Page 94 of Fae Devoted
Jo lay on her back in an enormous bed, covered to the waist by a silken sheet. Her auburn hair hung loose around her pale face, chest rising and falling with each labored breath she took. Jo’s eyes were closed, her arms bent at the elbow and propped on top of her breasts. She held her hands aloft, palm-sidedown, and they hovered motionless above her slender throat like a surgeon prepped to receive sterile gloves. Thick gray bands wrapped her wrists, the skin above and below the cuffs bright red and grotesquely swollen.
Iron.
The growl he’d been holding in tore from his lungs, and her eyes fluttered open, the browns and greens of her irises dulled with pain.
“Jacob?” she said weakly, struggling to rise.
“Don’t.” He swallowed the roar building in his throat and hurried to her side. “Don’t move, not yet.” Not until he figured out how to remove the poisonous metal.
“You’re here.” Her chin wobbled as she let herself fall back, eyes glistening. “The mating bond…”
“Isn’t going anywhere.” Unable to resist, he bent and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, careful not to touch her hands or jar the bed.
There was no sense asking if she was okay because Jo wasn’t okay. Not by a longshot.
“I was so afraid. I thought…for one moment I thought you’d…” her voice broke.
“I know, baby. Me too.” The horror of believing Jo was dead rushed back, and his fingers shook as he brushed the back of his hand over her freckled cheek. “Do you know how to get them off?”
“One of the guards had a mini-flashlight looking device he used to open them yesterday, but I don’t know if…”
“This it?” His brother tossed a silver penlight from the hallway.
Tucker caught it before Jo finished saying, “…they all have them.”
Her attention flew to the open door. “Jeremiah?”
“Hello, little sister.”
“Jacob found you.” Joy lit her face, softening the pinched look of pain around her eyes.
“Technically, I foundhim.” Jeremiah’s lips lifted in a semblance of a smile for Jo, incapable of completely masking his outrage.
She beamed at his brother, and Tucker’s heart came close to shattering as her inflamed fingers tucked between his slack thumb and palm. Light pressure against his calloused skin mimicked an excited squeeze before gingerly sliding away.
So brave, so beautiful.
“Jo, how do I get these fucking things off?” The family reunion could wait.
“They ran the beam over the bracelet’s latch,” she said, dragging her gaze from his twin. “It releases the locking mechanism.”
Despite the urgency gnawing at his gut, Tucker carefully sat on the edge of the bed then waited patiently for Jo to lower her arms to her thighs and place a wrist in his open palm. “Ready?”
She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded.
He zipped the beam of light over the metal joint, and it unlocked with a snick. The band released like an unhinged jaw to reveal the torn and blistered skin underneath. Tucker’s canines burst from his gums, his vision turning yellow.
“Jacob, it’s okay. I’ll heal.” Jo was in excruciating pain, yet she was trying to comforthim.
“Fuck,” erupted from his lungs before they seized, and his throat closed. Uncaring if the entire facility heard his shout. Let them come.
“I’ll be okay.” Her forehead plunked onto his chest, then slid to the side, her ear pressed to his heart.
Forcing his wolf’s claws to retract, he quickly released the other cuff while her cheek rubbed against his sternum. Her head never lifted from his chest as he tossed the iron aside and cuppedthe back of her neck. Tucker didn’t know how long he listened for her anguished-filled pants to slow, and her sprinting heart to begin to calm. And he didn’t care. The mission no longer mattered. The Director didn’t matter. And God forgive him—neither did the Fae.
Only Jo.
Tucker rested his chin on the top of her head, holding her until their heartbeats and respirations matched in rhythm as the mating bond throbbed back to life.
