Chapter 38
Thirty-Eight
Felix
The world came into focus as Felix opened his eyes to a familiar ceiling. He ended up here a lot. He had never bothered being careful when he hunted, mostly, but he’d had fuck all to be careful for. Until now.
The stale, sterile smell burned his nostrils. He blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the dark, the only light coming in through the starlit window.
“Avery?” he croaked out. His throat was unbearably dry as he tried to sit up, a flash of agony going through his chest. He gritted his teeth and sat himself up. The pain threatened to pull him under, making him see stars. Inside.
That wasn’t good. That was, in fact, spectacularly bad.
Instead, he focused on the bond, pulling him like a rope toward her.
He was in the den. And Avery was here too.
Oh fuck.
Using all his strength, he wrenched himself off the bed with considerable effort.
But instead of going upright, he flopped onto the floor.
Fucking gravity. The cold tiles hit his back, knocking all the breath from his lungs.
For a moment, he just lay there. Defeated.
In agony. A long, pained groan escaped him like a deflating balloon. What had his life come to?
Avery.
The thought of her alone was enough to have his body preparing to move.
She was a witch in enemy territory, and he hadn’t been there to explain, to protect her, to do a single fucking useful thing.
The thought of Avery, his mate, in danger made him feral.
Adrenaline coursed through him. Using the bed as leverage, he yowled as he brought himself to his feet.
If his legs gave out again, he’d crawl the rest of the way on his belly if he had to.
The room tilted as he forced himself forward, navigating by pure instinct as he followed the thread that connected him to her.
He shoved his way into the dining room, slamming into the door with his good shoulder. The impact sent a fresh wave of agony through his chest, but he’d endured far worse, and none of it mattered if Avery was in danger.
Ciro stood near the window, the dragon shifter’s head whipping around at the noise. But Felix didn’t care about him right now. Avery sat only mere feet from his friend, and when her gaze locked on his, relief filled her face. Thank fuck. She was alive, she was here.
She ran to him and instantly put her arms around him, squeezing him as hard as the little witch could manage.
His body screamed at him, but he didn’t care that it fucking hurt; all he cared about was that she was in his arms. He kissed her forehead and breathed in her scent of cinnamon and honey and home.
Ciro’s face was stony as he looked him up and down.
Still, Felix could read him like a book.
The dragon was undoubtedly wondering what the fuck he was witnessing.
Felix didn’t do physical affection, and he certainly didn’t do it with witches.
Warm light flooded the spinning dining room. How long had he been out?
“You always know how to make a dramatic entrance, brother,” Ciro said, turning to face them. “Shouldn’t you be horizontal right now?”
Felix flipped him off with his good hand while still hugging Avery, which made Ciro chuckle. But almost on cue, his legs stumbled forward into her, and only her surprising strength kept him from face-planting into the floor. When had she gotten strong? Felix likey.
He should most definitely be horizontal with the way his head spun.
Fucking magic bullets, they were designed to lodge themselves into their target.
His injury would heal. The skin had already knitted back.
But the poison that flowed through him would sap him of magic for at least a month.
Luckily, the bullet had missed anything particularly vital, but it had still done plenty of damage.
They were a bitch of a thing to heal, and they still hadn’t found the antidote.
Avery guided him over to a dining chair and gently lowered him into it before taking a seat on the chair beside him.
He hated feeling so powerless, but with Avery next to him, it wasn’t all bad.
Her hand found his under the table, fingers threading through his, and some of the pain eased in his chest, replaced by a delightful warmth.
An unfamiliar dragon shifter walked into the room. On instinct, Felix rose quickly, his hackles raising as the world tilted violently. He was in no state to fight, but his body primed anyway. His tail whipped across the table, sending a glass clattering to the floor.
“God fucking dammit, Felix, sit down,” Ciro said. “This is Kai, he’s the one who saved you.”
He blinked twice at the dragon, trying to focus despite the world threatening to fall out from under him.
The dragon’s skin was bronze with long dark hair plaited down his back.
He shared the same golden eyes as all dragons did.
Black horns jutted from his head, pierced in the same way that Ciro had.
Felix didn’t sit. “He’s bonded to an enforcer. ”
“I know, dipshit, now sit the fuck down,” Ciro said, running a hand through his hair. “I never thought I’d see the day where the pussy got pussy whipped.”
Felix lunged towards Ciro, but Avery’s hand planted itself firmly on his chest and sent him collapsing back down in his chair. Fuck. This pussy was pussy whipped. And he couldn’t even pretend to mind.
“Felix is right. He’s my sister’s dragon,” Avery explained.
His golden eyes met hers, blazing with fire. “I am no one’s but my own,” he said, snarling.
Avery kept her hand on him; without that anchor, he would’ve gone for the dragon’s throat purely for daring to speak to his witch in that tone
“Sorry. I just meant you’re bonded to her,” Avery said quickly.
Kai’s jaw ground. The muscle jumped in his cheek, tension radiating off him. “I was bonded to her years ago against my will, after I was stolen from my home and shoved into a statue,” he said through gritted teeth.
Felix had only experienced the dungeon for a day. Warded and kept apart from Avery for too long. What would it be like to spend years? How long had some of them been down there? The thought sent a fresh wave of anger bubbling within him.
Avery’s lip wobbled. “Did she know?” The question was quiet.
He could tell that she didn’t want to believe that her sister was in on it.
Although from Wren’s reaction back on the island, maybe she didn’t.
Or maybe she was far smarter than they were giving her credit for.
Maybe she was just like her mother. Felix was glad his little witch wasn’t born from that wretched hag.
“Of course. How else would she have done the ritual?” Kai spat.
Avery sat back, letting out a sigh. “My mot—” she stuttered. “Eleri…is manipulative.”
Understatement of the fucking century.
Leaning forward despite the protest from his ribs, Felix added, “There are hundreds of statues below the council tower.”
Ciro closed his eyes, letting out a sharp breath through his nostrils, puffs of smoke wisping out. Ciro didn’t show it. But he was pissed. Felix knew the shifter like the back of his hand. They had done pretty much everything together. “Fuck. So it is true.”
The memory of it still made his stomach turn, bile coming up his throat that he had to swallow down. At least Kai might be able to provide them with some valuable information.
“Are you still connected to her?” Avery questioned the grumpy dragon in the corner.
“Unfortunately. I can feel her on the other side even now, like a fucking splinter I can’t dig out.”
“She will come for you,” Avery said.
Pushing off from the window, Ciro’s voice turned hard. “And we will be ready.”
Avery’s eyes went wide with alarm, darting between Ciro and Kai. “They will obliterate this place. You need to run, or hide, or do something other than face them head-on.”
The concern in her voice made Felix’s chest tighten. She was trying to protect them, his brothers, his sisters. His den. How had he gotten so lucky?
Ciro grunted, displeased that Avery would even suggest such a thing. “We are far more powerful than you think, witch.” The fury in his gaze was unmistakable. “The witches are the ones who will have to run from us.”
Avery stood quickly, the urgency in her features palpable.
“You don’t understand, if they have been bonded to shifters, they are more powerful than anything you’ve ever seen before.
” Her voice carried a hint of desperation as she tried to make them understand the danger of the situation.
“My sister is the most powerful witch of my generation, and they’re not mates, or even properly bonded in the way the goddess intended. ”
Felix’s hands clenched by his side. They really had no idea. “Avery is right; Wren took down my monster like it was nothing.”
It was subtle, but he saw the way Ciro blinked. Stupidly, he was underestimating them.
“She is powerless without me, and I will not give her my magic,” the dragon countered.
Felix wanted to shake that goddamn confidence out of him. Kai should know better than anyone what she could do.
“You don’t know that she won’t be able to force it out of you.
” Avery’s gaze dropped to her hands, twisting together in her lap.
“None of this is right. The bond between a familiar and a witch is sacred.” She looked back up at them.
“I will help in any way I can. But please promise me you will not hurt my sister.”
Felix knew that they would never make a promise like that. Shifters kept their oaths, as if they were bound to them by death. After a few moments, Avery sat back down, understanding their silence.
“What about your not-mother?” Felix said, trying to lighten the mood. Perhaps a bit too soon.
“You can hurt her.”
He snorted. There was his little witch.
“I’ll make no promises, witch, my priority is to free the shifters,” Ciro finally said. “If any witches get in my way, they will be obliterated.”
A flicker of surprise went through Felix; it was more than he would ever usually grant a witch. Somehow, he knew they would get along. Maybe. At some point.
“It’s Avery,” she hissed.
Felix clicked his fingers sassily at Ciro, who only rolled his eyes in response.
A ghost of a smile flickered across Avery’s face before she squared her shoulders and addressed Ciro again. “I am a healer,” she said confidently, before she added. “In training. If that helps at all.”
Fuck yeah, she was. She was going to be a great healer, considering how quickly she picked up healing herself and using his shadows. The way she had handled them and fucked herself, and others with them. A natural.
Avery gave him a look, as if she could feel the way his dick was suddenly straining against his pants.
“Can you find a way to nullify the fucking magic bullets they use?” Ciro said.
“I’ve learned about them in class, so I might be able to,” Avery said hopefully. He had full faith in her that she could. The bullets were among the witches’ worst weapons against shifters. If they found a way to nullify the effects of it? They’d be unstoppable.
Ciro took a deep breath in. “Fine, you can stay, but you will be escorted by one of us at all times.”
“Ciro,” Felix warned.
“She is still a witch, mate or not,” he said.
“And the fact I can control my monster form, her being able to use powers no witch should have?” Felix said.
He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that the sentiment wouldn’t change overnight.
He was going to convince them. It was worth it.
This was what the goddess wanted. This was how shifters and witches should be. Humans still sucked, though.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said gruffly, still unconvinced.
Felix understood the skepticism. He would’ve been the same in Ciro’s position, would’ve demanded proof before believing in fairy tales about fated mates and goddess-blessed bonds.
It still sounded strange when he thought about it.
“The world is going to change, brother, let’s make sure we are on the right side of it. ”
Ciro’s arms folded across his chest, a tell Felix had learned to read decades ago, the physical manifestation of knowing his friend was right but being too stubborn to say it aloud. “I will start to contact other dens, see if they know anything.”
Felix started to stand, legs shaking with the effort. “I’ll help.”
Ciro raised an eyebrow at his pathetic display. “Are you incapable of sitting down?”
“Maybe.”
Turning his attention to Avery, Ciro blew a hair away from his face. Felix had gotten under his skin. Hehehe. It was one of his favorite pastimes. Felix had to bite his tongue to stop from grinning.
“Your first order is to make sure he goes to bed and stays there.”
Avery nodded.
The betrayal.
“Fight me bitch,” Felix said to Ciro. He might have nearly died, but he still wasn’t dead.
Rolling his eyes, Ciro started to walk out the door. “I’d burn you to a crisp, you oversized hairball.” Before he left, he stopped behind Avery’s back. “Avery, you have my permission to use the spray bottle on him, but don’t use the laser pointer for a while; he’ll break something.”
“Prick.” Felix’s grumble was halfhearted at best; he was too tired to have a better retort.
A horrified look crossed Avery’s face, but soon after, it dissolved into laughter. Felix couldn’t help but join her.
Watching her laugh, here in the den surrounded by shifters who should be her enemies, Felix could suddenly see it with perfect clarity, a future where this became normal, where Avery belonged here as much as he did.
Too bad shifters and witches couldn’t have children together.
Just the thought of it sent a delicious shiver down his spine, not because it could happen, but because his monster didn’t care about biological impossibilities when it came to claiming his mate in every way possible.
Halfway through laughing, he started to cough. The coughing fit doubled him over, each spasm sending fresh agony dancing through his chest. Avery was on her feet instantly, hands steadying him, worry bleeding through the bond. Maybe bed wasn’t the worst idea. Just for Avery, though.
“Felix,” Ciro said, clapping him hard on his good shoulder—still sending a throbbing ache through him. “I’m glad you’re home.”
“Me too,” he said, smiling through the pain.