His knot loosened far swifter than it usually did and a sluggish part of my mind wondered, but he shifted his hold on me as he came free and I whimpered.
“Shh, Kitten,” he murmured, his voice far silkier and relaxed than earlier. The beast in him had been satisfied, and I had to smile. My dragon needed me, and what a terrifying thought that had once been. He carried me from the room, and Alfred leaned against the far wall, arms folded. I gave him a sleepy smile, and he let out a grunt of sound before reaching over to press a finger to my cheek.
“You need to trust us more, Hellion.”
“I do trust you,” I told him, head tucked securely to Maddox’s shoulder as they fell into step side by side. The path we followed would take us to the bathing room, and I couldn’t wait to get all the gore off. “But I had to get them. I told you they were hurting them.”
All at once, the memory of the whip marks on Fin’s back resurfaced and the endless days of feeling Maddox’s roars deep in my blood.
“Tell her,” Alfred said as he pulled open the door. Rogue stood near a huge table laden with food—oh, and there was bacon. My stomach rumbled.
“Tell me after I eat and have a bath,” I suggested around a yawn. “I figure someone is probably going to try and spank me in there.”
“No one is spanking you, Kitten.”
Alfred snorted, but he peeled me out of Maddox’s arms easily, and I tilted my head as he balanced me while helping Maddox strip off what was left of my clothes. I was utterly boneless and tired.
“Drink, Hellion,” Alfred murmured as he tucked me close to his throat. “You fed both of them, and you’ve fought and not fed…”
“I don’t want anyone else’s blood,” I reminded him with a grimace, even as I teased my tongue over the mark on his neck. The mark I’d given him. It was my turn to nuzzle his neck. If he wasn’t going to scold me or rail at me, I could get on board with this. Why the fuck was I so tired?
“Drink, Hellion,” he repeated, and this time, he cupped my head and held me in place. Oh right, he’d told me that before. I sank my teeth in, and at the first swelling drop of his blood, I sighed. Memories raced through me, not as powerful or visceral as the first time, but more like snapshots of battles.
A feeling of falling, of wings sheering away, of profound loss and agonizing pain. Tears welled in my eyes. Beyond all of that was the isolation as the twelve who would become the Seven faced each other, bloodied, wounded, and discarded from all they’d known.
Resentment swelled.
Grief thrashed them.
In the end, rather than pull together, they abandoned each other.
The first seeds of war planted…
A sob clawed at my throat because I hated that Alfred had ever felt this way, he eased my head back and frowned down at me. “I’m sorry, Hellion.”
Words I’d never imagined hearing.
“You weren’t supposed to see that, but…”
“You can’t stop thinking about it after facing Fuckface.”
Rogue spit out his drink, laughter erupting from him in a hot masculine wave that swept over Fin and then Maddox. Even Alfred’s eyes gentled and a faint smile creased his face. “Cyril.”
“Whatever,” I told him, far more interested in that smile than I was in talking about Fuckface. “I’m happy.”
“Are you now?”
“Yep,” I said, then licked my lips. “Are you really mad at me?”
“I should be,” he admitted. “I was absolutely furious when I discovered you’d bolted your door from the inside…”
“Hey,” I countered, tapping his chest. “You started it. You locked me in my room like I was a child.”
“No, I locked you in like you are something far too precious to lose because you’re still very young and wildly impulsive and—”
“A lot smarter and stronger than you thought.” I couldn’t help it. Smugness invaded me. He was proud of me. It was right there in his eyes, and he shook his head as he carried me over to the bathing pool. He could have dropped me in, but he just settled me in the water.
“You are brilliant,” he murmured, his voice so low, I thought I had to have misheard. “Your mind fascinates me, but what you did… The prison was bad enough, if the shadow demon got his hands on you…”
I sank into the warm water and laughed. “Oh, he did.”
Then I ducked my face under the water to soak my hair, and as I emerged, I found a scowling, pissed off Alfred staring at me.
I don’t know why it made me laugh, but this asshole really had endeared himself to me.
“Explain,” he ordered.
Leaning back against the stone, I said, “He did get his hands on me. He even kissed me…”
Fin groaned.
The air went both icy and hot in the same moment and a growl rumbled from Maddox, but it was Rogue I stared at. His blue eyes had gone icy and shimmering.
“That wasn’t an explanation, that was a provocation.” Alfred’s tone hadn’t changed one way or the other. But there was a muscle ticking in his jaw.
“Beautiful,” Fin said as he grinned at me. “Stop taunting them and tell them what happened. We just got back, and I don’t want to have to deal with the fallout if Alfred and Rogue decide to level that prison.”
A shiver went through me. “You’d do it, wouldn’t you?” I searched both their faces, and it was Alfred who bent to the pool and braced one hand on the side and slid the other to my nape, forcing my head back so I had to meet his eyes.
“Yes, you’re mine. Anything that touches you…I will destroy.”
Okay, that should not make me feel so content, but I grinned. “I burned him, Alfred.”
At his raised eyebrows, I glanced over at Rogue. He was preparing a plate, but had paused all motion and seemed riveted on me. So I explained about entering willingly so the prison couldn’t hold me, and while neither of them rolled their eyes, they did look a little doubtful. The first kiss had startled him, but the second had lit me up and I’d burned him.
As I explained that part, Alfred’s eyes narrowed and he glanced over to Maddox and Fin.
“Yeah, she glowed,” Fin said as he stretched his arms up. “And you saw the wings.”
“What wings?”
“Your wings, Kitten,” Maddox grinned at me. “Shadow wings. Though the rest of you glowed ethereal light.”
“We’ll circle back to that,” Alfred said after a moment. “What happened to the shadow demon?”
That was the best part, and I grinned. “I don’t know what I did but I didn’t want him hurting Fin, so I pumped all the energy I had flowing through me into him, like he tried with his shadows, and it seemed to break him—he went almost human and there was jagged silver in his shadowy eyes. I was kind of a badass. Rescued my dragon and my druid, and took out the warden. Or at least, hurt him a lot.”
“Hmm, you were amazing, my fierce little hellion.” Alfred pressed a kiss to my forehead. “But your druid and your dragon were right where they planned on being. So I don’t know if your rescue went as you planned…”
“Wait,” I said with a frown. “What?”