36
Fásach paced in front of the clinic like he had been for days. He could smell Roz inside, mixed with astringent scents like ammonia and iodine. The slight burn of ultraviolet light made his nostrils itch like he was sucking in ozone.
He started to pant.
”She”s fine, man. You can see the updates for yourself,” Vin tried again, sitting on the ramp in front of the door with a squint against the sun. His mandibles vibrated with agitation, having had to push Fás back several times.
”But I can”t see her,” he snapped, tresses whipping. They were in a long spray down his back from the shower Vin had shoved him under two days ago, saying he smelled like a musty urundilis. Safia and Misila had pulled the knotted braids apart while he whined, not wanting to remove them, but subdued by their little talons.
Because what if they were the last—
No.He huffed air.
Then he charged Vin for the tenth time. It was a dance they”d both gotten used to, knowing that Fásach needed an outlet for the anxiety. Violence coursed through his hackles like lightning as he made a swipe at Vin”s chest, slicing open his shirt.
”That”s the third time you”ve done that! Man, Imani”s gonna kill me. These are her favorites.”
”So get better at countering!” Fásach snarled.
Vin pressed his hand against his chest, and it came back wet with blue blood. He cracked his neck and stepped off onto the footpath as the ramp bounced back into shape, relieved of his massive weight.
”Alright, you wanna really go, brother?” Vin asked with a grin, towering taller than even most venandi, let alone a yiwren. ”We can really go.”
A war chuckle burst from Fásach”s chest. Yes. He needed this. There was no way he could wait like a civilized, logical buck. Not any longer. He needed resistance, violence, something to distract his restless temper and uncontrollable fear.
Vin opened his mouth to expose all his fangs, mandibles splayed wide, and roared right back. His talons lengthened as he braced his knees.
Fásach crouched, strafed to the side, and leapt for his guildmate”s back. The venandi grabbed him by the horn and tossed him off, ignoring the way the yiwren”s claws raked through his shoulder plates. Fás slid to the ground and righted himself in a shiver of fur, immediately leaping back into close quarters.
”Hell-fuckin”-dude!” Vin griped as Fásach”s teeth came within inches of snapping his mandible in two. Fásach would never actually hurt him—at least, not that badly—but the feint was enough to make Vin lose a breath, and that was all he needed. Fásach sank his claws into the venandi”s scarred red plates, straight through his tattered shirt, and bent back with all his might. Vin flipped onto his back on the ground with a thunderous boom.
Clouds of dust rose up around Vin and he coughed a lungful of gravel. ”Get back here, you mongrel!”
”Fuck you!” Fás snapped in victory, leaping up the ramp.
Then the doors opened, and something slammed into his chest at full force.
Soft curls filled his vision, brown like soil, with copper highlights. Ineffectual nails bit into his pelt and held him close. Pillowy breasts pressed against his ribs.
Fásach caught Roz and wrapped his arms around her, breathing hard, eyes wide and staring straight ahead, afraid that if he looked down, she wouldn’t be real.
”Thuais,”he said with a sharp inhale. ”You”re—” Alive. Awake. Real...
”Home,” she said, beaming up at him.
His ears twitched and time stood still as she hummed with relief and rubbed her face into his velvet. Her harmony immediately soothed his temper, the fight leaving him in the wake of disbelief.
Then he crushed her to him as his hackles rose, bent his shoulders over her to cage her into his arms. She hiccuped from the pressure, but he couldn’t bring himself to let go.
“You ran,” he rasped.
She swallowed, holding him tighter as her voice trembled. “I told you I’d get you and Safia and Misila here at any cost. That meant me, too.”
“But—”
Roz lifted her face, biting her cheek to keep from crying. Fat tears still welled in her eyes as she tried her best to steady her breath. “You’re worth dying for,Fás.”
Pain clenchedFásach’s heart. He propped Roz’s chin on his thumb, brushing the tip of his claw against her lip.
“I’d rather us be worth living for.”
Roz buried her face in his chest and let loose, unable to stop her sobbing. She nodded against his fur as he pet her hair and he emitted a soothing huh huh huh.
She didn’t speak, but her cries rang with enough relief and wonder and love for them both.