Page 73 of Taming His Vampire Mate

My wolf whined inside me. I screwed my eyes shut and turned away. But the sheer power of it drove me to my knees, doubling me over.

Tears burned. Nausea swept through me, threatening to turn my stomach inside out.

How the hell was everyone else just standing there? Ethan had said he’d stop it if things got out of hand. Where the hell was he?

After what felt like an eternity of clutching the floor with half-shifted hands, the power Poppy had called flowed into the spell and out of the room. In its wake, a heavy finality settled.

I breathed out a shuddering sigh of relief and opened my eyes.

The light was gone.

I stayed kneeling, tension draining. I could breathe again.

It took me a moment to realize everyone in the room was staring at me.

Thierry reached out and hauled me to my feet. Concern vibrated off him. “Are you harmed?”

I stared at him. “You’re joking.”

“You can see from the total lack of amusement on my face that I am, in fact, not joking,” he said. His gaze raked over me, searching for injuries and finding none—though I could sense he was a heartbeat away from offering me his blood.

Poppy stood behind him, staring like I was the lunatic here. They all did. Ethan and Nathaniel approached, wary. Simone frowned thoughtfully.

“How are you all so calm?” I demanded.

“Did something happen?” Thierry asked aloud, but in my head, he added,Did the spell target you?

I shook my head. The power had ignored me. It had focused entirely on Quinten. But just because I hadn’t had a nuclearbomb droppeddirectlyon me didn’t mean I hadn’t still been caught in the blast radius.

Ethan spoke. “You saw it, didn’t you?” He frowned. “You saw the spell.”

He said it like he hadn’t seen or felt anything strange. How was that possible?

“You did, didn’t you?” Thierry pressed, eyes searching mine.

I nodded.

His lips pursed, thoughtful.

Ethan glanced at Poppy. “What did you see?”

“We will discuss it later,” Thierry said. At the same time, through the bond, I felt him decide it was best to sit me down, get a stiff drink into me, and make sure I wasn’t about to fall to pieces. Which meant I probably looked about as shell-shocked as I felt.

Before I could react, he threw my arm over his shoulder and wrapped an arm around my waist. Then he blurred us up the stairs.

We paused only long enough for him to wrench open the door to the main floor.

Then the hallway blurred again. Strangely, it wasn’t as bad as it should’ve been. I didn’t like giving up control, but trusting Thierry not to harm me was easy. And he was right—I needed to get away from that room.

He hesitated, considering. Through the bond, I sensed his thoughts. It was still early, and the bar wasn’t busy, but there were a few people inside. If it were him, he’d want privacy. He decided against the bar.

“Sweeping me off my feet?” I said as he paused at a steel door, pressing his hand to a sensor. “Pretty sure that’s my job. Also, I can walk. I think.”

Thierry snorted. Then he whooshed us up another flight.

He set me down on the third floor and caught me by the shoulders when I stumbled. “Aren’t werewolves supposed to have super speed and reflexes?” His tone was both annoyed and amused.

“We do,” I shot back. “I’m just not used to being manhandled by grabby ancient vampires.”