Page 79 of All the Devils are Here

Ignoring the pain, I wrapped my eight arms around the large shark I was chasing and ended him. Bloodlessly and quickly. The way the innocent in it deserved.

The waxing moon was starting to rise, giving more clarity to the waters around the island. There were so many things I wanted to show Meg around this place. It was true that I was forced to stay here the majority of the time, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t beautiful. Especially underneath the island, where the heart of it sometimes shone light into the water and turned it into a living rainbow.

Another shark came to me, following the path of my blood since he couldn’t scent Meg’s. I took care of him and watched the carcass sink. The bottom feeders would welcome this bounty, but when I could, I would still find some of the sea spirits and see if they could repair the damage.

In the center of my chest, where my heart was missing, I didn’t feel the twinge that was normally there. Like the island was distracted because of what it was doing. I wasn’t sure what it meant, or if it was a good thing.

The only thing I’d done when Ban had told us sharks was dive into the water. I’d never moved so quickly in my life.

The water knew where we needed to go. It was like the ocean wasscreamingin chaos. Getting a glimpse of her inches away from death had made me blind. The pain and jaws didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was making sure nothing fucking touched her.

But I was flagging now as the waters became more clear. The last few sharks were swimming away from the island, but I couldn’t risk them coming back.

I wasn’t sure how long it took, only focusing on the scents of my prey and the water in front of me. The last shark was a big one, and the blood I had seeping into the water was more than enough to tempt him. My regeneration hadn’t kicked in yet, and it wouldn’t until I could truly rest. Still, he was the last.

The shark charged me, jaws wide, and I was too slow. His jaws clamped down on my shoulder, and pain rocked through me so all I could see was red. He wouldn’t let go until he was dead, or I was.

And I hadn’t lived eight hundred years to die before bonding with my mate. I formed a fist with my free arm and hammered it into the shark’s gills, aiming for a weakness I knew he would protect.

It was enough to get him off me, but not enough to stop him from trying again. I managed to get my arms around him, except for one. New pain spiked through me, and I turned it into strength, squeezing his body hard enough for it to give out.

It saddened my heart to see him sink into the darkness, but the water was clear now, and Meg was safe.

I swam back to the island slowly, my focus now not blinding me to the pain in my body. Sleep was what I needed, so my body could regenerate.

The way back was so rote, I barely remembered getting there. Before I knew it, I was approaching the house, the warm light of it spilling into the water, and I could hear the voices of my brothers and my mate. She was here and safe. That was good.

I surfaced in the living room, collapsing over the side and not moving.

“Trin!” My mate’s voice was the last thing I heard as I faded down into blessed sleep. And my last thought was relief we weren’t bonded, so she didn’t have to have to feel this pain.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

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MEGHAN

“Trin!”

He collapsed over the side of the water, eyes closed. The entire pool was red, and he was bleeding. There were teeth marks—teeth marks—over his entire torso, with deep gashes on his chest, and in the water that was dying itself red. I saw at least one of his tentacle arms had been bitten off.

I was on my knees next to me. “Trin? Trin, can you hear me?”

Laurent was there as well, and Ariel, and they lifted him, carrying him down a hallway toward his room. “Is he going to be okay?”

He’d been gone for what felt like forever, and I’d been a mess of anxiety wondering when he would come back. I hadn’t been able to think or talk about anything else. And now this.

“He will be all right,” Ariel said. “But it will take some time.”

Ban rubbed against my legs before shifting next to me and pulling me against him. “He will regenerate.”

It wasn’t exactly a relief. They laid him on the bed, and it was just a mess of bite marks. Two tentacles were missing pieces, and another had a bite out of it. The biggest set of jaws looked like the animal had clamped down on him completely.

“Ariel, get me something to stop the bleeding.”

The spirit disappeared and was back in seconds with bandages. I watched Laurent work, fully in doctor mode. The bites on his chest were covered one by one, and even blood soaking through bandages looked better than it had been. Turning him over, they repeated the process. But there was no way to bandage his tentacles as they needed to grow.

Laurent wrapped them tightly enough to slow the bleeding down.

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