Page 48 of Against the Veil (Endangered Fae #3)
When Brandon spoke, his deep voice was soft and gentle, but the words seemed a hundred feet high, colored in the brilliant hues of sunset.
“Take back your compassion, your kindness, your concern. Be the Santiago Sandoval your parents knew. That Finn fell in love with. That everyone trusts. Take back what I stole from you. Be whole again.”
Diego jerked back as if struck. His mouth worked, but no sound emerged, his eyes searching the room in wild, twitching sweeps. Zack eased his hold and Diego lurched off the desk, stumbling three steps before he crashed to his knees with his hands clutched to his chest.
“Oh, God…” he whispered. “Someone help me…”
“My heart, my own.” Finn crawled to him, reaching out a hesitant hand to brush a curl from Diego’s forehead. “Are you ill?”
Diego raised his head, his eyes so full of anguish Zack wondered why the building didn’t crumble around them. “Finn? I…oh, Finn …”
“The lightning sparks in your head, love,” Finn told him gently. “Come lie down. You truly must lie down.”
With careful nudges, Finn got Diego down on the mattress just before his eyes rolled back and he seized. As his limbs twitched and jerked through one of the worst seizures Zack had ever seen, every magic user in the room let go of the flows with a collective sigh.
Zack sat on his haunches, panting, staring at his hands.
He wanted human hands to hold Lugh. He wanted them more than anything.
The claws didn’t belong. He didn’t want claws.
It hurt like hell, but he concentrated on those damn claws and forced them back, bit by bit, forced his hands to take back their human shape.
“You think it worked?” Nate was saying.
Finn nodded, tears streaming down his face. “Yes. He let me in again. I heard his thoughts. Heard him cry out in despair over what he had done. He is himself again. Oh, goddesses help him, but he is.”
“At least we got him back,” Marcus said on a hard breath. “Not sure what we’re gonna do here, though. What a cluster fuck. Prince Lugh’s out cold. Brandon’s keeled over. Mr. S. is gonna have to be carried out. We’ve got a broken kid on the stairs. And Morrison doesn’t look so good.”
“I’m fine,” Zack growled, relieved he only sounded irritated instead of bestial. “I’ve got the prince. Finn, you all right, bud? You think you can carry Diego?”
“For as long as he needs. I promised him once that I would.”
“Good enough. Marcus, status check from the other teams. If it’s possible, I want us to rendezvous on the second-floor landing so we won’t have to move Theo too far. You guys need Brandon for the door?”
The conscious kids all looked at Minky, who was finally visible. “We… I think so. He’s not usually out long. We’ll manage somehow.”
Zack hurt like hell and he wasn’t sure he was entirely human yet, but he didn’t much care.
Time to wrap up the mission and head the hell home.
With a grunt, he got Lugh up on his shoulders, the weight a welcome burden.
The big lug should have stayed in the Dreaming longer, but Zack wasn’t going to yell at him for that.
He’d pretty well saved them all when it came right down to it.
“Sarge, Kevin says they’re all accounted for. All secured.”
“Casualties?”
Marcus pressed the earpiece, listening. “Yeah. One.”
“Damn. Who?”
“The werewolf girl. Lila.”
Zack squeezed his eyes shut. Damn it, the girl was like me. I could’ve helped her. We could’ve… “Where’s Magnus?”
“Looks like he’s run. I’ll alert the team leads to watch for him.”
Back down on the stairs, Jasper still sat patiently with Theo, though another young man, a skinny blond with delicate, elfin features, had joined him.
Jasper turned to him to speak, signing a few words to go with the spoken ones. “It’s okay, Auden. That’s the sergeant there.” He tipped his head up to speak to Zack. “Auden’s deaf, so you have to make sure you look at him when you talk.”
Zack paused to ease Lugh down on the landing first, then turned to them. “Hey. I hear you like plants. I know a certain fae who’d probably love to talk to you.”
Auden blinked at him before he nodded to Finn, coming down the stairs with Diego cradled in his arms. He voice shook when he asked, “Did you…kill him?”
“No. He’ll be all right. He’s had a seizure disorder for a long time. Just might be a while before he wakes up.”
Auden nodded, but still seemed unconvinced.
“That’s Finn with him. His husband. No one can take better care of him. And no one loves him more.”
That seemed to get through. The kid didn’t seem exactly relaxed after that, but he did seem more interested than terrified.
The rest of the teams made their way up the steps in small groups, some of them leading unwilling captives, some leading frightened young folk by the hand.
Faolchú came last, his steps slow and deliberate.
He held the were-girl cradled in his arms.
Zack rose to meet him, fighting back the beast again in the presence of another large predator. “How’d it happen?”
Faolchú’s ears drooped. “It wasn’t something I intended. There was a pocket of resistance outside the kitchen. I made a small earthquake to scatter them. Only a small one. But instead of running away, the girl…this fierce girl…she ran toward me.”
Nathair took up the narrative when Faolchú faltered. “The building is old. We are unused to thinking of such things. Some of the ceiling collapsed in the earthquake and she was caught beneath the falling debris.”
“Zack, I am so sorry.”
“I know, big guy. I know.” Zack rubbed a hand over the back of Faolchú’s neck. “Just…damn.”
Angus removed a desktop from one of the offices and with the help of many hands, lifted Theo onto the improvised backboard. Will managed to revive a groggy Brandon far enough to include him in their circle, and the coven went about constructing the door back to the island.
When the door stood open, showing them the peaceful view of the garden fountain sparkling in the last rays of the setting sun, Zack took his prince up on his shoulders again.
“Let’s head through, folks. Time to go home.”