Page 39 of Beyond the Veil (Endangered Fae #4)

“Please. My little… cabrón .”

“Isn’t that what you just called the guard? Did you just call me something nasty?”

“For you…badass. Little…selkie badass.”

Limpet’s snicker was strangled as he gave Theo a quick kiss before laying him down gently. “Don’t die while I’m gone.”

I’ll try my best. Theo turned his head far enough to watch as Limpet approached the bunker and faded from sight.

The you-can’t-see-me trick worked well even on dying vampires, apparently.

He waited until he heard the distinctive thump of pistol-butt meeting skull, followed by the thud of a body hitting the floor.

Theo closed his eyes when Limpet cleared the doorway, telling himself he could rest now that his selkie was safe and the area secure.

A moment later, he was jostled awake again, Limpet talking a mile a minute.

“…and I tied him up with his own belt. I saw that you’d tied the others up with those white things but I didn’t have any of those.

And I smashed the thing he was speaking into since there were others speaking back and I didn’t think that was good.

Finn seems all right. I’ve let him rest where he is.

But you need to feed now. You’re not going to die on me, my sweet Theo.

I can’t allow it. Not after all the trouble I’ve gone through to stay with you. ”

The scent of blood reached through the heavy blanket of pain and Theo wrapped his lips instinctively around offered skin. He drank, moaning at the taste of Limpet’s blood, so unlike any other, salt and iron but sweeter by far. Just a little…just a taste…

He pulled his lips back on an anguished thought, licking at the wounded wrist. “You cut yourself. For me.”

“It’s just a little slice. Hush. You needed some and you weren’t trying to drink on your own, even though I offered my throat, you silly thing. I know it hurts and you want to sleep, but I didn’t think you wanted to die.”

Theo turned his head into Limpet’s shoulder and the pain receded just enough to make him aware of how bad things were. He couldn’t move his legs and was too weak to lift his head. Every beat of his struggling heart sent molten spears through his chest.

“You didn’t stay. Where I told you.”

“No, the proper thing to say to me is Limpet, thank you for coming to rescue me. I’m so glad that you decided to follow me after all to make sure I didn’t die . Scolding the person who saves your life just seems rude, don’t you think?”

“Hmm.”

“That’s all right. You can say thank you later. You probably should just rest instead of talking right now. Not that you talk very much even when you’re well, which is a shame. You have such a wonderful, soft voice. Drives straight through me.”

“Limpet?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you. Now, shh.”

“All right. For you.” Limpet kissed his forehead and clamped his mouth shut.

In the sudden silence, they both picked up the squealing of the nearby portal and the thump as it opened.

“I think they’re coming out now,” Limpet whispered.

“Tell them…run for it. Reinforcements will come. Soon.”

“Even flat on your back, you want to protect everyone. That’s what I love best about you. But you’re going to have to let me protect you for a little while here.”

True. Since he was fading out again. Wait? Did Limpet say he loves me?

Diego had expected Finn’s head to pop over the open portal at some point.

That he didn’t make an appearance, either to say cheerfully that everything was under control or to warn them, was chillingly disturbing.

It was all Diego could do to stay at the bottom of the ladder while he guided everyone else up.

Every fiber in his body wanted to swarm up the rungs and find Finn, but if he did that, he risked chaos and the possibility of more casualties.

He counted as he guided humans to the ladder, making certain no one was missing.

The ghoul shifted partially to stand on two feet, weary and unsteady, clawed hands clutching the rungs in white-knuckled desperation as he climbed.

The griffin made a clumsy leap for the top and had some difficulty with the narrow opening, clawing and maneuvering his wings in painful ways to squeeze through.

When Asif’s turn came, he slung his stone passenger over his shoulder and climbed halfway up where he tried his best to maneuver the petrified werewolf through the portal to Gavin and Josh.

The kids didn’t quite have the best hold, though, and the poor werewolf slipped from their grasps where he knocked against the side of the portal and lost a finger.

Diego retrieved it as it fell, hoping that was the extent of the damage if there was any chance to restore him.

Nusair went up next to last. He refused to relinquish the phoenix and slung her over his left shoulder while he carried Gamila, a full ten feet long if she was an inch, under his right arm.

The laws of physics said he shouldn’t be able to make the climb one-handed with that burden, but he managed, clearly straining but not once losing his grip on ladder or passengers.

Finally alone in the dark corridor, Diego swarmed up, an unreasoning fear of something sinister following him gripping his heart all the way up.

He broke through into the relative brightness of the moonlit desert night, forcing himself to breathe calmly.

They were out. Every single prisoner was out.

His cohorts hadn’t sat idle while he directed the evacuation. Tarek and Ethan were speaking to someone who wasn’t dressed in prison pajamas, someone whose bright hair cascaded to his waist.

“Limpet?”

The selkie gave a glad cry and rushed him, throwing himself into Diego’s arms. “Diego! Oh, I’m so glad to see you safe.

We heard about your arrest at the place where the Swiss stayed.

Kurt was so angry and he wouldn’t listen to Theo, not one bit of it.

But I heard Theo leaving in the night and followed him since—”

“I know. Finn told me most of all that. Where is Finn?”

“Of course, pardon, pardon. Finn was shot—”

“What? Where is he?” Diego turned this way and that, his chest tightening painfully the longer he couldn’t spot Finn.

“It’s not bad. He’s resting by the square building where they had to break the door and where Theo was shot, too, but his is much worse. Theo says there are more guards coming because they used the…radio, and Diego? What are we to do with all these people now?”

It was a valid question, but he couldn’t think. He needed to see for himself that Finn would be all right. He needed to see how badly injured Theo was. He needed to—

A sudden rising wind cut off his skittering thoughts. The horror of facing a sandstorm in the open had him moving back toward Tarek to get everyone to shelter, but the rising storm was oddly localized.

Nusair had put both his burdens down on the sand and walked off a few yards.

He stood with his palms spread down toward the sand, his head back, mouth open in an expression of pained ecstasy.

The sandstorm whirled around his feet, obscuring the bottom half of his body.

With a sudden crack, his collar snapped open and fell to the ground. The cuffs followed a moment after.

Dark purple light danced over his skin, throwing ominous shadows on his handsome face. More menacing still, he began to grow. His hair, free of his shirt, whipped about his head in his personal storm.

“Nusair?” Diego shook off Tarek’s hand to step toward him.

The djinn’s eyes opened, staring golden lamps without pupils or irises. He bared his teeth in a parody of his bright smile. “Did you think you could hold me, little sorcerer? Make a fool of me with promises of friendship while you schemed?”

“I never intended to trap you, Nusair. Where would you get that idea from?”

“You’re going to open a door to your enchanted island where your allies live. I know all about that island, Sandoval. Nothing leaves that the sidhe don’t allow to leave!”

“They don’t keep anyone there who doesn’t want to stay.”

“No sorcerer will ensnare me ever again, do you hear me? Never again! I’m the storm in the desert! The roaring of the wind! I’ll destroy this place and all of you with it, filthy humans and your dogs!”

There was that odd note of anguish in Nusair’s voice again and Diego wondered if the return to his native sands after so much pain had unhinged him, knocked the wall of his native paranoia down on top of him. Instead of retreating, Diego stepped forward again, hands held out wide.

“Nusair, you’re free. I’m not. I’m still trapped in the evil bindings they put on me. What can I do to trap you? To hold you? You’re free, Nusair. Do you understand? The darkness, the pain, it’s over. I never wanted to keep you. Go, if you need to.”

The winds didn’t stop, but the roar decreased a fraction. Nusair frowned down at him from twenty feet in the air. “Why wouldn’t you want a djinn? You could have whatever you wish! Bring down the governments who stand against you! Be the benevolent ruler of all mankind!”

Been down that horrible road, thanks. “At what cost? There’s always a cost. Regimes would fall and chaos would engulf a country.

That country would pull its neighbors into the darkness.

People would die. Economies crumble. What good is ruling anything if all it brings is ruin? Want to know what I’d like to rule?”

Nusair regarded him shrewdly. “What do you wish, little sorcerer?”

“No, no wishes. No traps. No games. Just the longing in my heart that I’m sharing with you.

There’s a desk back home, where I would like to write.

And a small plot of garden that Nathair might let me have as my own.

And a bed that I’d like to share with my husband.

This is the extent of the domain I need. All my heart desires.”

“But you…have power. Such incredible power for a human.”