41. Tacita
Tacita
“Garrick.” I cough, the dust in my lungs making my voice weak.
Even with supernatural gifts, we’d been unable to move fast enough to avoid being buried in the falling debris of the main building.
Having to pull my mask off in order to breathe better, I ensure my hood is in place to keep my identity hidden.
Shoving a particularly large bit of rubble, I wiggle myself free, moving to my hands and knees.
It's hard to see anything with the dust cloud created by the falling building but I manage to make out the grassy plateau where the Angels we’d been watching had been, now there’s nothing but empty black scenery beyond the mangled fencing.
Fuck.
“Garrick?” I call again. There’s a groan from a few feet away, I instantly move towards it. Trying hard to block out all other noise and the ringing in my ears, I lock onto his heartbeat to find his exact location.
Moving sections of brickwork and plaster out the way, I uncover him. “Come on, get up,” I command, throwing a mangled piece of metal.
“Mother fuckers,” Garrick grumbles a little louder.
His hands move to his face, scrubbing the grit from his eyes. He must’ve been knocked out. Scanning the rest of his long frame, I don’t initially spot any other injuries, no blood anyway. His right foot, on a second assessment, however, is twisted at an angle it shouldn’t be.
“You need to shift,” I tell him, aware that the shifters have the handy ability of resetting bones as they transform forms.
“Are you hurt?” He becomes more lucid in a flash and tries to sit up. Grasping onto his black uniform as he sways, I attempt to steady him. Yeah, he’s definitely concussed.
“I’m good,” I reassure him. “But you need to shift. Your ankle isn’t looking great.”
“Was anyone else caught inside?” He’s immediately stepping into his role as leader. Fear for those working for him blooms across his face as he staggers to his feet to look around us better.
“I don’t think so. I came through the building before you found me. It was quiet.”
“I’d told my team to get out. The Angels had retreated as we got inside.” He rambles on about where everyone else should be as he hobbles on his broken foot to try and see further.
We’re thankfully sort of sheltered right now, as large parts of the building roof are hiding us from view.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Garrick comes back to me, taking my face in his palms.
“Yes. Bruised, I’m sure, but I’m fine,” I reassure him again, tugging him closer gently with my hands on his waist.
Lean up onto my toes, I kiss him. It’s not a kiss out of passion or lust, it’s more because I want to show him that in this moment, I’m grateful for his concern, and thankful that we’re both mostly unscathed. We might be immortal, but we’re not indestructible.
Allowing myself to twine around his tongue once, I savour the taste of him before pulling back. “Now, will you shift?”
He chuckles. “Fine. I’ll have to stay in my panther form for a while, so don’t do anything stupid.”
I huff indignantly.
In a blink, the male in front of me is sitting in front of me in his cat form instead. He stretches out and tests his hind leg, the bones will have knitted in the shift but they’ll be weakened for a while.
Garrick’s ears prick as he picks up on something I can’t hear, my ears still ringing from the bast. His alertness, however, has me scrambling to put my mask back on.
Seconds later we’re joined by three more black panthers, all of which slink up to their leader and check him over.
The smallest of the bunch steps away and shifts into Elisa.
“Are you alright?” she asks me, looking me over for any obvious injuries.
I nod in response.
“We were just about to close in on the bastards when the building blew. How the fuckers managed to get explosives inside, I don’t know.
” Hearing her swear tugs a smile to my lips.
Elisa is quite prim and proper, especially for a demon.
I’ve never heard her swear in all the times I’ve been to Tartarus.
Garrick limps over to the opening but is stopped by one of the other males. I too step forward and grab the end of his tail. He can probably run decently on three legs but if the Angels spot him with a weakness, they’ll be sure to target him.
I’m rewarded with a snap of his jaws for my method in halting him, but the heat in his gaze says I’m probably going to enjoy the punishment for the misdemeanour. The cats really don’t like their tails touched. I have to cough to cover my laugh.
“They’ve moved into the compound.” Elisa reminds us of the seriousness of our current predicament.
“And the last legion to fly through the portal seems to be better trained. I’ve already sanctioned evacuation procedures.
We’re getting the contestants who aren’t able to fight down to the lower levels of the Guard house, just in case any more buildings are getting rigged. ”
“What about the guard building itself? Could that go up?” My heart rate spikes as I shove the mental image of it exploding with Milo and Wyatt inside away from the forefront of my brain.
“It is more fortified but at this point, I can’t guarantee it,” Elisa replies.
My breathing hitches as I look at Garrick. He chuffs and comes to my side, nudging my thigh. Go.
I take a step, but an invisible rope tugs around my chest and has me halting.
Looking back over my shoulder, at the giant black cat whom I’d just been near buried with, I can’t choose.
If I leave, how can I guarantee Garrick will be alright?
I know those working underneath him will die to protect him, but he’s injured.
If I don’t leave and get Milo and Wyatt to safety, they could be blown up.
Even with my mask and hood hiding my face, Garrick seems to pick up on the war going on inside my head. He hisses to his team, growling until they leave us, or at least move far enough away that I can crouch down and speak in a low voice without them hearing.
“I don’t want to leave you.” It comes out in a panicking breath as I grip onto the fur at his shoulders.
He tilts his head, eyes steady and full of confidence. I know if he was in his human form right now, he’d be chewing me out for wanting to protect him. His whiskers even twitch like his holding back from snarling at me.
Swallowing my emotions, I know he’s right. Milo and Wyatt are sitting ducks. Even with their shifter sides temporarily awakened they are far more vulnerable than Garrick is. I need to go, to ensure they get to somewhere safer. Milo especially.
Garrick's lips part, showing me his teeth to reinforce his point. Very deadly, very powerful teeth.
It gives me an idea.
“Bite me,” I whisper. He hears me because he stills. “You’ll be able to track me. I know it doesn’t work both ways, but I’ll leave a little less worried knowing that you can find me.”
He shakes his head. He knows I’m only allowing this because we are currently in a battle, that I was disgusted previously when I thought he’d tasted my blood.
But that was before. I haven’t said the words and now doesn’t feel like the time, but I’ve fallen just as hard for the grumpy asshole as I have the two humans who are complete opposites of each other.
I pull my mask up once more so he can see my face and how sincere I am about this. “Please. Bite me and I’ll leave. I want you to be able to find me no matter what happens during the rest of this fucking endless night.”
Garrick blinks once before he bats one of my arms, dislodging one of my hands off his shoulders. He nudges at my cuff. I quickly understand, removing the band and pulling up my sleeve, exposing my wrist to him.
He doesn’t bother checking that I’m sure, knowing that I have already made up my mind. Gently licking the inside of my wrist, over the veins there, his rough tongue sends shivers up my arm. Then he angles his jaw, placing one of those massive canines over the centre, and bites down.
Clenching my jaw so I don’t make a noise with the pain, my instincts tell me to pull back, to end him for this.
But that only lasts until Garrick pulls back and returns to licking my wrist. Only this time, I can see he’s lapping up drops of the deep crimson liquid leaking from my veins.
His eyes find mine as he continues to wash the wound until the bleeding slows.
I feel no different, except for the stinging sensation, which is quickly fading as my veins start clotting and the blood flow stops.
After a few more laps, Garrick moves forward, pushing his snout into my hood, his wet nose skimming up my neck.
I hold still as his jaw comes into very close contact with my throat.
My hand, the one that had remained on his shoulder this whole time, moves to stroke down his back, and back up to the back of his head, holding him to me.
His whiskers tickle as his breaths heat the air between us.
A shout from Elisa breaks our moment. “We need to move, the fighting is moving this way.”
Standing, I quickly replace my mask as Garrick moves back to his haunches.
Pulling my sleeve back into place and wrapping the cuff to my wrist once more, I take one last look at him before turning and walking out of our little shelter.
I force myself to not look back because this isn’t goodbye.
I do turn to look at Elisa and the other panthers, and even though I can’t speak, I’m pretty certain they all understand the threat in the way my tail flicks as I glare at them.
If anything happens to him, I will kill you all.
Releasing my wings, I take to the skies.
I can’t beeline directly for the Guards’ building as several Angels immediately spot me in the air, change direction, and come after me.
Pulling my dagger free once more, I engage them in combat, a new fire in my veins as I down one after the other.
These fuckers are trying to rip apart my new found happiness, and I’ll take down each and every one by myself if I have to.
I’m nearly at my destination, preparing to land on the roof when a plume of fire and a raging roar rips across the courtyard from near the dormitory buildings. It sends several beings to a very hot end, their screams cutting above the rest of the noise of the battle.
For a second, I panic that another building is about to blow, but instead, a huge orange dragon charges at the group of Angels I’d been spying on, the ones trying to locate Milo.
My heart stops as I immediately recognise the dragon to be Wyatt. But it shatters when I see four of the Angels take to the sky, with Milo in their grasp.