Chapter Twenty-Five
Hack
“One minute she was fine, the next she was down for the count.” I frown at the sound of Pierce’s voice so close to my bed. And if he’s talking, that means someone else is in my fucking room, listening.
My first instinct is to sit straight up and tell my brothers—who obviously have no boundaries—that my room is off limits when I’m lying in bed with my chosen. Screw that, my room is a no-go zone at all times.
The problem is that opening my eyes proves to be difficult, so bolting up to a sitting position is outright impossible. When I take in a deep breath, though, the sweet scent of strawberries brings me a sense of calm and peace. Still, those fuckers need to leave.
“Yeah, well, after the stunt she pulled on me, I’d say karma gave her a hip check.” Who the fuck are they talking about? Even more surprising is that someone pulled one over on Slash? Nice.
“Shit, I think he’s awake.” Pierce again, and now that I’m fully awake, I notice the slight panic and whole lot of worry in his voice.
“Wh—” I must have been asleep a long ass time for my throat to feel so tight and scratchy, but I try again. “What’s going on?” I sound like I’ve been swallowing gravel for months.
“It’s about fucking time, Hack.” The relief in Slay’s voice belies the harsh comment.
“Welcome back, brother! You scared the fuck out of us.” This time I’m able to pop open an eye and I immediately find Slash, who’s speaking just inches away from my face. “So, shit got real but—”
Then it all comes flying back, my memory serving up a slew of images, one more worrisome than the rest. Panic makes my heart race as I fling off the sheet across my body to look at my stomach. When my hand slides over nothing but smooth skin, I breathe easier.
“How did you heal that?” Maybe I was wrong in assuming the sword was angel steel but damn, I’m not usually wrong when it comes to shit that can kill us.
“We promise to tell you everything, but first I need to check you out to make sure you’re all good.
” I frown as Pierce tries to prod and poke, but the only thing that matters is my chosen lying right beside me.
The last thing I remember is Sage’s disappointed face morphing into panic and desperation after I killed the professor.
I broke my promise to her and I’ll have to grovel like a motherfucker until she finally forgives me.
But first, she needs to wake up.
Ignoring Pierce as he brings the stethoscope up to my heart, I turn my whole body to curl it up against Sage at my side, bringing her flush against me.
“Go away, I’m fine.” Taking Sage’s hand in mine, I bring it to my lips and smile, expecting her eyes to flutter open. Nothing happens, so I do it again. And again. “Sage?”
“Um, that’s what I was trying to tell you.” I hear Slash but my body is frozen, staring down at Sage, who looks like she’s in deep sleep. Worry and anger and heart-stopping fear create a new emotion I can’t quite put my finger on.
My fear isn’t that she’s dead. Clearly, she’s not, because I can feel her lifeforce inside me. But this lethargy, this coma, this unresponsiveness scares the fuck out of me.
“What’s wrong with her?” I don’t take my eyes off her when I ask, just in case she wakes up and I miss it.
“So, you know how you used to whine—ow!” Slash’s complaint follows the distinct sound of a slap to the back of the head before Pierce takes over the conversation with his more diplomatic story telling.
“What Slash is trying to say is that Sage found out where Danika was being kept prisoner—”
“No, I told her, then she put a literal spell on me and it was not in a flirty kind of way.”
I frown, my hand going to Sage’s beautiful cheek where I wipe away imaginary tears and try to make sense of Slash’s account.
“None of the shit either of you are saying is answering my question.” This time I do turn before sliding my feet to the floor and standing.
The dizziness that hits me tells me it’s been a while since I’ve been upright but I ignore it, my glare hitting Slash, then Pierce, and back to Slash. Slay has apparently left my room.
Wait a fucking minute…
“We found Danika,” Pierce says at the exact moment I look around the space, my mouth falling open.
“Are we in Dei Samhain’s lair?” I call it a lair because he’s the Dei of the underworld and it’s also where he fucks without constraints. Then my head whips around when the truly important information registers. “Danika’s here?”
“Ah, yes and yes.” Pierce raises his hand to his short hair and rubs at the strands, a sheepish slant to his boyish smile.
“Our Dei is quite resourceful. We needed to heal you away from prying eyes. As for Danika, it was easier to bring everyone back here since you were still out.” When he raises a brow at his last words, I understand.
“Angel steel.” On instinct, my hand pats my lower abdomen where I know I had a gaping opening, and it registers that my life was probably touch and go. As demons, the rush of life or death situations isn’t common. We often get hurt but we heal more quickly than most supernaturals.
“Yeah.” Pierce places a hand on my shoulder and I know he’s about to give me the hard truth. “Sage will be fine, I’m sure.”
“You’re sure? Why does that sound like an opinion and not a fact?” Narrowing my eyes at Pierce, I turn to Slash so I can get the information I need without being treated like an unstable bomb about to explode.
“Spill, Slash.”
“Sit your ass down, first. I’ve had enough of the abuse for one day.” Fucking drama queen.
“Fine.” I sit then raise a brow, my hand sliding across the bed to twine my fingers with hers.
“I found you in Staten Island, gut open from side to side and Sage losing her shit. Knocked her out for a bit so I could bandage you up on the fly.”
“You fucking what?” I’m standing all over again, two seconds away from punching the consciousness out of him when Slay comes back in, leaning against the door frame. “Where the fuck were you two? I sent out an S.O.S.” I knew shit would go down and I don’t understand why Slash came alone.
“Well, if you’d let me finish, we could get on with this story. Fucking hell, Hack.” Slay ignores my question as Slash continues his tirade.
With a roll of my wrist, I get back into my original position, sitting on the bed, fingers linked.
“Anyway. Brought you back here when we told Dei Samhain what happened. He insisted, and we soon found out why.” I nod at Slash, not the least bit surprised.
“It took a couple of days but our Dei found a harpy willing to throw someone under the bus to save her own beak-faced ass and that’s when shit went south. ”
“You mean that’s when Sage got hurt?” I can’t help the way my tone goes into instant growl mode. It’s fine, they’re used to it.
“First of all, I’m the first victim in all of this.
Well, after you, but you get what I mean.
Second of all, I’m not a believer in secrets, you know this.
She asked, I told her. Reluctantly, but still.
” When he narrows his eyes at Sage, I can see it’s all a facade, the worry for her condition swims in his eyes.
It’s the only reason he’s not getting punched in the face.
“Again, where the fuck were you when all of this was happening?”
“We were held up.” Fucking Slay. Yeah, like that helps.
“No, really. They were. When Sage showed up at the address I had for Danika, she found our favorite healer and the bearer of death—”
“I don’t bring death, you asshole.” I grin at Slay because he’s such a fucking softy under all that cold-hearted exterior. Like, deep down under. Many, many layers below.
But this interruption doesn’t faze Slash in the least. “—locked up in the…are you ready for this?”
“Fucking spit it out, Slash!” Pierce says exactly what I’m thinking.
“Rafi was holding them prisoners while he treated Danika like his own personal dress up doll and…everything else.” I squeeze Sage’s hand on instinct, knowing that Rafi has particular tastes, so no part of Slash’s sentence bodes well with me.
“Shit, how did you get out?” My eyes dart from one brother to the other when I catch the look that passes between Slash and Pierce. “What. Happened?” I grit out, tired of getting little snippets.
“MegaSage happened in all her explosive glory.” My entire body recoils. Not just at the mental image of my chosen blowing up in any capacity—which she obviously didn’t since she’s sleeping right next to me—but because the other option means…
“Please, for the love of the Moirai, tell me she did not—”
“Yeah, Rafi is just a splat on the very shiny floor of his gaudy house.” I stare at Slay as he gives me the final blow, because this is high treason. She killed one of the Thirteen and now she’s going to die.
“Did anyone see her? See you? Any witnesses around?” I’m in panic mode, this is not a drill. If anyone knows she’s responsible for Rafi’s death, the other twelve of the Thirteen will come for her. And they will demand her head on a platter.
“Not that I saw but, Hack? That place is crawling with little brunies and djinn hiding in the shadows. No telling who was there that we didn’t notice.
” Pierce speaks low, his voice filled with compassion knowing this is not good.
It’s one thing that she burnt down a bunch of evil assholes in Faloria trying to hurt us, but this?
“Fuck!” I stand abruptly, my hands on my head, my fingers digging into my scalp as I try to find a solution, any solution, to keep my Satapti safe. But I can’t see the horizon, all I see are obstacles.
“I had the building in Staten Island cleaned up, so she shouldn’t be stacking up the crimes.” For once, Slash is solemn, understanding the gravity of the moment.
“That’s good. Thanks. Slay, what are our options?” My brother always has a solution, he’s got to have an idea of some kind and since he adores Sage, he’ll think of something.