Page 119 of Primal Bonds

The chase through the park had led him close to where they’d left their clothes. He dressed and grabbed Marjani and Zuri’s clothes as well and started off at a trot to Zuri’s coordinates.

It was only then that he realized he could no longer sense Jace’s quartz.

Evie’s stomach roiled. She pressed a hand to her mouth and tried not to lose her supper on the dirt floor. She was not some girly-girl, damn it. She didn’t fall apart at the sight of blood. But she could smell Tyrus’s scorched flesh, and he was sprawled like a broken doll just ten feet away.

She wrapped her arms around herself. Jace paced toward her, his mouth stained with blood. She shrank against the wall. His stride checked and she felt his hurt.

Her heart constricted. She unpeeled her fingers from where they were digging into her upper arms. “I’m sorry.” She stretched out her hands to him. “It’s okay. I know you had to do it.” She was babbling. She clamped her mouth shut.

He remained where he was and her stomach sank. Sparkles danced over his fur and she realized he was trying to shift. The sparkles brightened, and then dimmed, and she realized he was having trouble.

“No,” she whispered, knowing he was forcing the shift for her. “Don’t…”

But then the bits of colors intensified and cascaded over his body. She squeezed her eyes shut against the brightness, and when she opened them again, he was a man and the blood was gone.

“Evie?” He opened his arms to her, eyes wary. Powerful, naked, and hers.

She stepped forward and his face lightened. They met in the middle, hugging and kissing each other. Jace framed her face in his hands. “You’re all right?” He kissed her eyes, her mouth, ran his hands over her back.

“Yes, yes. But what about you?” She pulled back to examine his throat and chest. His original wounds had closed up, but there was a bloody slice across his cheek and he had a nasty rope burn around his neck. She touched it with her fingertips and felt all over again the icy fear that had gripped her as Jace had struggled against the magical noose. “I thought you were going to die.”

“Cat, remember?” He shrugged a big shoulder. “Nine lives, although I may be down to four or five at this point.”

She made a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob. “Oh, God.” She laid her head against his chest, and for a long moment, they just held each other, forgetting everyone and everything else. His heart thumped loudly against her cheek and she realized he was as affected as her.

“What the fuck did you do with that fae light, anyway?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I just wanted to distract him.” She was shaking. He squeezed her tight.

The cellar was filling with people—Marjani, Zuri, and a couple shifters Evie didn’t know.

“A healer’s on the way,” Zuri told Jace. “Can you get to the surface?”

Jace nodded and guided Evie to the ladder. She stared at it, not sure her legs could carry her to the top. The adrenaline that had fueled her desperate attempt to save Jace had dissipated, leaving her feeling like a wrung-out dishcloth.

Jace swung her into his arms. “Hang on, angel.”

“Y-you c-can’t!” she protested through chattering teeth, but he stopped her mouth with a kiss and carried her one-handed up the ladder while she clung to his neck.

A lean blond man lifted her from Jace’s arms and set her on the ground beneath a large oak. Jace sank down beside her, his back against the oak.

“I’m Tommy,” the blond said. “A healer.”

She nodded. “Evie.”

“Good to meet you. I’ve been hearing all sorts of good things about you and Jace.” While he talked, he ran his quartz over Evie. He frowned. “You’re dangerously weak.”

“The night fae fed on her,” said Jace, “and then I took more energy to heal myself. It was the only way.”

“I’m fine,” she said between chattering teeth. “Jace is…the one…who’s hurt.”

Jace shook his head. “Evie first.”

“You’re outvoted,” Tommy told her. He gently pressed her shoulder, encouraging her to lean against the oak trunk next to Jace. “You won’t feel yourself for a few days,” he said as he set his quartz over her heart, “but I can give you an energy boost.”

She nodded and gave in, letting her eyes drift shut as her chest warmed with a healing glow that spread throughout her body. She soaked it up like rain on parched earth.

Tommy moved the quartz to her bruised left hand. She’d almost forgotten it in all the excitement, but now that the adrenaline was fading, it hurt like a bitch. But within a few minutes, the bruises disappeared.

---