Page 14 of Witches Be Damned

A rolling growl thundered out of my throat to corroborate her story.

“They kidnapped me because my magick and scientific knowledge can cure a genetic defect putting their race into extinction,” my mate explained, and I crushed her tighter to my chest. “They kidnapped Raze and hurt him to force me to comply.”

Dash let off a warning before his shewolf brought him back down.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Astra sniffed.

Liv’s fangs retracted, her mouth softening into an amused smile that conveyed relaxation to lower the tension. “I think the human just insulted you, Dash, and called you smaller and weaker than her man.”

Dash growled at his mate, then Little Wolf, not finding the joke funny. Neither did my beast who let out a sharp snap and growl. His prime focus was getting his mate inside that cabin, and if he had to go through the mated couple, he’d do it.

“Let us pass,” I growled. “She’s hurt and needs treatment.”

My heart picked up speed, warning her that wasn’t happening. Little Wolf could argue all she wanted. In Lycan society, a female mate always came first in terms of being fed, cared for, and tended to. Period. Dash understood that and didn’t argue with me.

“No, you need it more than me.” Little Wolf brushed my wild hair.

“We’ll get you both looked at.” Liv peeled away. “I’ll send the healer and warlock in when they arrive.”

She glanced over at Dash and nodded, and he stepped away to make a call to a healer.

“Go to your cabin, Raze,” Liv ordered, trying to assert some control over my feral wolf. “We’ll talk about the rules when you’re well.”

“Yes, Alpha.” I continued to my cabin on the edge of the commune.

My mate stroked my nape. “For a moment there, I thought there was going to be a fight.”

“It’s just wolves asserting themselves,” I reassured her.

My legs screamed as I climbed the stairs of my cabin, unlocked the door, and glanced over my shoulder before throwing it open, carting her inside and setting us down on my sofa, her straddling my lap.

With my wolf alleviated somewhat, I nuzzled into her hair. “I thought I’d lost you, my mate.”

She finger-combed my sweaty, bloody hair. “We’re okay now. Styx and his crew are dead or scattered. They won’t come for us.”

Yes, they would, revenge burning cold and dark in their minds.

“I’m not letting you go back to the Guardians,” I said. “It’s not safe.”

“I don’t ever want to go back.” She hugged me tightly, conveying her distress at our ordeal, and my beast thundered with the urge to go on a vampire-destroying rampage.

The shaking in her arms and chest spelled her bravery faltering, giving way to sobs. Tears dropped onto my skin, burning me worse than any slash from a vampire.

During our time in captivity, my brave little mate didn’t show our enemy any weakness to exploit. Now, her anguish and distress crashed together in an almighty tidal wave she couldn’t hold back. Her whimpers prompted a resurgence of my wolf’s aggression to destroy. I had a battle on my hands to soothe him and my mate.

I let her release it all, whining, nuzzling her, licking her, and resting my head on her shoulder. “You’re safe now, my mate. Nothing can touch you within the sanctuary’s protection spells.”

She cried for a good few minutes until she sucked in a shuddered breath and steadied her heartbeat. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I brushed the back of her head, the entire thing almost fitting into my hand. The more she spoke to me, the more my wolf calmed.

She sniffed and traced the edge of one of my cuts. “Where’s the healer?”

“They’ll be here soon.” I didn’t let up on caressing her, my wolf needing to soothe.

“Not soon enough.” She wrung her hands, and I clasped them, lifting them to kiss them.

Sunken veins indicated severe dehydration. The vampires didn’t care whether we lived or died. They only cared for their species’ salvation.

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