Page 85

Orion flailed,trying to push the fae off of him, but his strength was unreal for someone who was so skinny and pale.

The bite felt agonizing, and he shouted, the sound coming out of him something like, “Annnnnngggghhhhh.”

“Orion!” Cullen let Corbin and Cosmo wrestle the guy away from him, then grabbed him and yanked him off the bed to tug him toward the door. “No! No, no, no, no. No, you can’t be bitten.”

“Well, I think I am, baby. I mean, those were not cow teeth. They were pretty sharp.”

“Oh, goddess. Oh no.” That was Corbin, who had subdued the man again, this time with sheets ripped up and wrapped around him like a mummy. “Orion. Oh, fuck.”

Orion put a hand to his neck. The flow of blood was slowing, his natural healing taking over. This hadn’t been a catastrophic wound. Those took way longer. The only thing that could kill him, though, was taking his horn.

Now, there were ways to keep living that were no fun, but?—

“Orion, come back to our part of the house. I need to take care of you. Hawk still has the baby, so?—”

“It’s okay. Look, it’s closing up.” He wiped more blood away, knowing Cullen would see what he felt.

“Holy shit,” Cosmo said. “That’s some accelerated healing.”

“Yeah. Part and parcel of the whole unicorn gig.” He winked at Cosmo, then wrapped an arm around Cullen. “Just a sec, huh?”

“What—”

He let Cullen go for just a moment, then moved to Corbin to put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m okay. It’s okay, Corbin. But obviously he has some sort of plant affinity like you do, so keep him tied up with actual rope, huh?”

“We should just kill him,” Cullen spat.

“No!” Corbin almost sobbed. “Not yet. Please. We have to try.”

“If he infected my mate…”

Orion went back to Cullen, taking him in his arms. “Not infected. See how his wound never closed up? The one on his neck? Mine already is. Ta-da.” Orion showed off his throat. “Corbin. Be careful. We’ll come back once I get cleaned up.”

“I’ll stay with him,” Cosmo said, eyes wide, his lips quivering a little.

“Okay. Seriously. We’ll be back.”

“No, we will not.” Cullen dragged him out of the room, then out of Corbin’s part of the house. “Orion.”

“Stop.” He wrangled Cullen into their main room, then took his shoulders in hand to kiss him. “I’m fine. I mean, that hurt like the very devil, and I hate being all bloody, but?—”

“Did you know your blood is kind of…golden?”

“Huh?” He blinked, then grinned. “Oh. Yeah. I’m like a golden delicious.”

Cullen slapped his chest. “Not funny! What if you die!”

“From what? The wound is gone.” He wasn’t being deliberately dense. He just didn’t get it.

“But you got bit! What if he infected you?”

“Oh, love.” He hugged Cullen close. “He didn’t. I would know.”

“How? It can take a few days. Didn’t your dads say that?”

He frowned. “No, they said we only had a few days at most with this guy. Can we take a shower?”

Cullen burst into tears. “I’m so mad.”