Chapter 22

Nothing can prepare me for the horror I feel when Logan, our recently released prisoner, rushes into the throne room, a bleeding Nina in his arms.

“She needs a doctor!” he screams as I spring into action. The rest of the guys are in the fighting ring, supervising a match between a jaded vampire and his incubus lover. Rion should’ve been with Nina in his old cell.

“What the fuck happened?” My heart jumps up my throat as Logan gently places her on the red rug. I feel lightheaded and dizzy, my stomach a tumultuous mixture of distress and anxiety.

My love is so pale, so ashen. She looks frail beneath the hanging bulb, her black hair an obsidian waterfall around her shoulders. And her face…

Her face is a mottled canvas of already blue and black bruises. Blood flows from a wound on her head, and her nose is at a crooked, unnatural angle. Horror fills me, inflates me, until I feel as if I might burst from it. I can feel tears stinging the back of my eyes as I try to tamp down the rapidly rising panic. No. No. No. No.

Darkness blankets my vision as I stare at my mate, my entire fucking world.

And then…

The anger sets in, eroding away the initial panic like an odorless acid.

“What. Did. You. Do?” I demand, though my words are barely intelligible around the canines in my mouth. I want to tear this pathetic excuse of a man limb from men. How fucking dare he? How dare he hurt a female? How dare he put his hands on the woman I love?

Just as quickly as the anger consumes me, it drains away, leaving me bereft and empty. One glance at Nina’s sunken face, at the blood pooling down her cheeks and the hideous bruises, at her lashes fluttering against her cheekbone as she embraces unconsciousness, has panic taking its place.

No. No. No. No.

“What happened?” I’m not sure he understands my words around my growl, but he can guess the gist.

Logan releases a heavy sigh, almost as if the weight of the universe is settling on his shoulders, pushing him thousands of feet below ground. “A siren,” he explains, and my hands curl into fists. Fucking sirens. They have the capability of stopping you with a single word, their magical voices making it so you want to please them. Making it so you want to do whatever they say. If one of them used his or her powers on Nina…

I gently grab her tiny hand, being extra mindful not to accidentally skewer her with my claw, and rest my forehead on her bloody chest. She’s in desperate need of a shower and medical care, but I don’t know if I’m capable of moving. I feel numb. My mate…

She got hurt.

Again.

And I wasn’t there to protect her.

Immense self-loathing threatens to swallow me whole, and for a brief moment, I allow it to consume me completely. It festers in my lungs, making breathing difficult, before unfurling like a tulip in spring in my chest.

My head is knocked to the side with the force of the punch, and instantly, my wolf comes out to play. Coarse, dark fur sprouts on my arms and face, and it takes considerable effort not to turn into an animal right here and now and maul Logan into shreds.

The blond-haired man glares down at me, body radiating an almost elemental fury, something deserving of its own place on the periodic table. His lips curl into a scowl so cruel, you’d think someone cut it into his face with a blade.

“Get your head out of your ass, man, and help your fucking mate!” Logan bellows, his chest heaving. “Don’t just wallow like a punk ass bitch.”

A part of me still wants to punch him, maim him, kill him, but a larger part is too relieved that he forced me out of my self-pity to do any of that. Right now, my mate needs me. She needs me to take care of her and nurse her back to health.

My goddess needs to be worshipped.

With a nod more to myself than him, I set to work cataloguing each and every one of her injuries. It looks as if—I swallow heavily, bile rushing up my throat—she hit her head repeatedly against a hard surface. The wall, perhaps? There’s too much blood on her pretty face for me to see the full extent of her injuries.

“Grab me something to wipe this blood off of her,” I direct Logan gruffly, grateful when my voice doesn’t come out as a guttural growl. Before Logan can walk away, I snap my arm out and capture his bicep, ignoring the blood of my beloved that stains my fingers. “And don’t even think about running away.” I know my eyes flash with the darkness of my wolf. “You claim that you didn’t do this, but until we know for sure…”

I have to give him credit—he doesn’t look away and he doesn’t cower. Instead, he lifts his chin ever so slightly before nodding once.

“Understood.” His eyes flicker to Nina’s broken, bruised form, and his features soften considerably. One glance at me has them hardening once more. Brick by brick, he rebuilds his apathetic front. “And the siren? The asshole who did this to her?” He waits until I give him my full attention before continuing. “His body is in pieces down the hall.”

With that, he turns on his heel and stomps away, hopefully to find me what I need.

My hand shakes as I bring it to Nina’s hair, wiping away some of the blood-soaked strands. I’m extra mindful of her injuries. Fuck, so many injuries…

When Logan returns, he has a medical kit and a washcloth in his hands. I have no idea where the fuck he got them from, and at the moment, I don’t care enough to ask. What I care about is the woman lying on the ground, her face distorted with hideous bruises and gaping wounds.

Blood.

So much blood.

But if there’s one thing my sister’s death has taught me, it’s that I’m capable of compartmentalizing my pain for the time being. For now, I’ll focus on Nina and only Nina. Later, when her other mates are around, I’ll allow myself one second to fall apart. Just one.

I almost wish Logan hadn’t killed the siren who did this to her, if only so I can kill the man myself. I hope it was painful. I hope he screamed in agony and pain as Logan ripped him limb from limb.

As I begin cleaning Nina’s injuries, my mind begins to wander.

How many assassins are lurking in the prison right at this fucking moment, waiting for a chance to kill the woman I love?

How many prisoners will be willing to sell their soul for the money the fucking Council is providing?

And which council member is spearheading this…this witch hunt? Make no mistake, that’s what this is. If they truly got the chance to know Nina, they’d realize she’s the sweetest, strongest person that ever existed.

I work mechanically, cleaning her wounds and washing blood from her face, neck, and arms. My work in the pack back home has made me skilled in healing, though I wouldn’t have been able to help Nina if her injuries had been any more severe. Fuck, just thinking about her with even worse injuries…

Bile rushes up my throat, but a lifetime of steel-enforced will keeps it adequately subdued.

“I can’t…” I barely even realize I’m speaking until the words leave my mouth. “I can’t lose her, man.”

“I know.” Logan’s voice is soft from where he stands just off to the side, eyeing Nina curiously. “You really love her, don’t you?”

“She’s my entire world,” I answer without preamble. And she is. The moment she arrived at the prison and my wolf declared her as my mate, no one else has mattered. Everything that I am, everything that I will be, centers around her. Just this tiny slip of a girl with raven-black hair, smoky white eyes, and a heart that is capable of loving even the most damaged of souls. “I didn’t know I was capable of feeling like this, you know? It’s like…” I struggle to explain the thoughts in my head. “It’s like I’ve been living in a black and white movie, and suddenly, she’s brought color to the world, disrupting the monotony I’ve grown accustomed to.”

It seems silly to be spilling my soul to a man I don’t like, let alone trust, but I can’t stop the words from leaving. The pain, the panic… They both pile on top of me like dirt burying a coffin. Only in this case, the body inside is still alive, still breathing, still fighting tooth and nail to escape.

“And the others…?” Logan queries. There’s no judgement in his voice, just curiosity. He stares at Nina as if he’s never seen a female before. So many questions linger in his bright baby-blue eyes, but I don’t know if even I have the answers to them.

“The others…” Guilt fills me instantly as I drop the rag I’ve been using to clean Nina’s forehead. I swallow heavily. “The others are going to freak the fuck out and then murder me for not getting them sooner.”

Fuck. I was so focused on Nina that I’ve forgotten about my brothers.

I scrub a hand down my face, not even caring when Nina’s blood smears across my forehead and cheeks.

“She’s going to be okay, man,” Logan says softly, his eyes fixed on my girl. Normally, that would bother me immensely, but I’m too wound up to care. I swear my stomach is in more knots than a dozen jump ropes being found in a dusty attic would be.

“She’s strong.” I brush the back of my fingers across her cheek. She stirs slightly in her sleep, her face twisting into a pained grimace, but she doesn’t wake up. My throat clogs, and I can feel tears burn my eyes. “She’s resilient. She’s been through so much already. I know she’ll survive this.”

And when she wakes up, I’ll worship her. Not just her body—though I’ll definitely worship that too—but her. I’d spend my life on my knees if that’s what would make her smile. You can tell you love someone when suddenly your own happiness is secondary to theirs.

“You should…” I swallow heavily, the enormity of my emotions for this woman nearly overwhelming me. “You should grab the others. Um…” I hesitate, peeking a glance at him over my shoulder. “No guarantee that they won’t kill you when you deliver the news.”

They deserve to know, but there’s no way in hell I’m leaving Nina’s side. Not again.

Every damn time I leave her, she gets injured.

“I’m sorry, Goddess,” I whisper softly, bending down to kiss her clammy forehead. The ground is beginning to become uncomfortable beneath my ass. I know I have to move her, have to bring her to a bed, but my body is numb. Just…numb. I don’t know if I’m even capable of lifting an arm at this moment.

Why didn’t Rion protect her? He was supposed to be with her. Where is the shifter fucker?

Dark thoughts continue to surround me, until in the landscape of my mind, all I’m aware of is darkness. Pitch-black, absolute darkness. So many monsters are capable of hiding in this shadowy wonderland. So many beasts.

My wolf gives a mournful howl, and I give in to the need to shift. Pain explodes in my nerve endings, but it only lasts a second before my wolf takes over. I place my furry head in Nina’s lap, distantly aware of the pounding footsteps as Nina’s other lovers enter the throne room. But I don’t focus on them. I can’t.

Nothing matters at this moment except my broken and bruised fiancée. My mate.

The woman I failed to protect.