“Star,” I push out.
“Stay where you are.” She goes down on her haunches, smiling at me. I’m reminded of how beautiful she is. Long, blond hair, gorgeous blue eyes the color of a winter’s day. She’s all graceful limbs. Star has full lips and a wide smile. Her eyes still look sad. “The dizziness will be over soon.” She works on my bindings, starting with the ones tied around my wrists. They can’t be silver-infused, or she would not have been able to teleport me.
I nod. “Nearly there.” I move to a sitting position, my head spinning a little again. “How did you know I was there?” I clutch my head.
“I overheard some of the guys talking with Jackson.”
I sigh. “You’re still with him.” My breathing is ragged.
She nods. “Don’t say anything. I don’t want advice. So long as he doesn’t take a mate, I’m going to…at least try to make it work with him. You never know.”
I do know! I want to tell her that he’s using her, but I hold back. Deep inside, she knows. She’s not stupid. A dragon shifter would never mate an abomination like one of us. It’s crazy to think it. No, Jackson will take a mate soon. It won’t be Star. Maybe then she will see reason and leave. I look around us. I’m in a forest under thick trees. It’s dark and smells musty.
“Where are we?”
“I wasn’t sure where to take you.” She shrugs. “I didn’t want to go near the humans.” She gets this quizzical look. “I wasn’t sure who the male is they captured at the same time as you.”
“What?” I shout. It feels like all the air has left my lungs. “Stephan is alive? They brought him in alive?”
Star nods. “Who is this male to you?” She sniffs me. “You’re not together.” Star can’t scent him on me, so she knows we aren’t sleeping together.
“I know him. He’s helping me. A friend,” I finally say because it’s simpler. “Can you help him?”
She shakes her head, looking afraid. “I don’t know where they’re keeping him.”
“But you can try to find him…please, Star.”
She pushes out a breath. “I can try, but I can’t teleport too often without it tiring me out. Even if I do find him, I’m not sure I’ll have enough strength to bring him here. If he’s in one of those silver cages…” She shakes her head.
“Please try. They’ll kill him.” I’m confused about why they even brought him in. Maybe they plan to torture him for information before they kill him. I wouldn’t put it past Tarek and his men.
Star holds my gaze for a few seconds and then nods. My heart races as I watch her disappear. Star can only teleport so many times before her energy depletes. Even if she finds Stephan, there’s no guarantee she will be strong enough to transport him back here. If they find out she is helping us— I don’t want to think about that. I doubt that Jackson will be able to help her if they find out what Star is up to. I feel useless.
I wrap my hands around my legs and shiver. I’m in a T-shirt and nothing else. I’m not cold. I’m fearful for Star, and even more so for Stephan. I say a silent prayer.
15
Stephanus
Pain.
Splintering, mind-shattering pain pulses through me. It hurts like fuck when my bones start pulling back into alignment. It’s a long process. I grit my teeth and groan. I try to take in my surroundings, but it hurts too fucking much to move. It hurts to breathe. To think, even. My head is throbbing. My right eye is swollen shut. I can taste blood. My arms and legs are bound. I’m not sure why someone would bother to tie me up. I’m not going anywhere for a while.
My only consolation is that they took me with them when they took Raven. She must be somewhere close. I need to heal so that I can rescue her. I have to get us out of this situation. I couldn’t tell what those dark shapes were. I was already too injured. I don’t want to assume they were members of her weyr, but that’s the most likely scenario. My wings were a broken and mangled mess. They aimed for them on purpose. Fuckers!
I groan again, trying hard not to move. Maybe I’ll pass out soon. I hope so. My mouth is dry. I’m in hell right now.
A woman appears and falls onto the floor next to me in a heap. She looks like she’s in old-fashioned, cotton pajamas. Her chest is rising and falling in rapid succession, but she’s not making any noise. I can’t see her face. I can’t move because it would hurt too much.
Who is she?
What is she doing here?
Maybe I’m dreaming. It’s possible. She lies there for a while. Several long minutes tick by. Her breathing normalizes. Then she is sitting up. Her hair is very long, all the way down her back. If it gets any longer, she might sit on it. Her eyes are blue. A thought flits around my mind. I can’t grab onto it. It’s something important. At least, I think it is. I can’t seem to hold onto the thought. Pain shoots down my legs. My skull throbs. I can’t think straight. She takes my arm, and I shout as pain blossoms.
I scream when I start to move. I grit my teeth, grateful when I black out.
“Oh, thank god,” someone says. “You’re awake.”
I groan. My head hurts. My body— Fuck! I try to change my position and groan again. The pain is slightly better than it was before, but not by much.
“Stay still,” the voice says again. “I can’t believe what they did to you.” She’s angry.
Raven.
“Shhhh.” I feel her soft touch on my cheek. The pain subsides just a little. Her touch is soothing. “Don’t try to talk,” she murmurs.
I open my eyes. My right eye isn’t as swollen anymore. I see her. She’s here, looking down at me with concern written all over her beautiful face.
“You should rest,” she whispers.
I moan.
“Close your eyes and rest,” she instructs. “We’re safe. I won’t leave you.”
“Safe.” My voice is a deep rasp. My throat is dry. My tongue is sticking to the roof of my mouth. I do as she says. I close my eyes. Then I’m drifting away again. My limbs becoming heavy. My eyelids heavier still.
I don’t know how long I sleep for. I feel marginally better when I wake up, so it must have been for a while. At least an hour, maybe two. More?
Raven is curled up against me. Her hand is on my chest. She’s touching me. What the fuck? I have a jumbled memory of her touching me earlier. I don’t know if that was real or imagined.
Her fruity scent is in my nose. Her warmth seeping into me. I savor the feeling, even though I’m still hurting. I want to put my arm around her and pull her in closer. Her chest rises and falls as she breathes deeply. Her eyelashes fan her cheeks. Her legs are bare. I think this T-shirt is the only thing she has on. I’ll be fucked if my cock doesn’t react. I’m broken – still healing from wounds that could very easily have been fatal – and yet here I am, getting a hard-on.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
I watch her for a long time. She isn’t getting anything from me, or she wouldn’t be able to sleep right now. She’s calm. Sleeping peacefully. We’re touching. I close my eyes and savor the feeling of her. I must drift off again because I come to when her hand moves on my chest. When her body gives a small jerk.