Chapter 13
RACK
“There is obviously something wrong with my brother, Rack, and I don't think you're taking it seriously!”
Her voice cracked through the phone sharp enough that I had to pull it away from my ear.
On the other end, I could practically see her, chin tipped up, pacing, hands flying as she spoke.
I drew in a slow breath through my nose and counted it out before answering, forcing my tone into something even.
“I can assure you, Boss Glo—”
“Raaack.”
Recognizing my name as the warning it was, I briefly closed my eyes and exhaled again, my thumb pressing harder against my temple, wishing that just one of the bosses could be normal.
“Miss Aniyah,” I corrected.
A beat passed, then I caught the shift in her breathing. “That’s better.” A faint curl of satisfaction threaded through her voice.
“I can assure you,” I continued, steadying myself, “your brother is fine. Better than fine.” There was a slight bitterness in that last sentence I hoped she didn't catch.
There was a pause, short but loaded, like she was narrowing her eyes at the phone, weighing my words.
“I don’t care if he got his dick wet.”
My grip tightened despite myself. I tipped my head back against the seat for a second, staring up at the living room ceiling like it might grant me patience.
“What I’m worried about,” she pushed on, her words picking up speed, “is that I’ve sent him three dick pics, and he hasn’t responded once. Not. A. Single. One. Not even a disgusted emoji!”
That… made my brow crease.
I stared at the fan blades going round and round, jaw shifting as I considered it. She wasn’t wrong. Calix usually fired back immediately, if only to mock her.
“I think he’s just focused on his work,” I said, though even as the words left my mouth, they felt thinner than I liked.
“I don’t know…” Her tone dipped, drifting thoughtfully. “First, I sent him a snake dick. Full scales and everything. It was impressive, honestly. I was waiting for him to freak out, but I got nothing.”
My lips pressed together. Yeah. That should’ve gotten a reaction.
“And then,” she went on, undeterred, “there was one with a mouth at the tip. It had teeth and everything. Ryan’s been experimenting on his dick with fairy illusions, and—”
I dragged a hand down my face, slow and deliberate.
“I couldn’t understand who would want that,” she added, her tone becoming contemplative in a way that suggested she was still analyzing it. “But you know me, I’ve always been open-minded about sexual desires. Seeing if any of them awaken my own.” She busted out laughing.
Of course she was.
“And the last one—” she continued like this was all perfectly normal conversation “—was just Lucus’s gorgeous, fat dick with a little caption, you know, something playful. I think it says, ‘the vampire daddy dick I’m about to gobble gobble,’ and still, nothing! Not a single reply.”
“You did what, darling?”
A new voice slipped into the background, his accented words laced with disbelief. I could hear movement, sheets shifting, the muffled rustle of bodies adjusting. It must’ve been said vampire mate, which meant…
“Did you just….”
Aniyah didn’t miss a beat.
“Have sex? Of course!” she snapped, outrage flaring back to life. “How else would I get a picture of my mate’s dick?”
Her voice sounded muffled as she cooed, “You know your dick is beautiful, and all mine, so what if I want to brag about it? You should be flattered, mate.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, eyes squeezing shut as the conversation spiraled further into territory I had no interest navigating. That was enough.
“I understand, Miss Aniyah,” I cut in, my voice just firm enough to redirect her. “I’ll keep an eye on him and let you know if anything changes. For now, he’s just busy, I assure you.”
That, or he was obsessing over a human woman who smelled like roses and was invading my mind as well.
I was already pulling the phone away when the doorbell rang.
Once. Twice. Then rapid-fire, the chime cutting through the house in frantic succession.
My head turned sharply toward the front door, brows pulling together.
“I have to go,” I said quickly.
“You know I like being right,” she replied, her tone shifting back into something pointed. “ Just tell me if something’s off.”
Click. The line went dead.
I slipped the phone into my pocket as the bell was replaced by hard, desperate blows that echoed through the foyer.
Voices bled through the door, overlapping and urgent. My steps quickened automatically, instincts already sharpening.
Whoever it was, the wards weren’t rejecting them, which meant the barrier magic recognized at least one of them as someone trusted.
I reached the door just as a woman’s frantic voice broke through the chaos.
“Please! Please help us. She doesn’t have long! She’s lost too much blood.”
My hand tightened on the handle before I yanked the door open.
Cold air rushed in, and before me stood a blonde wide-eyed human woman, covered in blood.
Lark, I thought it was. Olivia’s friend.
Her gaze snapped to me the second the door opened, relief and panic colliding all at once. She surged forward, hands grabbing mine before I could even process it, her grip slick and shaking.
“Please,” she choked out, breath hitching. “Save her. She needs help now.”
The stench of blood hit me first. There was way too much of it, and when I looked at her, I realized she was covered in it.
My gaze shifted over to Nathan, a turned vampire, who stood just behind Lark, his shoulders squaring the second our eyes locked. His throat worked around a hard swallow, arms tightening reflexively around the body he held like he didn’t quite trust himself to let go.
And then I looked down at his arms and everything else dropped away.
Olivia hung limp in his grasp, head tipped back, hair clinging damply to her face. Her arm dangled uselessly at her side, fingers barely curled, while dark blood soaked through her clothes, steadily dripping from her abdomen to the ground beneath them.
No.
The word didn’t leave my mouth, but it hit hard enough to hollow out my chest. My pulse slammed into my ears, drowning out everything else as I stared, trying to reconcile the girl from this morning with what was in front of me now.
My hand hit the panel beside the door without looking, dissolving the wards, and I dragged them inside. I didn’t wait, didn’t think. I tore her from Nathan’s arms, cradling her weight against me as I crossed the room in long strides and lowered her onto the couch.
The cushions dipped under her, a dark stain already spreading beneath her body.
A breath left me, sharp and uneven, as I took in the damage. Her saturated clothes clinging to her body. The metallic scent thick in the air. So much blood. Too much for a human.
My fingers moved automatically, peeling back the fabric. It stuck for a second before giving, revealing the wound beneath, jagged, deep, unmistakable.
A bullet. A large one at that.
Heat flared hot and violent under my skin, something dark snapping awake at the sight, but I shoved it down just as fast. That wouldn’t help her. Not now.
Focus.
Leaning in, I forced my breathing to steady as I examined the wound more closely, mapping it out in my head. Air to seal the internal damage. Fire to cauterize. It needed to be precise. Controlled.
I could do that. I had to.
Two fingers pressed just above the wound as I pushed my magic forward, but… nothing.
My brow furrowed.
I tried again, harder this time, reaching deeper to force it out, and still nothing.
My chest tightened.
Flattening my palm against her skin, I tried harder, seeing if the contact alone might bridge whatever was blocking me. Air. Fire. I reached for both, forcing them out again, and still… Nothing.
The blood kept coming in rivets, falling down the side of her body and onto the couch, making the pool wider.
Sharp pressure built behind my eyes, the first sting of tears blurring my vision as the realization slammed into place.
She was my flame, the one person my magic would never touch. Would never harm, but could never save.
“No…” The word scraped out this time, low and broken.
My fingers curled into the cushions beside her, knuckles whitening as something twisted violently in my chest. I’d just found her. Just… felt her.
I couldn’t lose her. Not like this. Not ever.
My gaze snapped up, mind racing, clawing for anything, any solution, and landed on the only answer that made sense.
Calix.
The thought hit hard and immediate. The way he’d looked at her. The way something had shifted in him. He could do it. He could turn her.
My jaw clenched as the implications crashed in behind it. The logical side of myself yelled at the frantic, desperate side.
If he turns her, he’ll be her maker. A maker's bond is deep and irreplaceable.
No matter how Calix was raised, he’s not into sharing someone.
Her transition will be hard because she’s already lost a lot of blood, and Calix will need more blood in order to feed it to her.
All the fragmented thoughts circled, but in the end it didn’t matter. None of it mattered if she didn’t survive the next few minutes.
I scooped her back into my arms, holding her tighter this time, and her head lolled against my shoulder.
Across the room, Lark hovered, hands twisting together so tightly her knuckles had gone pale, her gaze locked on Olivia like she might stop breathing if she looked away.
Nathan stood behind her, one hand braced at her shoulder, but his eyes were on me, sharp, wary, a flicker of something uneasy passing through them.
“Go,” I demanded, already moving. “I’ll take care of this.”
I didn’t wait for a response. I pushed past them, heading for the stairs two at a time.
“Are you going to save her?” Lark’s voice cracked behind me, chasing me up the first few steps. “Is she going to be okay?!”
I didn’t slow. Didn’t turn.
My grip tightened around Olivia as I climbed, her weight a constant, terrifying reminder in my arms.