Page 72 of Pixie Problems
Well, there was that. From what it had sounded like, Roark himself had managed to create a hole in the dome big enough to get the shifters out. He’d manage the same for us when he got them to medical help and safety.
Rhys cuddled me to him gently, trying to avoid contact with the nastiest of my bites and punctures, and held me. He was shaking again, and I started to really think that maybe Rhys wasn’t cut out for all this warrior and hero stuff. As powerful as he was, he started shaking whenever I was in the slightest bit of danger.
And then I sighed.
It was sweet, really. I mean, I loved him deeply. I knew he loved me deeply. He wasitfor me. And we were now soul mates because of the parasite in my brain, so there was that dynamic. And if I was being honest, the thought of him in danger really terrified me too. Maybe I was the one shaking? I couldn’t tell anymore.
And then Hux opened his beady little black eyes and looked straight at me, pulling a hidden dagger from his clothes. Before I could scream, he threw it straight at Rhys’ unprotected back.
And then August was justtheretaking the dagger to his chest. He went down to his knees, fighting to get up and keep protecting us. Cy roared.
And then three shots rang out, and Hux collapsed to the floor in a pool of blood.
I moved toward him, my gun still drawn. I kicked him, making sure he was done this time, and wouldn’t rise up again like some kind of bad villain trope in every action movie the world over.
“The kneecap yours?” Finn asked, standing at my side.
“Yep,” I affirmed. “The head yours?”
“Yep,” he answered. “I guess the heart was yours then, with your fancy gun that shoots faster.”
I shrugged. “I’m just fast, Finn. No sense whining that I’m faster than you.”
He chuckled. “You did warn me.”
“Warn you about what?”
“That you don’t like people.”
I grinned. Yeah, I had, hadn’t I?
And then I remembered August. I spun and dashed to where he was still on his knees. Rhys had pulled the dagger out already, and it looked like it was healing as I watched, the skin sealing layer by layer. I kept an eye on it, making sure it was healing right, but there was little I could do otherwise.
I sighed.
Vampire healing. It was seriously awesome stuff.
One of the wizards handed Finn a hand-full of sparkling dust, and Finn looked at him like he’d better explain why the man had just dusted his superior officer with sparkles and glitter, and he’d better make itgood. “It’s all that’s left of the stone Alpha Hux used to tether the pack to him. It lost power when Hux died, and we were able to destroy it. That’s all that’s left. It looks black market to me, but beyond that I don’t know anything of the creation or creator of it.”
Finn nodded, appeased. “Thank you, Alphonse.”
“Of course, sir.”
I went back to snuggling with Rhys as I kept an eye on August’s injury, making sure it stayed free of germs and that everything sealed together correctly. He was a vampire, and they were very hardy, but it didn’t matter. August had saved us twice now, and I was seriously thinking of naming a day on the calendar in his honor. I teased him about it as he stood guarding us. The little matter of his sealing skin and muscle from a dagger to the chest was apparently not enough to slow him down when he was protecting someone.
Vampires were notoriously suspicious of anyone not in their own group. It didn’t have to be all vampires—they weren’t speciest—but itdidhave to be people they knew and trusted and liked enough to have their back. And it looked like some of those on Finn’s team didnotqualify, which meant August was staying on guard duty until I was home at Finn’s house. Cy was still basically sitting on a few shifters.
“I don’t want a day on the calendar called August’s day,” he said again, more firmly this time. “That’s just stupid.”
“But we can actually make itduringthe month of August! It’s perfect.” I thought a minute. “When’s your birthday?”
He mashed his lips together. A clear sign that he would be uncooperative.
Rhys put his phone back in his pocket. “April twenty-fourth,” he said.
August glared at him. “Did you just bother Master Leto to ask him my birthday? I took a dagger for you, man! Where’s the camaraderie?”
Rhys grinned. “I love her more than you.”
