Page 76 of Bound
Chapter 27
Gage
I turn down the street and stop, eyes casting this way and that.
“How the fuck did I get here?” I grumble.
The hotel the Fae envoy stayed in is across the roadway, the tall steel structure like an obelisk against the night. And the SUV is three blocks in the other fucking direction.
With the later hour, most of the traffic has died down. A few cars zip past where I stand, their headlights illuminating a crumbled humanoid shape in the alley across from me.
Shit.
I dart across the road and slam to a stop just inside the dark area. Sending my fire outward, it brightens the shadows and I turn my attention to the huddled man at my feet.
Even through the blood, the bruises, I would recognize the dark waves anywhere.
Jarrah.
Son. Of. A. Bitch.
I crouch and grip his face as gently as I can, turning him toward me. His head lolls in my grasp and my gut sours. My fingers don’t shake as I press them into the hollow of his throat.
His pulse beat is slow, weak. But he’s fucking alive.
“You stubborn son of a bitch,” I mutter. He doesn’t respond.
The male is as tall as I. Not as bulky, but the Fae guards have never fought the things I have. I scan the area. My car is blocks away. I could carry him. But I don’t know how he even fucking got here, or if he was followed.
I slide my cell from my pocket and dial the first line in my recent calls. It rings once. Twice. “Come on,” I murmur.
A click. “Yeah?”
“Caine?”
“Gage?”
“Fucking, thank the gods,” I breathe.
“How sweet, Fire Fae. Though I doubt they would agree—”
“Caine, how fast can you get to downtown?”
“Why?” His tone is sober now.
“One of the Fae envoy is collapsed outside the hotel. I need transport. He’s weak. Very fucking weak.”
There is a lot of swearing. “Shield with your fire, Gage. I’m on my way.”
The line drops and I shove my phone back in my jeans. Crouching around Jarrah, I spread my fire out into a low ring. One thought and it will rise high enough to encapsulate us both.
I keep my hold on the Fae captain as I scan the dimness over and over. “Hold on, Jarrah. Just hold on.”
Caine collapses his portal outside the colony house. We lift Jarrah onto the waiting stretcher and two of the guards sprint with the male deep into the bowels of the manor. I start to follow when Markus catches my arm.
“Anything in the alley?” he asks.
“No. No sign of how he got there.”
