by Cynthia Eden
Enzo struggled in his hold, but Griffin didn’t let the bastard go.
“Griffin! It won’t work!” Valerie yelled. Sweat dotted her face. “They’ll just tear right through him. Transform! Change into the dragon. They might not penetrate your scales. Shift.”
A snake waited at Enzo’s feet. A big, thick, triangular-headed beast that stared up with cold, yellow eyes.
“Shift, Griffin!” Valerie ordered fiercely. “Shift right now!”
Griffin’s gaze flew around the club. Elliott was fighting with two vamps, swiping out with his claws and sending their blood flying. Stefan was hurtling over the bar’s counter, and the snake near Enzo had just curled back to strike.
While the bullets that had been frozen in mid-air…they were inching forward. Coming toward Griffin.
Valerie ran across the room.
The snake struck Enzo. The vamp immediately went statue-still, not even crying out.
The bullets were spinning, moving closer. Closer.
“I’m losing them!” Valerie cried. “Only chance…my blood…I can try to stop—” She shoved Enzo out of the way. He hit the floor—still frozen. Valerie launched herself at Griffin. She locked her arms around him. “It will be okay!”
He was changing. The shift rushing through his body. Scales slid over his skin.
“It’s okay,” Valerie said frantically. “I’m—”
She stiffened. She was staring up at him, and her eyes flared wide. He saw pain in the darkness of her gaze. He could smell her blood. Valerie’s blood. No, no. He opened his mouth and roared.
“Got it,” she whispered. Sparks danced around her, but her body was already slumping to the floor. “Stopped…them…”
He couldn’t hold her. Couldn’t lift her back up because he was transforming. The dragon had taken over, and the beast didn’t have hands. He just had rage and fury. And his mate—his mate was bleeding on the ground. Vampires were all around her. He opened his mouth, feeling the smoke rise in his throat.
“Oh, shit,” Stefan launched himself at Valerie. He covered her with his body.
And flames burst from the dragon’s mouth.
***
Ash. Destruction. Death.
Griffin opened his eyes and found himself standing in hell. The club was a wreck. Blackened walls. Burning chunks of flame on the floor. Well, on what remained of the floor. Smoke was everywhere, billowing in the air.
The vampires were gone. Or maybe they were the ash drifting in the wind.
“Human cops and firefighters will be coming. We need to get the hell out of here.”
Griffin jerked at the voice. His head turned, and he found himself staring at Elliott. Smoke drifted from the guy’s shirt and pants, and Elliott slapped at his sleeve, smothering out a quick flame. Soot covered his cheeks. “We need to move.”
Griffin shook his head. “What happened?”
Elliott grabbed his arm. “You happened. You went full-on, ballistic dragon. Toasted every vamp. Everything in your path.”
He didn’t remember that. He just remembered… “Valerie?” He didn’t see her. Where was she?
“I’m sorry.” Elliott’s voice was strangled. “So fucking sorry.”
What? “My flames wouldn’t hurt her.” He was certain of that. She’d told him the fire didn’t hurt her.
“It wasn’t the flames that got her. It was the vamp’s bullets. She threw herself in front of them. Stefan told me they must’ve been bewitched. The guy said it took the blood of one witch to put the spell in place, so the blood of another was needed to cancel it out.” Another flame sputtered near Elliott’s shoulder. He let go of Griffin long enough to slap it out. “The bullets went into her back. She fell, and that’s when you went full-on into dragon rage. I had to run freaking fast to make sure you didn’t torch my ass. Those vamps…after the snakes got them, they couldn’t move at all.”
A snake slithered across the floor, dodging the flames.
Griffin watched the snake as it slipped out of the club’s remains. He couldn’t seem to look away. Everything felt distorted and slow. And all he could think was— “Valerie?”
Elliott cursed. “Don’t shift again, okay? We have to get out of here. We can’t have the humans finding us in this place.” He pulled Griffin toward the door—well, toward the gaping hole in the wall. “You can break down when we’re gone. When we’re far away from civilians.”
Griffin dug in his heels. “Where. Is. Valerie?”
“Stefan took her, okay? He covered her with his body right before the flames went wild, and when the smoke cleared, they were gone.”
No.
“She was…shit, I don’t think she was alive. I’m so sorry.”
Griffin shook his head. “No.”
“She was bleeding so much. And…things were crazy, but I swear, I don’t think I heard her heart beating. Stefan was yelling at her to come back, but it didn’t make sense because she hadn’t gone anywhere.” He swiped at the soot on his cheek. “Then I realized…it made sense if she’d died. If she’d gone.”
“No.” It was all he could say because Valerie couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t be gone. Rule one…she stayed behind him. He’d told her to stay behind him.
Why would she jump in front of bullets?
And rule two…she didn’t get hurt. It had been a rule. His rule. Valerie couldn’t get hurt. He spun around, searching through the lingering flames.
“Dammit, we have to go!” Elliott yelled. “Don’t you hear the sirens? The fire lit up the whole sky!”
Valerie wasn’t dead. She wasn’t. If she were dead…
He wouldn’t have changed back. He would have stayed as a dragon. And he would have destroyed everything. Griffin shook off Elliott. He bounded after the snake he’d seen slithering away. The bastard snake was moving fast, but Griffin was faster. He shoved flaming debris out of his way and rushed down the beach. The snake left a perfect path to follow in the sand. Griffin’s nostrils flared as he took in the scents around him. He could finally smell more than smoke and ash. He could smell blood.
Her blood.
The snake rushed toward a man who was hunched at the edge of the shore. The snake disappeared when he reached the figure. Stefan Medusa held something tightly against his body. The waves rushed up and hit him, but Stefan didn’t seem to notice.
The scent of Valerie’s blood grew stronger. “Give her to me!” Griffin’s bellow echoed through the night.
Stefan rocked forward and back, holding her against his chest. “She knows I hate vampires. She brought them to my place tonight just because she knows I like to get payback against them. Wasn’t because Daybreak was convenient. Such a lie. She did it as a gift to me.”
Elliott’s footsteps rushed up behind Griffin. “What in the hell? Is that Valerie?”
Griffin stalked forward. “She’s not dead.”
Stefan kept rocking her. “I was worried your flames would hurt her. I can’t burn. I’m stone. Stone doesn’t burn.”
Stefan didn’t know Valerie’s secret? She hadn’t told him?
“I can’t make the bleeding stop,” Stefan rasped.
When the waves retreated, Griffin saw that they were red.
Stefan tilted back his head. “She did that, for you.” He seemed confused. “She let the bullets go into her own body. One severed her spine. I heard it. That’s why she fell. The other tore through her back and went into her heart.”
Griffin shuddered.
“Why did she do that? She’s evil. Everyone says so.” Stefan stroked back her hair. “Why did she save me so long ago? The vampires had cut my throat. Then they bit me…over and over again. I was dead. She brought me back. They turned on her when she grabbed for me. Even as she was using her magic to bring me back, those bastards were feeding on her.”
Griffin felt his beasts clawing at his insides.
“She told me…said ‘Never again.’ She wasn’t ever going to let a vamp get either of us. That if they tried, she�
��d kill them.”
Now Griffin knew why she’d worked the spell on her own blood.
“She won’t stop bleeding,” Stefan whispered. “Help her. You’re her mate. You can help her, can’t you?” For a moment, he seemed lost. Scared.
Griffin took Valerie from Stefan. “How old were you when Valerie saved your life?”
“Ten.”
Fuck.
“She raised me.” Stefan’s voice dropped. “Don’t let her die. I will give you anything. Just don’t let her die.”
The Medusa didn’t get it. Griffin would trade anything, offer anything he had if it meant keeping Valerie alive and safe. Griffin cradled her in his arms. The bullets were still in her. He knew that with certainty. He also knew that he couldn’t get them out. He wasn’t a doctor. He didn’t know how to save her.
But he’d be damned if he let her die.
Griffin leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You broke my rules.” Dammit, baby, you broke my rules! She wasn’t supposed to be lying there, bleeding and pale. She was supposed to be using her magic. Making the world kneel at her feet. Cackling and taking over. Making life hell for her enemies.
“Don’t you do this,” he whispered. “You die, and I will come right after you, do you understand? I’ll fucking find you. I’ll drag you back, and I don’t care who I have to fight. I won’t lose you.”
The cry of the sirens was even louder.
“Griffin…” Elliott muttered. “You’re holding a bleeding woman in your arms. It looks as if a bomb just went off in that club. We need to get out of here or we’re going to wind up in a human jail. Shifters don’t do well in cages, you know that.”
“Dig the bullets out,” Stefan told him quickly. “It might help. I don’t have claws. I can’t cut into her. You have to do it.”
“What the fuck?” Elliott said, shocked. “No one is cutting her! Shit, don’t be a freak!”
“She can’t get better until the bullets are out.” Stefan nodded quickly. “If they don’t come out, she’ll die. Do it. Help her.”
Cut her?
Cut into Valerie?
“Her spine…” Griffin choked down the heavy lump in his throat. He shook his head. “No, no, I won’t do that. I can’t hurt her.”
Stefan’s shoulders slumped. “Then you kill her.”
Griffin’s wings erupted from his back. He gripped Valerie tight, held her against his heart, and he shot into the sky.
“You will kill her!” Stefan yelled after him. “And I’ll freaking kill you!”
Chapter Twenty
Griffin crashed down through the ceiling, sending shingles and boards falling in his wake. He landed on the floor, cradling his precious burden, and his knees didn’t even buckle.
“For the love of…dammit, man, put on some clothes!” The outraged male voice demanded.
Griffin swung toward that voice and found Leo staring back at him. The Lord of the Dark looked pissed as he rushed across the room. But when the guy got closer, when he took a good look at Valerie’s still form…
Leo staggered to a stop. “What happened to her?”
“She took bullets…” He had to struggle to speak as a man and not roar as a beast. “Meant for me.”
Leo’s eyes widened. “You’re bullshitting me.”
Fate—Mora—ran up behind him.
“Valerie Storm did not risk her life for you.” Leo shook his head. “Something else happened. Don’t play games. You tell me—”
“You fix her!” Griffin bellowed. “You fix her right now!”
Leo’s jaw locked. “You’ll want to speak a little more respectfully to me.”
The hell he would. “Fix her…” He could feel the dragon getting ready to spit fire. To destroy.
“Calm down.” Mora’s soft voice. “Put her on the couch. Valerie isn’t dying today.”
He tried to lower her to the couch, but he couldn’t let her go.
Mora’s hand pressed to his shoulder. “She’s not dying today, I promise.”
If Fate said it, the words had to be true, didn’t they?
Mora stared into Griffin’s eyes. “This isn’t the end I see for her. We just have to get the bullets out. Once the bullets are out, she’ll recover.”
Griffin sucked in one breath. Another. Slowly, he lowered Valerie onto the couch, positioning her on her stomach, then smoothing back her hair. He noticed that her blood was on his hands and his whole body shuddered.
“So…” Mora cleared her throat. “Call me squeamish, but I’m not exactly game for cutting into her body.” A pause. “We should probably kidnap a doctor.”
***
Valerie could hear a bird calling. Edgar? Was he coming back to report on Carmichael? She cracked open one eye and found herself staring at a white wall.
An unfamiliar wall.
She cracked open the other eye. Blinked. She could smell the ocean, and the bird call that she heard—not Edgar. Sounded more like a sea gull.
“Hey, sweetheart. It’s about time you opened your eyes.”
Griffin. Her gaze immediately jerked to the left. He was right beside her. In bed, with her. Staring at her tenderly. His stare was warm, his expression almost—“Oh, jeez. Did I die?”
Griffin shook his head. “No, you just scared the ever-loving hell out of me.” He leaned closer and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Don’t do that shit again. Never again.”
Valerie wasn’t going to make a promise she couldn’t keep. “Where are the vampires?”
“Ash.”
Dammit. “Enzo, too?”
“Enzo most of all. His bullets shot you.”
“Yes, well, they were intended to shoot you.” She pushed herself up carefully, expecting pain to hit. But there wasn’t any pain. Odd.
“You broke the rules,” he muttered. “You weren’t supposed to get hurt. You weren’t supposed to protect me. You said you’d stand behind me.”
“I don’t stand behind anyone. You should have realized that about me by now.” She didn’t even feel tenderness in her back. Amazing. “And for the record, I’ll never stand back and watch you get hurt. Those bullets were silver. They were bewitched. If I hadn’t stopped them, you’d be dead.” She considered the matter. “Nah. I would have brought you back. But that would have been harder—”
“You almost died.” He pulled her toward him. His hands were tight and hard on her arms. “I can’t bring you back if you die. I just lose you.”
“And you lose your sanity. Right. Sorry. I was—”
“I won’t lose you. Screw my sanity. I think I lost that the moment we met in that damn dungeon.”
Her lips parted, but she didn’t speak.
“You matter. You. You’re the one in my blood. The one in my torn soul. You’re the other part of me. You and your crazy laugh and your damn spells and your sparking fingers. You. And you can’t die. You can’t leave. Because if you leave, I’ll fucking want to follow.” He pressed a hot, hard kiss to her lips. “I love you.”
Wait—what? She’d misheard. Misunderstood. There was no way he’d just said that to her. Valerie shoved at his chest, and he eased his hold, letting her go. She jumped from the bed. Jumped across the whole room. “What did you just say to me?” Her question sounded like a shriek.
He sat on the bed, his chest bare, the bed covers around his waist. He looked sexy and strong, and his gaze was still tender as it slid over her.
She was naked. She waved her fingers, seeing the little spark above them, and clothes appeared on her body. I’m becoming as prudish as he is! No, she just felt too vulnerable being naked in front of him in that moment.
“Since when are you modest?” Griffin rasped.
Since—never. But she was feeling weird. Her stomach was in knots. “You don’t love me.”
His head cocked. “Are you all right?”
“No, I was just shot—twice—and I have no idea where I am.” Definitely not all right.
“We’re at Leo’s place.�
�
“What? We need to get out of here!” Her hand slapped against her forehead. “Did he save me? Is that why I healed so well? Because if you made a deal with him, then we are screwed. He’ll want our firstborn child or some Rumpelstiltskin crap like that.”
Griffin’s lips twitched. “No one is taking our firstborn child.” His gaze dipped to her stomach. “She is gonna be a hell-raiser.”
If she was like her mother and able to bring back the dead, yes, she literally could be a hell-raiser, but they’d cover that another time. “What deal did you make?”
“No deal. I kidnapped a doctor, brought him here, scared ten years of his life away when I showed him my claws, and the guy removed the bullets from your body.”
That was…unexpected.
“You healed as soon as they were removed. Impressive. Didn’t know you could do that.”
She hadn’t known that she could do that, either. Had her magic gotten stronger with their mating bond? It was possible. Shifters were incredible healers. Maybe the bond had given her some of his magic.
He rose from the bed. He wasn’t naked, thank goodness, because when he was naked, thinking got a little hard for her. He wore a pair of low slung jeans, and his abs were absolutely lickable.
“How’d you heal so fast?” Griffin wanted to know.
“I have no idea.”
His brow furrowed.
“I don’t know. I should have died.” Honest truth. “My healing rate is not normally like that at all.”
Fury darkened Griffin’s face. “You were willing to die for me?”
Yes. And that realization was unnerving.
“Why?”
She didn’t want to examine the why part too deeply. “Why did you say you love me? You don’t. You don’t even like me. It’s just physical. Lust because of the mating bond. A primitive response that you can’t control. If you had your way, you wouldn’t be with me.” The words wouldn’t stop. “I’m not the mate you would have chosen. I’m just the one you got stuck with. You don’t want—”
He was stalking forward. His face had gone cold and hard. Deadly.