Page 117 of Gray

She sighed. “Don’t be such a prude, and get your Marine ass over here.” When I didn’t move, she grabbed my arm and wrapped her shirt around the wound, pulling it tight. “That should work until I can take a proper look at it. Stop the bleeding at least. Oh my god, Mason. You can look at me. I’m wearing a tank top. My girl boobs won’t hurt you, I promise.”

Five men approached, the silver-haired one in the center towering over the rest of them. The dragons. It was still bizarre seeing them in their hybrid forms. The ice dragons had a blend of soft-white and light blue scales and icy-blue horns jutting from their hair, while Kyo had blue-green scales and darker blue horns.

“That side of town is clear,” Kyo said, wiping the blade of his katana before sheathing it on his back. He jolted a bit. “My ass is vibrating.” He fished his phone from his back pocket and put it to his ear. “Hey, Si, how’s it going?” A pause, and then his face lit up. “Really? They’re home?”

My heart leapt at the words.Gray.

“We’ll be right there.” Kyo disconnected the call and pocketed his phone, a tremble in his hand. “They just got home.”

Warrin’s stoic expression slipped, and he whispered, “Kotya.”He turned and rushed toward the parking lot, where we’d stashed our vehicles. Lev and the twins followed him.

Kyo ran after them.

“Soul mates,” Clara said, keeping pace beside me as I walked to my truck. “I’m sure it’s been hell for them being apart.”

I wasn’t fully bonded to Gray, but it had been hell for me too. I couldn’t imagine what Warrin and Kyo felt. Probably like a part of them had been yanked away and missing for days.

Kyo hopped on his bike—some kind of badass crotch rocket—and zoomed out of the lot. Warrin and the other dragons had taken one of Alastair’s SUVs and climbed inside before leaving too. Clara, Konnar, and I slid into my truck, with Clara in the middle.

I sped out of town, and when we entered Echo Bay a handful of minutes later, I stepped on the gas pedal harder. Kyo was nowhere to be seen, but the ice dragons weren’t too far ahead of me. The deserted streets were eerie.

Saturday nights used to be so lively as people dined in restaurants, barhopped, and strolled along the boardwalk. Now? Store windows were smashed in, some were boarded up, and trash littered the sidewalks.

“It really is like the apocalypse,” Clara said. “My protection spell seems to be working though. So that’s good at least.”

“Do you need me to drop you off somewhere?” I asked Konnar.

“Here is fine,” he said.

“Here?” We were near the warehouse district. “Where do you live?”

“Somewhere.” The vampire opened the door as I stopped by the curb. “Tell Alastair I said hello.” And then he disappeared.

Vampires couldn’t instantaneously transport themselves places, but they moved so fast it looked like they vanished into thin air.

“Put that pedal to the metal.” Clara scooted over into the passenger seat. “I want to see my sleepy boy.”

That makes two of us.

When we arrived at the mansion, I parked beside Kyo’s bike and jumped out of the truck. With my heart knocking against my ribs, I ran up the porch and flung open the door. The foyer was empty, but voices came from down the hall. Clara’s steps and mine echoed on the hard floor as we jogged that way.

The voices silenced as we entered the living room.

Warrin stood with Daman pulled flush against his chest, his face in Daman’s dark hair. Simon sat in Galen’s lap on the couch, their heads pressed together. Kyo was caged in Castor’s arms, the red-haired Nephilim not letting his mate go for anything.

But there was only one Nephilim I wanted—needed—to see. And I didn’t see him.

“Where’s Gray?” My heart pounded so hard I felt it in my ears.

“Mason?” the sweetest voice then said before a familiar head of blond hair poked up from the couch. Galen’s large body had blocked him from my sight.

As I rushed over and tugged him against me, breathing in his vanilla scent, all the tension left me. It was just like Kyo said about Castor.

Having Gray in my arms, my soul could breathe again.

“I failed,” Gray mumbled against my neck. “I couldn’t kill him.”

“That doesn’t matter right now.” I petted the back of his hair, my eyes stinging. “I’m just glad you’re here. And that you’re okay.”