Page 21 of Fae Unleashed
My feet lifted from the floor. Eyes closed, I couldn’t see who’d grabbed me. His touch was gentle and the way he wrapped himself around me told me all I needed to know.
“Rhoan,” I whispered as I dug my fingers into his shoulders.
When he pulled back, I lifted my head. Rhoan pressed his forehead to mine. The world paused while we savored each other’s presence. The smell of wood and leather eased a knot in my chest. The spread of the Unseelie blight calmed and retreated ever so slightly.
Faust howled with rage, but everyone in the room stepped up between us and the fae assassin. They formed an immovable wall that Faust would have to fight his way through. I didn’t take my gaze way from Rhoan, whose eyes were bright with the light of his beast, but I could tell that Faust was sizing up his competition.
Did he look at the demi-angel and the god-born and rethink his choices? I knew that I would if I had to face off against Vi and Addie.
When Faust stepped in-between, Maddox lunged like he was going to follow. The cold breeze of the afterlife wafted through the room as Maddox opened a portal to give chase. Addie caught her mate by his arm and asked him to stay.
Maddox’s glare glanced off my back. I had to remind myself that Maddox wasn’t angry at me. He had every reason to be since I’d dragged danger into his home, but I knew that he just wanted to keep us safe.
The man was a homicide detective. He’d committed his life to catching killers. It made sense that he would want to go after Faust.
Rhoan could tell. He watched Maddox cross his arms over his chest while Addie begged him to stay here. Should we need him in the future, Maddox would be a good ally. The man was…a pretty competent abomination.
I meant that in the nicest way possible.
“Are you all right?” Rhoan asked in a whisper just between the two of us. He cupped my cheek only to have his hand come away with blood.
With a part of my mind drawing on my arcana to heal the scratch on my cheek, I nodded. “He wants to hurt you.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. For once, this wasn’t entirely about me. I just happened to be in the way, and that couldn’t have been funnier to me.
Oh yeah, I was exhausted. Now that danger was gone and I was surrounded by safety again, my knees gave out and dropped me into Rhoan’s arms. He held me tight and kept me upright while I clung to him.
“Well, that was an experience,” Vi said, running a hand through her hair.
Morgan stepped up beside her and touched her like he needed to be reminded that she was real. The two weren’t big on public displays of affection—more like Morgan wasn’t used to showing affection—but it was sweet to see them like this.
And here I was, mucking up everyone’s well-earned happily ever after again. I buried my face in Rhoan’s chest. I needed help, but not at the expense of my friends’ happiness. They’d all worked too hard to have me causing chaos in their living room.
Maddox stepped into the middle of the room and put his hands on his hips. “Okay. Spill. What’s going on? Why isshehere?”
I followed the direction that Maddox waved his hand in. Del gave a hesitant wave.
I’d completely forgotten that I’d had Maddox drop Del off in the middle of nowhere when she’d been hunting us. Now that she was on our side, there hadn’t been time to inform everyone.
So, I had Rhoan set me down. He positioned himself behind me to keep watch at my back while I explained everything that’d happened in the past…how long had it been? Weeks? A month? I couldn’t tell anymore. Every day flew past lately. It was only just this morning that we’d visited Lady Ostara.
“If anyone here calls me princess from here on out, I will scream.” I looked Vi in the eye.
She chuckled and gave me a smug smile. My scream wasn’t going to stop her from teasing me. At least, I could flip the script on her. She was the Princess of Hell, after all.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the way Del inched towards the exit. Del’s attention flicked over everyone. Her attention lingered on the couples and the way that the men stayed close to their mates. It wasn’t that she was sizing them up. No, I could see the jealousy turning her eyes glassy.
Her gaze hit Rhoan and me last. When she looked at Rhoan, her expression hardened. She leaned back and disappeared through the door.
I leapt off the floor and gave chase. Del could have easily stepped in-between, but she didn’t. I found her outside on the back porch with her gaze on the line of trees that’d hidden Faust’s portal earlier.
She’d stayed, which meant that she had something she wanted to say before she left.
I rocked back on my heels, unsure if I was prepared for whatever she had to say. It was clear that she and Rhoan had something going on. Right now, no matter how I felt about him, I could tell that he wasn’t interested in pursuing anything with me.
When I started to tell her, the words stuck on my tongue. They turned sticky and stubborn. I couldn’t get them out. When I swallowed the words back down, a sense of relief came over me.
I wasn’t ready to give him up, even if he didn’t want me. It was such a selfish thought. There was no point in needlessly grasping onto someone who didn’t want anything more than what we already had.
