Page 13 of Hers to Keep

She didn’t break eye contact with him for a moment.“Probably.”

He reached out and grabbed her arm.She didn’t understand why until he opened the link again, and she almost lost her footing as the agony of a thousand cuts broke over her body in an instant.Why wasn’t he healing?She drew a long, slow breath, channeling her magic into him, and the wounds knit a bit at a time.

Dohal groaned something in his native language, then seemed to remember himself.“You shouldn’t be healing me again.Your magic hasn’t even rebounded fully from last night.”

“Try and stop me,” she said with a lot more bravado than she felt, as her strength waned, and the pain throbbed inside her.

With a growled curse, he caught her when her knees finally gave out and scooped her up in his arms.“Where’s the unicorn?”

She reached out to Dante and knew he was closing the distance between them fast, and he was worried.“He’s on his way.And if it makes you feel better, I think he’s working up to a doozy of a lecture.”

The sound of hooves thumping against the dry desert soil announced him before he arrived.He skidded to a halt a few feet away, a huge equine shape shedding light from every inch of his gleaming white coat and brightening the night.Dante shifted, and his human form emerged from a flash of sparkling glitter that smelled like candy, already reaching out for her with both hands, one coming to rest on her head and one on her chest.He glowed with magic as he inhaled harshly.

“Saints, you’re beautiful,” she murmured to him.

He let out a frustrated sigh in response to her flirting.“What in the fuck happened?”

“I was attacked by the Old One, and she insisted on healing me, but she didn’t have the resources to do it,” Dohal answered, guilt heavy in his voice.

Dante swept a glance over him.“And now you’re both tapped.Sweetheart, come here.”He held his arms out, and Dohal passed her over.

“I don’t need to be carried everywhere,” she said with an indignation that seemed ridiculous, considering there was no way she was standing right now, not with the way her head was spinning.

“If you didn’t keep doing this to yourself, we wouldn’t have to,” Rio said from beside her with an irritated rumble.“Anything I can do, Dante?”

“Point out the closest place I can sit down with her.”

“Not sure if the pool house is cleared out yet.”Rio glanced toward Cisco, who set off to check with a grunt and flap of his wings.“Let’s go back to the ballroom.”

They moved at shifter speed, which made her even dizzier while they were sprinting, but she felt immediately better once Dante settled into a chair with her sprawled atop him.

He adjusted her dress so that as much of her skin was touching his as possible.She gasped at the icy rush of magic that filled her.

Dante pressed his lips to her neck.“Sorry, you’re too hurt for me to get turned on right now, so we’re doing it the less fun way.”

She didn’t mention how much she disliked the impersonal feeling of his magic when channeled into her like this, because it would only make the process more difficult, and tried her best not to squirm away from his touch.

As the pain slowly ebbed, she watched Dohal pacing back and forth in front of them, noticing for the first time that he wore a dark green flowing skirt that wrapped around his hips and draped gracefully to the ground.

“When did you get clothes?”she asked in a low voice.

He paused and looked at her, his mouth pinched.“Your house witch made it for me after she said we would never find anything to fit me ‘off the rack,’ whatever that means.”

“I like it.”

He aimed an exasperated smile her way.“I’m glad.”

Rio returned with a blanket that he tucked around her and Dante and then grumpily sat next to them.

Cisco also came back within a few minutes with news that the pool house repairs were done, and everyone was cleared out.He stood staring at her with his arms folded over his chest.He aimed his next words at Dohal, “Okay, so what happened?I know you said the Old One attacked you the same way he did to Argento.So, are we all just unprotected now?Can he just come after any of us the same way?Because we don’t have the resources to keep fighting this kind of battle.”

Dohal closed his eyes briefly before responding, “I haven’t been able to completely fortify the protections over the city yet.My own magic has been taxed today, between Mariana’s needs and helping Luis.The compound itself is protected.I shielded that first, because this is where the nexus sits.”

An embarrassed look crossed Dohal’s handsome features.“What I neglected to protect was myself.He attacked me directly, along with all the other incubi who took part in his banishment.I think you’ll find they are all dead now.I survived only because his focus was split, and Mariana grounded me.”

Cisco gave him a long, appraising look.“So, provided we don’t leave the grounds, we’ll be okay until you can get the protections up again for the whole city?”

“We will be protected from his attacks from afar, but I do not think I can keep him out physically anymore.That is what the prison was made for, and why I was tied to it.”

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