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He turned to Linh, her family, and the growing crowd of people who had come to gawk at the monstrous Duskwalker slithering through their village.

“You wish to keep your daughter safe?” Nathair asked Kai, knowing Linh would translate for him. “Your people?”

“Of course,” he answered, his brows furrowing as if Nathair had asked a stupid question.

“P-r-o-v-e it.” He held both his hands out.

The male looked at his dark palms warily. When Nathair wiggled his fingers expectantly, the male eventually placed his own into them. Nathair found that rather courageous, especially since he hadn’t told Kai what he’d do.

“Nathair?” Linh asked, and he merely lowered himself to lick at her cheek to let her know it would be okay.

Although what he was about to do was for her, she would not be the one he asked to participate in this gruesome bargain.

When Kai’s palms touched his, Nathair shot his arms higher until he was near the male’s elbows. He gripped his soft flesh, then sliced his claws into the male’s forearms until he slit them open to his wrists.

Kai roared in pain, and many backed away in fear. But he obtained what he wanted, blood – andlotsof it. He heard Linh’s shout in the background, but it quickly died.

When orange magic glowed upon the ground, Nathair let the man go and shoved his hands into the two crimson puddles. A hiss resonated from the back of his throat as he poured all his might into the spell and a dome began to form. It grew in width and diameter.

It slowed its forming, and Nathair knew it wasn’t enough. A roar exploded from him. His fins lifted to their full lengths, his scales puffed and vibrated in aversion. His vision split as a wave of nauseating dizziness rolled through his body.

It felt like he was sucking out his own life force.

The dome doubled in size, growing wider and taller, as the blood against the ground sucked away into the magic. The more he took, the bigger it grew.

Cold pain lanced up his arms like a lightning bolt travelling through his veins. He halted when the agony became too much and his sight wobbled. The voices in his mind grew louder, and sickness rolled in his gut as he quaked in his fight to keep them at bay.

“Kai!” her mother shouted when the male, who had gone deathly pale, collapsed backwards.

Nathair dived forward and held his ankle to heal him of his wounds. He took them, but not without cost.I’ve used too much magic.He was too injured for this.

Belly down, he shuddered against the ground, as blood poured from his already aching arms. Any heat in Nathair’s body dripped out of him, and he lay huffing through strangled breaths.

That fucking sucked.

“What is this?” Linh asked in both surprise and concern, her brows unsure if they wanted to rise or furrow.

He was sure she was angry at him, like the rest of her people were. They brought Kai to his feet, despite the male now being full of life, whereas Nathair suffered.

When he realised he’d ruined the tendons in his arms, therefore making movement in his fingers minimal, he licked the inside of his maw in agitation. With what little strength he had, he wrote in the dirt with a single finger, “Protect.”

“Oh! It’s a protection ward, like what the other Duskwalker offers for a bride!” Linh exclaimed as she knelt next to his prone body.

Nathair felt tired and drained, but it was sure to fade soon. His body just needed to adjust to his new wounds, loss of blood,and whatever damage he’d done by pushing the boundary of the dome with his magic.

“You gave my people a protection ward,” she whispered, biting at her bottom lip as her eyes glittered with appreciation.

He snapped his maw and pointed a claw at her.

She placed her fingertips against her sternum. “It’s for me?”

Nathair nodded.All I do is for you.He managed to push up with his elbows, and Linh uselessly tried to help him rise.

Now that the humans understood what he’d done, why he had harmed her father and then healed him, they were no longer displeased. Surprisingly, a few ran forward to aid Linh so he could at least prop himself up on his own tail.

“Does this mean we can stay here?” The hope in her voice told him all he needed to know; he’d made the right decision.

With Nathair towering over Linh, he leaned forward to brush his snout against her cheek.Yes, little nightingale.He licked across her lips with his forked tongue, uncaring of who saw him kiss his bride.Wherever you go, I will follow.