Page 26 of Consorting With The Enemy

“I figured that,” he answered. “I also figured that there’s Gaudet blood in him and magic is our game. You gonna give me that feather or not?”

A chance? There was a chance Ariel could get his wings back? Without hesitation, I turned my back toward where Ari was resting and plunged my hand directly into my chest. It hurt like a motherfucker, but nothing compares to what Ari had just gone through to keep all of us safe. The room started spinning from the pain, but I didn’t stop until the beloved treasure was in my grip. Once I had it, I pulled it free and offered it to Gabriel. He didn’t take it.

“That was so not what I expected to happen,” he muttered. “Okay, that was incredibly gross. Don’t ever do something like that in front of me again.” He nodded toward the pot. “You can go ahead and drop it in. I don’t need your nasty angel blood all over my hands.”

The feather fell into the pot. “Nasty angel blood? You do realize that our blood is by far more superior than that of a witch—even a Legislateur.” My chest wound had already healed, and the blood on my hands quickly disappeared down the drain. “What do we do now?”

“Wedon’t do anything. I work my magic while you go do whatever it is that fallen angels do.” He shoved a bowl of ointment toward me. “Here, this is for his back. It should lessen the pain immediately. The potion will follow shortly. Uh, I wouldn’t mention it…just in case it doesn’t work the way I hope.”

Chapter Seven

Ariel

After Az gently rubbed the magic ointment on my back, the pain vanished instantly. The internal pain from losing my wings still ached, but I’d keep that to myself. After the ointment, they’d poured some horrible tasting concoction down my throat, which I swore was almost as bad as losing my wings. When that drama finished, though, Az curled up in the bed with me and whispered words of love. With every word, some of the ache disappeared.

Nic was still recovering from using so much magic, so he and Beau were curled up together in one bed. Weird, all those beds magically appeared when the men came for a visit. Marchand and Gabriel snuggled too, but kept an eye on Az and me. Taylor had returned home to his husband Konrad. The vampires? They weren’t fairing so well. Both Julian and Valen worked to try and calm Sacha, but the poor kid was struggling. He’d bitten and drank the blood of an Incubus. Not good. He would either have to feed, aka have sex, from Jarsan or he would slowly die. It wasn’t a quiet and peaceful death either. Since Jarsan, the asshole he was, had returned to the underworld with my family, there didn’t seem to be a happy ending for Sacha. Everyone else held out hopes that Nic would be able to come up with something when he was fully recovered, but I doubted it. The boy had been turned when he was young, his sire abandoning him. He was an older vampire, but not nearly as strong as Julian or Valen…or Jarsan. The Incubus was powerful—his blood more potent.

It was our heartbreak of the battle.

“Stop thinking about it, babe. Nic will come up with something,” Az promised. “You need to focus on your own recovery. I lived too long without you in my life. I don’t intend to allow another day to ever pass without you by my side.”

“Ditto, Az,” I answered. “It’s just that he’s going to suffer so badly. It’s only been hours and look at him.” Even worse was the pain etched clearly on Julian and Valen’s faces. They loved the boy like a son. They’d saved him and raised him, taught him how to survive…taught him how not to lose his humanity.

“Nic will fix it,” Az vowed. “We never give up on each other.”

Azazel was right—there wasn’t anything we could do for Sacha at the moment. We all needed to recover, and recovery meant spending time in the arms of our lovers. Smiling, I whispered, “Tell me again that you love me.”

“I love you,” came the immediate reply.

“I’m a greedy bitch. I’ll need to hear it every day, maybe several times a day.” Before Az, no one had ever said the words to me.

“No worries. I’ll never disappoint you again.”

“What do I smell like? Go ahead, you won’t hurt my feelings,” I urged. “I’ve always heard that us demons reeked of brimstone, smoke, and iron. No one has ever called me on it, but I’m so damn good looking that they probably stay focused on that.”

His fingers toyed with the strands of my hair as he studied my question.Ouch. If it was taking him this long, it might be even worse than I imagined. At least he loved me, stench and all.

“You’ve never smelled like a demon to me, Ari.”

“Then why are you afraid to answer me?” I demanded. My back started itching, the way it used to when I suspected danger was near.

A blush crept up and covered his cheeks. “Dammit, Ari. Don’t you dare laugh at me over this,” he ordered. “Melting chocolate, roasting marshmallows, and a sweet white wine.” He put his hand over my mouth and said, “We’ll never speak of this again.”

“Something’s wrong, Az,” I whispered. “Danger is near. I sense it.”

Before I’d finished the sentence, a loud bang, bang, bang blasted against the door to the penthouse. Worried that my family had returned to finish what they’d started, both Az and I dashed for the door. Once there, I laid my hand against the wood and concentrated. Fuck. I heard Sacha start whimpering.

“It’s Jarsan,” I told Az. “He shouldn’t be here. He was supposed to return with my family.”

Julian pushed past both of us and yanked the door open, in an instant, he had the Incubus by the neck, pinned against the wall outside my loft. “I’ll rip your heart out and make you eat it.” He roared.

Typical Jarsan, he looked bored and unimpressed. “I’m here to help, vampire. If you want your fledgling to survive, he needs me. I daresay releasing me might be in your best interest.”

Julian only smashed his body harder against the wood. “Here to help? I think you’ve done enough. I hope you came here to die because it’s the only thing going to happen.”

Jarsan looked toward me. “Tell them, Ariel. Tell them he’ll die without me.”

Valen was struggling to keep Sacha away from the Incubus.How could such a good ending turn bad so fucking quick? Julian really was about to rip Jarsan’s heart out…and my fucking back itched like a motherfucker.

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