Page 2 of Sugar Rush

Breathless with pain, my soul still throbbing sharply, I locked the food bag back in its room and grabbed a tub of peanut butter.

While the rest of the pack noisily devoured their food, I found a spot against the wall and sat down, creating a space for my favourite girl between my legs. I was a total genius, so of course my suggestion to Taj had coaxed Mallie baby into eating.

"C'mere, you," I murmured, and sighed with relief when Mallie's tail thumped once, sluggishly—I knew the feeling—and she came and sat with me. She wasted no time digging into the creamy butter when I held the jar out for her, and I ran my fingers through her fur as she ate her meal. It wasn't healthy to have a whole jar of peanut butter every day, but her dad was barely clinging to life, her granddad was no better, and these were extenuating circumstances.

I snorted when Bea crept towards the locked door and began pawing at the gap underneath it. Exactly why it waslockedand I kept the key on me. She whined, and gave Massacre a look.

"Don't even think about corrupting Massy. Massy, you ignore her, baby."

Massy looked between us, having a moral crisis. Proving she was as intelligent as I gave her credit for, Mallie baby licked the last of her peanut butter and snorted at her siblings in amusement.

"Alright, puppies, I gotta go," I breathed when the seconds ticked down, my chest aching viciously as I stood. "I'll be back tomorrow; I've gotta go take care of your dad now."

Not that I could do much to help Taj. The medics were doing everything they could, but putting him back together was a little tricky when he'd been cut from shoulder to hip, all the way through. He'd lost so much blood, and was wounded so badly, that he should be dead. The medics said only the circle's connection and our mate bond was keeping him here.

Being away from him was intolerable, but he loved these dogs more than anything and I knew he'd be furious if no one took care of them. I’d be back the next day.

My shoulders bunched higher around my neck when I shut the door, and walked the now-familiar path from the dogs' room to the hospital. People gave me a wide berth when I came across them in the hallways. No one knew the full details of what happened in the throne room, but everyone found out Eidolon had been here, killed countless guards, hurt the devil and the prince heir, andI'ddefended them.

It was a mix of gratitude and fear I saw when they looked at me, the woman capable of scaring off Eidolon himself. No one knew Dev wasn't actually the devil anymore, so I'd heard the wordsthe devil's consortflying around when they thought I wasn't listening. Dev called me his queen once, but I didn't have the energy to correct them.

"You can do this," I whispered when the big, carved doors to the hospital came into view. I swore the closer I got, the darker the corridors became. It set the tone of misery and suffering nicely. "You've got this. Just open the door."

But I lifted my hand and couldn't bring myself to touch the big brass door knob.2

What if I went inside, and something had changed since I left? What if they were—what if—

In my darkest moments, I imagined Taj sneering and snapping at me. For some backwards reason, it gave me strength, and this time was no different.

Pathetic. It's only a door; just open it and stop being a stupid bitch.

I grabbed the knob and twisted it,3and before I could back out like a wimp, I stumbled across the threshold on weary legs and closed it behind myself.

Inside, everythinglookedthe same. The high ceilings seemed to swallow light instead of reflect it, and only two of the six beds laid in a row were occupied. Both were still occupied. They hadn't taken my mates anywhere. The soft thrum of magic-fuelled equipment sounded as usual, and rain still hammered on the windows behind the beds, the thick tang of healing power coating my tongue.

I released a tight sigh, a weight dropping off my shoulders as I made a beeline for the stuffed chairs at the far end of the room. The three medics I hadn’t yet killed sat in a huddle, murmuring a quiet conversation.

A big, blue woman who looked like a Smurf on steroids glanced up when I drew near, kindness softening her eyes as she put down the book she'd been scribbling in.

"My lady," she murmured, her voice smoky and sweet.

"Hey. Any change?" I asked, directing the question to the other two as well—red-skinned, willowy twins with flowing crimson hair and horns that curved up from their foreheads. They were so beautiful they hurt to look at, and one of them, very frustratingly, was Taj's ex-girlfriend. She'd been nothing but nice to me. Her brother was a raging dick, however.

"Not since the last time you asked," the aforementioned Raging Dick huffed, making it clear I was being a nuisance.

Yeah, well, I was the nuisance that stopped their home falling into a lizard megalomaniac’s hands, so they could put up with my shit.4

"No change is good news," Marjorie, the sweet blue woman, reminded me, a calming smile on her face. "The devil is still stable; just give him time."

I swallowed bile and nodded. "But Taj isn't," I rasped, voicing what she hadn't said. It wasn't news to me; I knew his condition was tenuous, but it fucking hurt to hear.

"Why don't we ask?" Shira, the gratingly sweet twin, suggested.

"Because it's a stupid idea," Sinjin, aka Raging Dick, muttered.

"I'll be the judge of that," I snapped. A week ago, I might have said the words faux-sweetly, with barely concealed venom. Now I just snarled and bared my teeth. "Tell me, Shira."

The beautiful crimson woman stood, towering over me—especially with her horns—but not lording it over me like her brother did.

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