They headed outside into the wan sunlight and swampy air. The brothers and Liz disappeared between the trees.
“Saia?” Riley drew her close. “Go back to the mansion with Ikaria and remain indoors until I come for you.”
Worry darkened her eyes. “Okay. But don’t let Ayperos get away.”
“I won’t.” Tenderly, he stroked her cheek. “Be safe for me.”
“Ditto.” She yanked him down by his tattered tee and kissed him hard. He breathed in her scent. She released him. Her smile wavered then firmed before she hurried over to where Ikaria waited near the trees to flash them.
“Well now, brother. I didn’t expect you to make this so easy.”
Riley pivoted.
Ayperos smirked from across the clearing, resting one foot on a fallen tree trunk, still wearing the gray and black uniform of Wrath’s soldiers. His clothes were a little frayed, but immaculate. His dark gaze vacant.
Four blood-demons twitched nervously at his side. Assholes probably needed a blood fix since Zayn had escaped.
So easy to let loose an inkling of his ability. They’d kill each other and save him the effort, but he sensed Noah, Liz, and the twins farther down the swamp but still too close. They would get caught in the maelstrom of his power and turn on each other—
Saia! He spun around. She stared back at him with panicked eyes. A blood-demon had her trapped against him. Another held a blade at Ikaria’s throat and pushed her away from Saia.
“I’ll admit, you made taking your mate a little difficult in this world with you or that demoness always around. Should have had her at the citadel after I sent the wyverns to distract you—yes, got that idea when those monsters killed your sire’s mate.” He smirked, a six-foot, doubled-head spear appearing in his hand. “Come, fight me, brother. Let’s see what you’re made of.”
He flashed with his weapon. Riley evaded the attack, didn’t engage. Clashing weapons would only bring Saia’s family back.
“Still the weakling.” Ayperos sneered. “I’d planned to make you suffer by killing your mate in the citadel. Except, she rushed to help you,”—a snorting laugh—“and Wrath beat me to it. He got hold of your human and disappeared with her.”
So, Riley had read his father wrong. He’d kept Saia safe.
“Then I thought she had to have family, let’s start with them. Pity her brother escaped. No matter, you’re here now.” Ayperos leaped into the air and released his spear with deadly aim. Riley flashed several feet back, but the weapon pierced his side. His mouth tightened.
“Too easy…” Ayperos grinned and summoned his weapon back. The thing tore free from Riley’s flesh. Pain ripped through him.
Ayperos’s sly gaze shifted to Saia. “Should I start my fun here before I end this? She looks quite fuckable. Maybe I’ll take her in front of you. Leave you with memories to take into your afterlife.”
Not by a twitch did Riley show the rage fueling him or the urge to peel Ayperos’s skin off his loathsome bones. He tried to find a chink in the protection spell Ayperos had doused himself with. But the incantation held tight around him like a black aura, just as impenetrable.
“Your fight is with me. Let them go.”
“You know what I want.” Ayperos planted his weapon in the ground, his dark eyes held an insidious gleam. “Wrath will embrace me, as it should be. Me. I was there first for centuries before you crawled into his life and pushed me away. For him to accept me again, you cannot be, and that Sin is mine, too. You are in my way. It is time, Réomer. You or her? My blood-demons are really thirsty since her kin bolted.”
As if to prove the sway he held, Ayperos nodded. Saia’s scream punched the air as the demon sank his fangs into her neck. She fought back and the fucker locked her arms down with his.
“Do we stand here chatting while he drains your mate?” Ayperos drawled.
Anger battering at his skull, Riley realized they’d kill her if he moved. He shoved harder into Ayperos’s mind. There, a flickering of red in the black aura. He tore through the crack, broke through whatever force of protective power the bastard had surrounded himself with.
Ayperos stumbled in surprise.
Vengeance and his mate’s pain fueling him, Riley leaped. His fist connected to Ayperos’s jaw with the impact of a sledgehammer. Bones shattered. Ayperos reeled backward, blood dripping from his mouth.
“I’m not that easy to kill, brother. You will never get close to my mate or have my Sin. And you certainly aren’t Wrath’s progeny.”
Ayperos snarled. Swiping at the blood from his broken jaw, he flew through the air. Riley evaded. Pivoting with a flying kick, he kicked the spear away from Ayperos and shattered his wrist. He let his power roll through him, wanted the asshole to see just whom he was dealing with. “You’re too late. I’m all that you want—I am Wrath. You will never have what is mine.”
Black talons emerged, pushing through his nail beds like blades slicing through his fingertips. At the faint sounds of fighting behind him, he scanned. Ikaria had killed the demons. He glanced at Saia. Despite her bleeding neck, she smiled at him, the fallen demon at her feet disintegrating. She’d killed the thing? Godsdamn, he was so bloody proud of her.
“Delusions still?” Ayperos taunted. “You will never become—”
Riley’s hand flashed. Sheer shock crossed Ayperos’s face. A gurgling gasp filled the morning air.
His talons dripping red, Riley stepped back. Ayperos fell to his knees, his head rolled to the ground. Blood gushed. The astonished expression remained until Riley waved his hand over the body and preternatural flames engulfed him. He didn’t want this bastard having the choice of rebirth and a new life, only to hunt him again later.
A ripple of dark power shot out of Ayperos like a detonating bomb. Trees exploded, crashed into each other. Branches splintered and flew like missiles.
Saia! Riley spun around. “No!” The ruckus drowned out his roar.
His mate stood straight in the power’s destructive path.
Chapter Thirty
Caught in the waves of the deafening blast, Saia flew backward. The breath rushed out of her as if someone had rammed a fist into her stomach.
In the distance, Riley’s roar echoed. She blinked, gasping for air and struggled to see past the thick haze in the clearing. Then he appeared in front of her, his beautiful green eyes dark in shock—pain.
“Saia—” The debris settled around them as if a tornado had suddenly died.
She reached out to touch him, to reassure him.
“Don’t move, baby. Be still. I’m going to fix this.”
Fix what? She stepped forward, except she couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
Pain spread from her stomach, stole her voice.
She glanced down in a daze, stared at the spear sticking out of her lower belly. Warm blood gushed out, saturating her fingers clutching the weapon.
She got hit?
Riley crouched in front of her, his face pale, expression harsh. Gently, he freed her fingers from the spear. “I’m going to get this out and heal you. Stay with me, sweetheart—just stay with me.”
She lifted her head and tried to say his name. The word wouldn’t form. She struggled to hold on, but an icy chill seeped into her body, spreading too fast. Darkness beckoned, creeping into her consciousness…
Riley felt his soul split in two at the pain wrenching him—Saia’s pain. He grabbed her mind and blocked her agony. She stared at him, wide-eyed. Scratches on her face bled from the flying shrapnel. Her mouth opened, his name forming on her lips, but only a garbled sound escaped.
“Don’t talk, baby, don’t talk—it will be over soon.”
There was no fucking way in hell this would be over soon! Ayperos’s double-headed weapon had pinned her to a shattered tree trunk.
Blood soaked her coat and dripped to the ground. He had to work fast.
“Ikaria, hold her up,” he snapped, aware Saia was close to losing consciousness. The weapon, buried deep
into the sturdy, ancient tree trunk couldn’t be moved, not without shredding her insides.
With his mind, he tried to remove the spearhead. Nothing happened.
C’mon—c’mon, fucking work, dammit!
The spear stayed as it was.
Her family erupted from the trees.
“Saia!” Liz cried, running toward her. Noah grabbed his sister from Ikaria.
“What the fuck happened?” Rohan demanded.
“Saia—oh, Christ! Hold on, baby girl, hold on!” Zayn ordered.
Her eyelids lowered.
Rohan grabbed Saia’s blood-smeared hand. “No-no-no, come on, sis, look at me.”
Her head lolled forward.
“Dammit,” Noah snarled at Riley, holding up Saia’s slumped body. “You’re her mate, do something!”
“I can’t get it out of her,” Riley snapped. “It’s fucking double-headed. I pull it out, I’m going to rip her insides.” He summoned more of his power. A red-hot flame appeared from his hand, and he held it over the steel, but still it didn’t melt. His eyes squeezed tight as the truth hit him. “The fucker spelled it with dark magic.”
“Wait,” Ikaria let go of a sobbing Liz. “There may be a way.”
“What?” Rohan barked. “Christ, do something—anything, please…”
Ikaria slipped her hands into Saia’s coat pocket and brought out a black, blood-drenched scimitar.
“What the hell is that?” Zayn demanded.
Riley’s gaze narrowed. “Wrath’s dagger?”
Ikaria nodded. “He gave it to Saia when the blood-demons came after her, the day the wyverns attacked at the Erymic Mountains.”
“What in God’s name are you talking about?” Rohan bit out.
“Later,” Noah cut him off. “Saia is what matters now.”
His mouth tight, Riley nodded. This dagger was their last hope. Come on, baby, stay with me, he pleaded, spacing his own heartbeat with Saia’s slowing one, struggling to keep it even.
Ikaria touched the blade to the steel and sawed.
A sharp, tinny sound… A furious hiss…then, like a knife sliding through silk, the scimitar cut through the thing.
Carefully, Riley eased Saia off the steel rod. Blood gushed. He laid her on the ground, her hair spilled wildly about her pale face. He ripped open her coat and pushed up her sweater. A silver-dollar-sized hole marred her flat belly and blood pumped out in a steady stream.
He placed his hand over it and summoned his healing abilities…but the wound continued to bleed…wouldn’t heal. Fear slammed into him. No! She wasn’t going to die. Godsdammit. He pushed harder. His blood heated, and his skull tightened at the pressure building—the truth hit him hard. His hands dropped.
“What’s wrong? Why the fuck isn’t she healing?” Rohan glared at him.
“Because the spell lingers,” Riley snapped. “We don’t have time for it to fade. She’s too weak—lost too much blood. I cannot replace that. I cannot fucking give her mine!”
He picked Saia up from the damp ground and flashed with her to the city hospital. Stumbled into emergency. Feet thundered toward him. Voices crowded his head—the whole damn place yakking at once. “She was in an accident.”
Hands took her. His fists clenched helplessly at his sides. He was an immortal—a fucking all-powerful Sin, and he couldn’t heal his human mate.
Saia was laid on a gurney and wheeled away into the ER, then moments later, she was rushed into the operating room.
“Next of kin?” someone asked. He heard Noah speak. Ikaria had to have brought them. Riley moved away from the voices, his mind beyond the OR door, on his mate. He leaned against the wall. His gaze dropped to his blood-soaked clothes and then he stared at the red stains coating his hands. And his knees gave out. He slid to the floor. Dropping his head back, he squeezed his eyes tight. Please, come out of this alive, Saia… I’m so sorry, baby.
But there was no teasing smile or retort that she could save herself. She hadn’t even stood a chance. Even in death, Ayperos still had the last laugh.
Damn you, Saia, don’t you dare leave me.
“Riley?” Liz sat on the floor beside him and touched his arm. “Ikaria told us what happened.”
Riley pressed his fingers to his blurry eyes. Said nothing.
“I have to believe she’s going to be all right,” Liz murmured, wrapping her arms around her knees.
Saia had to be—she had to live. By the gods, his mate was a fighter. She’d fought her mother for her freedom to her own life, she’d fought him, for him, and fought those damn demonesses in his world to prove she was one to be reckoned with.
The twins paced past the line of hard orange chairs set against one wall. Saia’s parents stormed through the white corridor like a gale force. Noah met them halfway. Shock added years and lines to Edward’s face as they spoke. Jemima’s features were carved in stone, but her eyes flayed him.
Yeah, it was his fault. Every fucking thing that had transpired was his doing. He didn’t need her to point that out, too.
Hours later, a surgeon in blue scrubs came through the swinging doors. Slowly, Riley pushed to his feet. The male pulled down his surgical mask, his dark eyes grave.
“We managed to get to her in time. She’s lost a lot of blood, but the damage to her abdomen was extensive. The next twenty-fours hours are critical.” The surgeon’s tone softened and filled with sympathy. “You can go in and see her, but two at a time, and just for a minute.”
Her family headed toward the ICU. The doctor stopped beside him. “Are you the fiancé?”
Riley nodded.
“There’s something else.” The doc glanced at her family waiting their turn in the ICU. His voice lowered. “I didn’t want to alarm her family, but your fiancée lost the baby. I’m sorry.”
Riley stared blankly at the doctor. “What baby?”
“Early stages. Four weeks—the fetus couldn’t sustain a trauma like that with a steel pipe passing through the mother’s abdomen.”
Saia had been pregnant?
The doctor’s mouth compressed in compassion. He nodded and left.
Riley stood there, shell-shocked, staring at the swimming white walls. He felt as if his very foundation had cracked.
Pregnant?
Something warm dripped down his face. Sucking in a shuddering breath, he squeezed his eyes tight. No, he had to be strong for Saia—by the gods! How could he be? He was barely holding himself together.
At the sound of footsteps, he swiped at his eyes and headed toward the others coming out of the ICU, looking worse than they had when they’d waited outside during surgery. They dropped into the hard plastic chairs beside Ikaria. Zayn stared at the ceiling. Rohan lowered his head into his hands. Both of their shirts smeared with Saia’s blood.
Noah paced the corridor, raking a hand through his mussed hair. His sweater bore dark stains, too.
His face gray-tinged, Edward walked out of the ward. He didn’t say a word.
Riley pushed open the door and entered the room. The strong smell of antiseptic lingered in the far too cold space. Saia wouldn’t like that. The heart monitor’s rhythmic bleeping echoed like a damn death toll in the silent ward. Tubes ran from her nose, a drip was attached to her arm.
Jemima stood there like a statue, gripping the bed railing with whitened knuckles.
A nurse glanced Riley’s way as she hooked a new bag of blood along with the glucose being fed intravenously through Saia’s arm, then made her notes on the chart and left quietly.
With just a sheet covering her, Saia appeared too frail, her once lustrous golden skin chalky white. Several red scratches and cuts marred her face and limbs where the flying wood shrapnel had struck her. Riley picked up her hand and pressed his lips to her cold fingers. His gaze misted again, and his heart stuttered in pain as he stared at his silent mate.
Gods, Saia, I’m so sorry.
Pregnant? It had to have happened during the claiming. He’d never thought that far ahea
d, and now she would never forgive him for what had happened—would hate him.
Jemima’s gaze scorched him like hellfire, demanding he look at her. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with her accusations.
The next twenty-four hours, the doctor had said. Fuck that, he wanted Saia up now. He couldn’t face another moment in this agony, but he needed Jemima gone.
He willed her to leave. Again, he hit her steel mental walls.
“Save her.”
At the hissed words, Riley lifted his gaze from Saia and met Jemima’s icy, dark stare. Surely, he couldn’t have heard right.
“Saia doesn’t deserve this.”
“She will heal.” As soon as you leave.
Jemima’s fingers tightened on the bed rails. “Spare me the bullshit. I know what you are. This is your fault. You want me to leave? I will, but you save her. She’s chosen a destiny I never wanted, tried to save her from. You save my daughter, or I will make you regret ever crossing her path.”
Riley’s jaw locked. He’d always suspected she knew what he was. Now wasn’t the time to find out what the hell she was hiding. Why he couldn’t read her. But he would get his answers.
The strains of the dark spell that lingered in Saia had faded in the passing hours. He eased the sheet down Saia’s naked body to her lower hip, exposing the dressing over her injury.
He scanned her abdomen for the internal wounds the surgeon had sutured together, his chest constricted. Left to heal this way, she would never have children again. He could at least save them that pain.
His hand held over her wound, he let his healing power flow into her and could feel the newly stitched injuries knit and heal. The scratches on her face and limbs sealed, leaving behind smooth skin once more.
Fingers clenching, he finally lowered his hand.
Jemima didn’t say a word or check to see if Saia had healed. She simply walked out of the ICU.
Riley rubbed the back of his neck, leaned back in the armchair beside Saia’s bed, and stared at the ceiling. It had been pointless to keep Saia in the hospital or to answer questions about her impossible overnight recovery. He’d cleared the memories of those who’d worked on her. With Noah’s aid, they’d erased Saia’s admittance data and surgery records, and then he’d brought his mate back to the mansion.
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