”

It was impossible not to miss Drak’s posture change. The man’s normally ramrod-straight back went even straighter—if that was possible. Like someone had just jammed a stick up his tight ass.

“And if the vehicle isn’t there, then we walk until we can hitch a ride to the nearest motel. Then rent a car tomorrow.”

I honestly couldn’t come up with a better plan myself, not that this plan was very good to begin with. We knew coming back to Earth would have its challenges. At least there wasn’t an ambush at the sight of the portal.

“Do you think Lerris used this portal too?” Omaera asked.

“He did,” I said, catching up with her so she was flanked with me on one side and the mage on the other. The vampire was behind us with his bad mood and consequences keeping him company. “I smelled him as soon as I landed back on Earth.”

Omaera exhaled through her nose and her shoulders rounded. “I’m sure he smelled me there then.”

“So what, babe? He’s not going to win. We have a plan that will work. I know it.” Maxar looped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in to press a kiss to her temple. “Zandren will reach out to his dad in the morning, and we’ll tell him the plan, then have him reach out to Howar and Anysa.”

Omaera glanced over her shoulder at the sullen vampire as we walked through the desert toward the outline of trees that comprised the oasis. He was busy staring at the ground as he walked. She didn’t say anything, but I could see the pain in her eyes, and more importantly, feel it. There was anger there too.

Drak kept a very serious secret from her. A secret that impacted the safety of our group. Because now his decisions, behavior, and health over the last few weeks all made sense. The longer Omaera waited to mate-bond with him, the more extreme his Mate’s Ache became. Now that she’d mate-bonded with Maxar and me, the Mate’s Ache for Drak was worse. And every time she had sex with Maxar or me, the Mate’s Ache was worse. Not to mention, the distancething. That’s what was the most fucked up of all. The further he was away from her, the worse it got. Which made sense now, because like a fucking weirdo stalker, he refused to let her do anything on her own. I thought he was just a massive control freak, but it turns out he was in agony if he was too far away from her. Serves him right, kind of.

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