Page 76 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

Fuck. I severed the connection. Those two words were like a punch to the chest. Lifting my head, I found Poppy watching me.

“So, you can read emotions, sense what feels like the notam , and summon the eather,” she said. “Have there been any other changes?”

“Since I know you prefer showing versus telling…”

Her brows arched as I focused on her. Clearing my mind, I let my senses stretch out to find her unique mark. It was earthy, warm, and all her.

What did I say was the prettiest part of you?

Poppy jerked back. “Did I just hear your voice in my head?”

I stood and took her hand. “If I was asking about your pussy, then yes.”

“Oh, my gods!” She smacked my chest.

Laughing, I tugged her closer. “Stand still.”

“How is that possible?” she demanded, staring up at me as I clasped the buttons of her robe.

“I think it’s because of your notam with the wolven.”

“Like it expanded to include you?” she asked. “And you can talk with Kieran that way, too? What about the other wolven?”

“So far, I’ve only been able to mind-link with Kieran.”

“Mind-link? I’ve never thought of calling it that.”

“That’s what it is, isn’t it?”

Poppy nodded and studied me. “Is there anything else you’d like to share?”

“Most definitely.” The corners of my lips tipped up as her eyes narrowed. “But that will have to wait.”

“But—”

I kissed the tip of her nose.

“Cas—”

When the chamber door swung open, I let go of her hand.

Silence filled the space, but I kept my eyes on Poppy. Without looking at him, I heard Kieran stop—actually, it sounded like he stumbled a bit.

I tensed.

Poppy stepped forward, her fingers plucking at the material of her robe. “Kieran?”

Kieran sprang into action, crossing the distance between them and sweeping Poppy into his arms as he pulled her against him.

“I’ve been so worried,” he said. “All of us were.”

His voice was so coarse with emotion that my head turned toward him before I could stop myself.

“I’m okay now,” she assured him, her feet dangling a good foot off the floor. “Are you okay?”

“Now I am,” he said, closing his eyes, pressing his cheek to the side of her head, and inhaling deeply. “I’m okay now.”

“You sure?”

A smile—the kind rarely seen on his face—spread across it, large and wide as he opened his eyes. “Positive.”

I looked away, my gaze settling on the shuttered window. Through the blinds, I saw darkness. Night had arrived.

“You’re shaking,” Poppy said, drawing my attention back to her and Kieran.

“I’m cold,” was his lame-ass response.

As if wolven were ever cold.

Poppy’s laugh was soft. “You feel like an inferno. Wait.” Her head lifted as far as Kieran would allow. “You feel really hot.”

“It’s your imagination.”

“No, it’s not,” she argued.

“Is, too.” Kieran turned the two of them slightly, his eyes opening and locking with mine before closing once more—but not quickly enough for me to miss the damp sheen gathering there.

Knowing he was experiencing the same things I had when I realized she was the Poppy we knew, I felt him struggling to rein in his emotions.

To return to his calm, even-keeled state.

I knew that would be hard for him. Kieran…

well, ever since Elashya, he rarely showed this kind of emotion—or even allowed himself to feel it.

But he was feeling a lot now. The vise-like pressure tightened.

The rawness radiating off Kieran caused a knot to twist deep in my chest. The feeling was intense but not unexpected.

However, it irritated me how it lessened the sharpness of my anger over the promise forged between them, making it feel small and almost irrelevant.

Almost.

Shifting my gaze away from them, I started looking for my boots. I’d give them time—give myself time. I took a deep breath. Eather hummed faintly through my veins as I kept my walls up, making sure there were no cracks so that by the time I faced them again, none of what I felt could slip free.

Because I had no intention of stealing Poppy’s smile.

Or Kieran’s.

POPPY

Surprised by the depths of his feelings, I was a little stunned as I held on to Kieran’s shoulders.

He always kept what he was feeling carefully tucked away, to the point where I could count on one hand how many times he’d shown any heightened emotions.

But right now, he trembled as he held me against him, making me feel as if the very realm itself was a little off-kilter.

Other than Casteel, the only other person who had ever held me this way, as if they worried that I would slip away from their embrace, was…

Leopold.

The memory of the night in Lockswood flashed through my mind, brief and vivid. He’d held me tightly with arms that trembled like Kieran’s did now, almost as if he knew it would be the last time.

Squeezing my eyes shut as the memory faded, I focused on Kieran again, my arms tightening around his shoulders. My throat thickened with tears as his warmth bled through his dark-gray tunic. I never realized how good Kieran’s hugs felt. Then again, they were rare.

Feeling Casteel walk past us, I opened my eyes. He stood to the side and stared at the floor. His jaw was clenched tight, and he’d balled the hand at his side. He must be picking up on what Kieran was feeling.

Gods. I wished neither of them had had to go through what they did while waiting for me to wake up or while I was under Kolis’s influence.

Kieran lowered me, drawing my attention.

Once my feet were on the floor, I gazed up at him.

He looked the same, yet he didn’t. His handsome features still carried the hint of wildness all wolven had, but like Casteel, there was a day or so’s worth of growth along his jaw and lower cheeks.

There was also a golden undertone beneath the warm, beige-brown of his skin that hadn’t been there before.

The glow of eather behind his winter-blue eyes was much brighter, and there was a sheen to them now that I knew had nothing to do with the essence.

Kieran didn’t let go, he just clasped my shoulders as he asked, “How are you feeling? And did you feed? Are you hungry?” Glancing at the table, he frowned. “And why is that draken standing out in the hall?”

A shaky laugh, something between a sob and a chuckle, broke past the lump in my throat. “Which question would you like me to answer first?”

The color in his cheeks deepened. “How you’re feeling.”

“I feel fine. Like myself ,” I said. “Casteel told me what happened when I woke earlier.”

Kieran’s chest rose with a deep breath as he sent Casteel a quick look.

“She doesn’t remember,” Casteel answered, not looking at us. He just eyed the floor.

I stiffened. There was something off about his tone. It was clipped and maybe even a little cold. I suddenly realized this was the first time he had spoken since Kieran entered.

“And you’ve fed?” Kieran asked me.

I nodded and cleared my throat. “Yeah.”

“Good. That’s good,” he said, his voice wavering and a bit hoarse. He still held me by the shoulders as if half-afraid to let go. His exhale was rough. “You’re sure you feel fine?”

“I do,” I assured him as Casteel sat on a chair, his boots in hand.

“I know I don’t remember what I did while under Kolis’s influence…

” A heavy weight settled in my chest the moment I said the Primal’s name.

I forced myself to take a slow, deep breath.

Talking about Kolis didn’t mean I needed to think about how he had seized control of me. “But I want to apologize—”

“No, absolutely not,” Kieran interrupted me, his hands slipping to my upper arms and squeezing. “You have nothing—absolutely nothing—to apologize for.”

“But—”

“There are no buts, Poppy. And there’s nothing more to say about any of that,” he said in a low and firm voice, brooking no argument. “Okay?”

“Okay.” I drew out the word, a little unsettled by his intensity. It left me wondering exactly what I had done or said.

Kieran dropped his hands. Clearing his throat, he looked over at Cas as I stepped back. “If she fed, that means you need to feed. Emil—”

“As I’ve said a hundred times,” Casteel interrupted, “there are others besides Emil.” He picked up his other boot. “And I will. Later.”

“Actually,” I said, my neck tingling again as I looked over my shoulder at Cas. “I think you can feed from Kieran now.” My gaze snapped back to him. “I mean, if that’s okay with you.”

Kieran’s gaze shot to Cas. He had frozen, the boot still in his hands. They both turned their attention to me.

“Shit. I didn’t even think of that until now,” Cas murmured. “That should be…intriguing.”

Kieran shot him a bland look. “And why would he be able to feed from me now?” he asked.

“Because he’s not really an Atlantian anymore,” I said. “And you’re not only a wolven. Which is why you do feel hotter.”

“I get that the Joining gave us some unique traits,” Kieran replied, crossing his arms. “But…”

“It did more than give you unique traits. It changed you,” I told him, surprised that Kieran, who seemed to know everything before anyone else did—to the point where Cas believed there was a changeling in Kieran’s bloodline somewhere—hadn’t realized that. “You do feel different, right?”

His brows knitted. “Yeah, but…”

“But what?” I asked.

“But…” Shifting his weight, he glanced at Cas. “It can’t have changed us so much that my blood would now be useful.”

“It did,” I said, fighting a grin as I told him what I knew about what they had become, leaving out the part that involved the Continents and the Fates. We didn’t have time for that right now. “We’re Deminyen Primals—”

“ Deminyen ?” Kieran frowned.

“Primal gods not tied to a Court,” I said. “And a Court is—”

“I know what that means.”

“I bet you really don’t know what it means,” I insisted, drawing a grin from Casteel.

Kieran’s brow furrowed as he briefly looked over at him. “I do. But how do you know all of this?”