Page 17 of Witches Be Damned

She gestured at Raze with elegant fingers tipped with black polish. “The burns on his temples are a dead giveaway. His nervous system is unbelievably stressed, and he’s struggling to maintain control of his human side. Impaired neurocognitive function means he can’t think straight or respond properly. Don’t get me started on the muscle pain.”

Wow. She was G.O.O.D. No wonder Liv summoned this healer.

“Please, tend to my mate first, healer,” Raze threw around orders.

I wriggled to get out of his hold and let the female take a look at him since he was in such bad shape. “No, he needs it.”

“Your wolf won’t settle unless I tend to you.” Aaliyah’s no-nonsense attitude definitely spelled experience with rude and disorderly patients. “Don’t worry, wolfy, your mate’s in good hands. I’m a nurse and took an oath to do no harm. I’m going to assess her wounds, rinse them, clean them, put my hands on her, and heal her wounds with magick.”

Raze needed every bit of reassurance he could get.

“No sudden movements.” Aaliyah set the ground rules firmly. She had a baby or ten to protect. “No aggression, or my mate, Castor, will torture you a hundred ways.”

“Three hundred and four ways,” Castor corrected with a smirk that gave me the impression he wielded it a lot.

Ouch. Putting a stop to this before it got out of hand, and I lost a mate. “Hey, now! He’s been tortured, remember? His animal is dominant right now and panicked that he might lose his mate. Cut him some slack!”

Dammit. We were all on edge for different reasons.

“I’m sorry,” I added, trying to diffuse the tension.

“I won’t hurt you, Aaliyah.” Raze cuddled me harder, leaning his chin on my shoulder. “You’re pregnant, and I don’t harm females.”

Oh! Maybe my wolf had calmed down.

“Good to know.” Aaliyah didn’t blink as she got to work, cleansing my wounds with expert precision. I winced at the sting of the antiseptic liquid, trying not to make a sound and agitate my wolf any more than he was.

“Castor is the avatar of the Egyptian god, Thoth,” Aaliyah explained. “And I work for Isis, the goddess of healing and magick.”

Ah. That explained it. They didn’t need the gun the enforcer packed beneath his cut to kill us.

“An avatar, like Mads?” I was curious to know how many were out there.

Castor laughed, obliterating the cabin’s tension, and thank Thoth for that. “You’ve met Mads?”

Hmmm… it seemed like the thief avatar had a reputation. Or perhaps Castor and Mads worked together. From what I knew of the mythology, Hermes and Thoth, though in different pantheons of gods, were often associated together for their roles in communication and learning. Though Hermes was known to be mischievous and Thoth serious, which confused me as to how scholars came to associate the two.

Raze growled in what I interpreted as a warning not to say more. Hmm. Good call. We were criminals. Me on the run, and him in hiding.

“We did some work for him.” I left out the rest of the details, going incognito and all that.

The biker smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. “That can't be good. Is that how you ended up here?”

Damn. He knew about Mads’ reputation. How much information was too much information? We didn’t need these two to take us back to the prison right after healing us.

“Nosey,” Aaliyah scolded him. “Heal first, ask questions later, Daddy.”

Yes, I liked her. A. Lot. Raze did too, by the sound of his pleased rumble. She was different to Liv. Firm in a practical way. Making her patient comfortable as best as the situation permitted. Laying down a threat to my wolf so his beast understood where they stood.

“Like shoot first and ask questions later?” My nerd slash biker romance fangirl couldn’t help herself. I wanted to know all the inner workings of an MC and determine the accuracy of the books I read.

Castor chuckled. “Something like that.”

Dark and mysterious, like Raze. My kinda vibe.

A different question rose to the surface to satisfy the mythology nerd in me who spent all her spare time at the Academy reading every book I could get my hands on. “You’re Thoth’s avatar’s mate, but wasn’t Isis married to Osiris?” The mythology didn’t mythology.

Aaliyah smiled and stroked her belly as if the baby belonged to him. “He’s back at the club.”

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