Page 55 of Slay Me

The moment my hands touch her flesh, the beast within me wages war. Heat spreads through my body as he claims her, marks her as his. There’s no going back now, not for either of us. But I refuse to think too closely on that as I cradle her limp body in my arms and sprint down the hall.

“What happened?” Bracken demands, rushing forward.

“Valentina attacked her,” I spit the words out, wishing I could go back and kill the fucking pixie before she ever got her hands on my mate.

At that wrong moment, the gryffin steps out, a bag over his shoulder. He sees her, drops the bag, and rushes toward me. “What did you do?” he roars then tries to rip her from my arms.

“Release her, or you’re going to join the last person who put their hands on her,” I snarl.

Bracken steps in and pushes Apollo back. “Valentina attacked her. We need to get her upstairs and tend to her wounds. Wake the berserker, and start removing the pixie’s body. I’ll send Killian in soon.” When Apollo doesn’t move, Bracken slams his fist into the man’s chest. “That’s an order, Gryffin.”

After a long pause, Apollo tears his gaze from Liv and stomps down the hall. I continue rushing upstairs, Bracken on my heels. “Call Adaya,” I order.

“Already sent her a text,” he replies, rushing around me to rip the door open.

I carry Liv’s limp body inside and set her on my bed as I attempt to find out just how broken she is. Both legs are snapped; that much is easy enough to see given the crushed bones. Her cheek has been sliced open, and a bone in her shoulder is jutting out of her pale flesh.

And those are only the wounds I can see.

I run my hands over her abdomen, feeling for more injuries. My stomach plummets. Her sternum is caved in, her ribs jutting out where they should not be.

“Fuck,” I choke out. “Fuck!”

“Move,” Adaya’s order is spoken with a completely calm tone, a direct contrast to the storm within me. Still, I move out of her way. The water fae is the only one who can help her. While Adaya is not a healer by nature, it’s something she picked up relatively quickly in order to survive here in No Man’s Land.

And one of the reasons I keep her so close.

“I need hot water and clean towels,” she says while she reaches into her jacket pocket and withdraws a handful of vials holding pale liquid. She sets them on the bedside table and then turns to me as I continue to stare, dumbfounded, at Liv.

My dragon whimpers inwardly. Her pain is his pain.

It’s my pain.

“Towels, D,” she orders.

I turn and rush into the bathroom to gather what she needs, setting the towels and the bowl of steaming water on the table beside the vials. Adaya has stripped Liv’s clothing off but left my sheet pulled up over her breasts.

“Can you help her?” I manage.

“Of course I can,” Adaya replies matter-of-factly. “Though the healing tonic is what is really going to do the work. She’s going to be lucky if there is no permanent damage.” After gripping one of the vials, she starts to give it to Liv, but I step forward.

“No. Let me.”

Adaya offers me the vial and then moves to the side. I take a seat on the mattress. My hands shake as I slide one behind the back of her head. Her hair is smooth, silky, even with the blood caked to it. Her flesh is warm as I lift her head up and press the vial to her plump lips.

It slips between them, and the liquid disappears. As soon as the vial is empty, I set it to the side, though I do not release her.

“She means a lot to you,” Adaya comments. “This woman.”

“Understatement,” I reply. Adaya may know me well, but even she doesn’t know what I am, nor what Liv is to me.

“It’s about damned time,” she replies.

I glance over at her, surprised to see her smiling. “What the hell does that mean?”

“You’ve been alone a long time, D. It’s about time you found someone to make you happy. Now, get the fuck out so I can wash her.”

“I’m not leaving.”

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