Page 42 of Brave Spirit (Bound Spirit #6)

Donovan

M ischief sneaks into Nolan’s suite before I can close the door behind me. Still in his house cat form, he tilts his head to one side, angling his ears in different directions to, I assume, track Callie’s location.

Eyeballing the fae, I call out, “Nolan, I’m fucking tired and sore as hell. Where are you, and where’s Callie?”

“We’re up here in the bathtub,” he shouts back, his voice devoid of any of its normal teasing.

The fae bounds toward the stairs that lead to the loft portion of Nolan’s suite, his fluffy body quick and agile as he jumps from one step to the next.

“Get back here, you little perv,” I grumble, using what little energy I have left to chase after him. “I get that you want to protect her, but following her into the bathroom is not the goddamn way.”

I catch him after he slides into the bathroom door, his paws unable to gain traction on the hardwood floor to stop his forward momentum. He makes a low hiss when I pick him up and throws a paw toward my face.

“No, you fucking don’t,” I warn, holding him out in front of me under his upper legs as he writhes in an effort to get me to drop him.

“I didn’t fight an army of demons just to have my eye taken out by your furry ass.

She’s in the bathtub, which means she’s likely naked.

I don’t care how you do it back where you’re from, but she will roast you if you go in there.

She’s alive and safe. I’ll go check on her, while you go play guard cat downstairs. ”

His yellow eyes narrow, clearly weighing the truth of my words and how likely it is she would be genuinely angry with him, before he makes a huff of surrender and stops fighting me.

Now that he isn’t going to take a chunk out of me, I put him down at the top of the stairs. “Look, if she’s up for it after the bath, you can come up and check on her. Also, thanks for not turning into a flaming lion and literally biting my head off to get around me.”

When he looks at me and meows, there’s no denying the intelligence hiding in that unassuming house cat body.

I don’t know if it’s a you’re not worth the hassle meow or a don’t worry, we’re cool meow, but he does make his way back downstairs.

When he reaches the bottom, he hops up on Nolan’s black leather couch and curls into a ball.

To the casual observer, it looks like he’s napping, but the way his ears swivel shows that he’s on full alert.

With the overzealous fae handled, I drag my feet to the bathroom door, my boots leaving flakes of dried blood with every step. Exhausted, I rest my head against the door at the same time I knock, my bloody knuckles leaving red marks on the white surface.

“It isn’t locked,” Nolan states from the other side, along with the sounds of sloshing bath water.

Taking that as an invitation, I walk inside and find Nolan holding Callie, rocking her gently side to side within the massive jacuzzi tub. Her eyes have that frightening empty stare that immediately has my heart racing, and with a few quick strides, I’m on my knees beside the tub.

More blood stains her cheek as I cup the side of her face. “Come on, angel. Say something. Anything. Just let me know you’re in there.”

“He’s gone, but not gone,” she whispers, her lips pulling down into a frown as tears build in her gray eyes. “Just like before. But I couldn’t let him come back. Not after what he did.”

I look over at Nolan, afraid that Callie may have completely snapped this time, and I have no idea how to bring her back. “What the fuck does that mean? What the fuck happened?”

Nolan gently leans Callie’s head against his shoulder. “I don’t know exactly what she means, but I think…” He hesitates, as if he’s afraid to say the words. “I don’t know how the fuck he was here, but… her dad had Felix.”

Callie screams like someone just stabbed her in the chest and pitches forward, her hands fisted tightly around two necklaces. She rocks and sobs uncontrollably. “It hurts. It hurts so much. It won’t stop hurting. He’s gone, and he’s never coming back.”

Climbing into the tub, boots and all, I wrap my arms around her so tightly that I imagine it borders on painful. “Angel, who? I know it hurts, but you have to talk to us. We can’t help you if we don’t know what’s going on in your head.”

Nolan shudders, his face pulling tight as he seems to fight back his own emotions. “She killed the bastard. It was… intense. I thought the bath might help. It worked when Kaleb did it after she took out the alpha.”

She hiccups and chokes as the agony trapped inside her racks her body with violent sobs. Her small fists are trapped between us, and I grit my teeth against the throb of her knuckles digging into what is definitely bruised muscle.

“There’s more to this,” I insist, meeting Nolan’s gaze over her shoulder. “Tell me everything that happened.” Before Nolan can start, there are frantic scratches at the door, and I shout, “Motherfucker, stay downstairs. She’s crying, not dying. We’re handling it.”

Nolan turns to look at the door. “Who the hell is outside?”

“Mischief,” I grumble, rocking Callie side to side as my knees start to ache from kneeling on the bottom of the tub. “Mildred insisted I bring him, but he’s supposed to wait downstairs until Callie is ready to see him.”

“I thought he could turn into a human form. Why is he scratching at the door?” Nolan asks, moving closer so Callie is sandwiched between us.

“Fuck if I know,” I answer, unsure how to feel when Callie’s sobs start waning. I hope it’s because she’s getting tired and not because she’s going catatonic on us. “Maybe he assumes we’ll let him in, like we forgot he’s a fucking person and not an animal.”

Nolan scoffs. “With the amount of shifters running around here, I’m starting to assume every animal is actually a person. Seems safer that way.”

I grunt my agreement, and after the scratching at the door stops, I get back to my earlier question. “What the fuck happened tonight? And give me the CliffsNotes version.”

He releases a shaky breath, like the events of the night are weights pressing against his lungs.

“It was at some abandoned cabin in the woods. When we got there, the bastard had Felix at knife point and slit his throat right in front of her. She warrior witched to the extreme after that. Connor ended up turning Felix to save him.”

Callie’s head shoots up, smacking Nolan in the chin. “Felix is alive?”

His eyes widen, and he immediately wraps an arm across her chest, his hand resting over her heart. “Yes, my love. He’s alive. He’s a wolf, but he’s alive. He’s recovering with Connor right now.”

With an angry growl, I punch his shoulder. “You asshole. I can’t believe you let her think he was dead.”

“She fucking roasted her dad like a pig on a spit,” he explains, swallowing heavily. “I thought she was talking about him.”

Callie tries to extract herself from between us, wiggling her very naked body against me.

Even with the amount of pain I’m in, it’s difficult not to react, and I have to remind myself that I’m currently covered in the ash and guts of so many dead demons that I lost count.

This is not the time for my dick to run the show.

“I need to go to him,” she insists, trying to get to her feet. “There’s something wrong. Connor is in pain. He shouldn’t be in pain if Felix is okay.”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down,” I reply, wincing as I attempt to stand up, the bloody water sloshing over the side of the tub. “Kaleb is already heading there. He’ll let us know if we’re needed.”

Nolan runs his hand down her back. “Felix’s…

transition wasn’t easy, and he wasn’t awake to make the decision for himself.

What you’re feeling might be Connor beating himself up over what Felix is going through right now.

Kaleb will know what to say.” He looks over at me and then down at the red and black tinged water.

“It looks like your skills might also be needed here.”

Alarm flashes over Callie’s features, followed by her expression collapsing into immense guilt.

“Donovan, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left you all to fight on your own.

Neva caught me, and when I saw my father’s note saying he had Felix, I just panicked.

It all came back. What he did…” She presses her lips into a tight line and squeezes a loose necklace in her fist. The other one she was holding turns out to be the familiar Volkov arcane focus that hangs around her neck, the cracked blue stone nestled between her breasts.

“I couldn’t let him hurt Felix the same way he hurt me.

” Her shoulders droop. “All my power, and he still almost died.”

“Angel, it’s okay.” I slowly ease myself back into a sitting position, trying very hard not to look at her beautiful body.

Even I know it’s not a good time, plus I’m so sore I can barely move.

“Kaleb and I are okay. We were able to fight them off long enough for the cavalry to arrive. Mildred made a bonfire of demons, and we sent them all back to hell.”

I leave out the part where not everyone made it out alive.

Just because she’s an uber powerful witch doesn’t mean she’s responsible for saving every life, and I refuse to add to her guilt tonight.

Tonight, she faced off with the bastard who did everything in his power to destroy her so he could use her for his selfish gains, and she thought she watched Felix die right before her eyes. That’s enough for one fucking night.

Nolan lifts one of my legs so he can untie my boot. I hiss through clenched teeth as one of the scratches on my thigh reopens and blood seeps through my torn pants.

“Okay, my ass,” Callie grumbles, giving me a hard look. “Donovan, how many injuries do you have?”

“Nothing I’ll die from,” I answer, groaning as my foot starts to swell when Nolan frees it from my boot.

“Good, but not what I asked.” Her eyes take in my disheveled appearance with a critical eye. “How attached are you to what you’re wearing? I’m going to be honest, I don’t think your suit is salvageable.”

“I like my boots.” Grimacing, I slowly try to flex my foot in an attempt to see if it’s bruised or broken. “Also, my daggers with their sheaths. Not really attached to the rest. Why?”

“Stop that,” she reprimands, shoving my leg back down in the water. “I’m going to fix it. Just sit there.”

She places the necklace she was holding on one of the wide corners of the tub. The blue stone that hangs from a simple chain looks very similar to the one around Callie’s neck, only not cracked.

“What’s that?” I ask, while Nolan and Callie work together to take off my remaining boot.

“My mother,” Callie replies, delicately unbuckling the sheath that sits right above my injured foot. “Well, my mother is trapped inside.”

Lying back, I lean my head against the wall on one side of the tub. “This is such a fucking weird night.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Nolan comments, dropping my boots outside the tub with a thud.

“I’m more partial to the night of living hell.

Seems more appropriate with all the demons running around and evil incarnate playing hide the knife.

” His head immediately whips upward, and he flashes an apologetic expression at Callie.

“Sorry, love. I shouldn’t have said that. I…”

“It’s okay,” she replies softly, removing the sheath from my other leg. “Evil incarnate is a good assessment of the bastard.” She releases a slow, controlled breath. “Felix is alive. We’re all alive, and he isn’t. That’s all that matters.”

Once my daggers and their sheaths join my boots outside the tub, Callie closes her eyes while running her fingers along the collar of what’s left of my dress shirt. “Stay still. I’ve only done this once, and it was by accident.”

Nolan’s eyes light up, apparently familiar with whatever the hell she’s about to do. “Those jeans still have a smell that I can’t quite place. It’s not bad, just different.”

“Maybe that pocket dimension has a special smell,” she mutters, her brows furrowing. “Now shush. I want to make sure it’s just the clothes.”

“Whoa, I’m not that hurt. I can take—” Before I can finish my sentence, everything I’m wearing is gone to who the fuck knows where. It makes me wish I remembered to take my belt off too.

Callie cracks one eye open to look at me, and then she sighs with relief. “Oh good, you’re still here.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” I comment with a grimace as Callie starts gently prodding my ribs.

She tilts her head, and her eyes seem to stare into nowhere as her hands glide over my chest. “Good news. Some severe bruising and pretty deep cuts, but nothing is broken.”

Preparing myself for her to go limp like she did the last time she healed me, I’m surprised when her hands start to glow with a warm yellow light.

My body grows heavy as all my aches and pain drain out of me.

I watch my wounds heal with an odd fascination, feeling a little like I’m not quite tethered to reality.

When she’s done, she gives me a sweet smile and brushes my hair away from my face. “You’re going to feel a little loopy. I’m still working on how to adjust the spell so the healing doesn’t hurt, but you also aren’t magically drugged out.”

“You’re so fucking pretty,” I mumble, the words falling out of my mouth without thought. “It sucks that you’re all naked, and I’m too tired to do anything about it. Also, tonight is probably a bad night because of the whole you killed your dad thing.”

Nolan stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Yeah, that is a good reason to keep it in your pants… you know, if you were wearing any.”

Callie sighs and kisses my forehead, which feels really nice. “The spell also seems to cause the patient to say whatever they are thinking without a filter. And no, you can’t ask him any questions. It’s unfair when he can’t control how he answers.”

“Ruin all my fun.” Nolan sighs then grabs a loofah and covers it with bodywash. “Let’s get him cleaned up. We can rinse off in the shower, and then I’m ready for this night to be over.”

Gently, Callie leads me deeper into the water and sits behind me. After wetting my hair, she pumps some of Nolan’s expensive shampoo into her hand. My eyes drift closed as her fingers massage my scalp, and for once in my damn life, I don’t resist being cared for.