Page 40 of Hers to Claim

Nova jerked. Cisco leaned close and whispered something Mari couldn’t hear, and the medusa eased at once, clutching him as sobs wracked her body.

Dancer was next through the door, with Karma in wolf form right beside him. She growled low when she saw her mate on his knees, but Dancer grabbed her around the neck before she could do something unwise.

“What in the fuck happened?” Cisco said, his voice dangerously on edge.

Dasher shakily regained his feet. “We were casing the house of the next target when Karma caught her scent. We couldn’t stop her from charging in, so we had to take the place.”

Dancer took over the reporting. “Greta’s on her way. We tried to bring her to the club for treatment, but she screamed to come here.”

“Why are her eyes covered?” Cisco asked with quiet menace filling his voice.

Dasher rushed to respond, “She was tied up in one of the bedrooms with a hood over her head. When we tried to take it off she panicked and said she couldn’t control her magic, so we used Karma’s scarf to cover her eyes.”

Cisco spoke to Nova in a language that sounded enough like Spanish that Mari assumed it must be Italian. To Mari’s best guess he was checking in with her. She answered something about a wolf, her voice shaking, and then hugged him tighter.

“One of you wait here for Greta and bring her up to the guest rooms. The other one, go find Giselle and get Nova some clothes. Karma, you’re with us.” He moved off as soon as the last word left his lips, hurrying through the house and looking like he wanted to murder someone with the wolf trotting at his heels.

Mari was fairly certain the guilty party was already dead though, from the amount of gore crusted into Karma’s dark muzzle and chest. She paused briefly to tell Pricilla that training was on hold for the moment, and then jogged to catch up. Rio shadowed her as if he thought an enemy might jump out of any doorway they passed.

“Perimeter alarm is back up,” she said to reassure him. “No one unauthorized is inside except her.”

Rio gave her a look that conveyed how very much he wasn’t leaving her side no matter what she said, and she shrugged.

They found Cisco in one of the guest rooms sitting on the bed facing away from them with Nova in his arms. They both crowded around the doorway next to Karma without going in.

“I’m going to get that off your eyes,” he said with calm certainty.

Nova clutched the scarf with one hand. “You shouldn’t,” she insisted, her voice uneven and hoarse. “I don’t think I can control it.”

“You can’t hurt me with your glare.” Cisco didn’t reach to remove the cloth though. “Everyone else is behind me and I’ll block them with my wings. Just look at me, okay?”

It didn’t seem like she was convinced, but after a few more sniffles she tugged the scarf away. As he’d promised, Cisco spread his wings to block her view of the rest of them.

“That’s good,” he said softly. “You’re okay. Your snakes are a little upset, but once they remember they can’t hurt me they’ll relax. You’re safe.”

He hummed quietly to her, not saying anything at all as the tears overcame her fully. Dasher showed up shortly after with a bundle of clothes in his arms, but he didn’t cross the threshold of the room.

Rio tilted his head a few minutes later. “Sounds like Greta is here. Is she ready for company?”

“Yeah, she’s doing okay,” Cisco answered. “Just going to need most of you to stay outside. Karma, you can come on in.”

The wolf bounded up from her guarding position and walked inside flicking her tail low and behind her. When she got to the far side of the bed she nudged Nova’s leg with her nose. The medusa sighed shakily and reached out one hand to pet Karma’s broad, furry head.

Led by Dancer, Greta approached the crowd clustered around the door with a leather bag under one arm. She waved them all out of her way, and the group split to let her through. She pausedat the doorway when she saw Cisco’s defensive pose. “What’s the situation?”

“Nova is hurt and she was having some trouble controlling her magic. She’s better now, but everyone needs to be calm and move slowly and most of all, don’t look her in the eyes.”

“Got it,” Greta said. She motioned everyone at the door back, and they all reluctantly moved a bit more away. “Hey Nova. I’m here to help you, okay? I’m going to move into the room now.”

Once she was inside, Greta worked for several tense minutes, taking away Nova’s pain and healing her wounds. When the pain eased, Nova settled down more, and Cisco lowered his wings.

The medusa was bruised all over, and Mari imagined that meant that Greta had already healed many worse injuries. When Greta asked if she needed some emergency contraception, Nova nodded, but didn’t say anything. The growl that shook through the room might have come from the wolf or Cisco, neither of whom left Nova’s side for an instant.

Rio was grilling the twins for more information about what had happened, but the details were in short supply.

“Karma ran in before either of us could catch up,” Dasher said. “Most of them were dead by the time we got there. We only cleaned up a couple of stragglers.”

“The asshole in charge was rightfully torn to shreds,” Dancer added. “Karma was scratching at the door where she was being kept. She was too upset to shift back right away.”

---