Chapter 50 – Irishen
Irishen tried to rein in his temper. A large part of his irritation came from the way Wave felt in their bond and he wanted everyone out so he could ask what it was about lalwe root that was disturbing her so much.
He got up from the floor. “We have more of the soap Diana made. You should wash with that, just to be sure.”
“Good idea,” Ilijas said.
Irishen threw a quick look of thanks to him before continuing. “What would you like to eat?”
“I’d recommend a soup to start. Maybe chicken?” Ilijas said.
Wave turned to Ilijas, looking morose. “Soup?”
“Well, what are you craving then?” the healer asked with a smile.
“Lark’s triple cheeseburgers with sweet potato fries and a chocolate milkshake?” his mate said with such a hopeful tone that both Marc and Ilijas laughed out loud.
“How about you eat the soup now, and if your stomach feels all right, we’ll get you those burgers tomorrow?” Ilijas suggested.
“Very healer of you,” Wave snarked back. “Fine. But I want pumpkin puree soup with chili oil and feyling bread croutons on top.”
Ilijas chuckled. “I’ll see what we can do about that.”
Jarred chose that moment to change back, buck naked, and he climbed up from the bed, holding his hand out to Wave.
“I’ll take you to the shower.”
Irishen expected Wave to agree, but she seemed reluctant to leave Marc’s embrace and the mage was clutching her to him like he was afraid she would poof into thin air. Hellion clearly noticed the same thing, and he opened his mouth to say something.
“Why don’t you make sure there is something for Wayla to eat, Hellion?” he asked quickly.
“I’m not a fucking chef or servant.” Hellion glared at him.
The urge to bite the hell out of the male until he begged for mercy rose hard in him, hard enough that he sensed Wave’s interest peaking. Ruefully, he shook his head. His mate was the perfect little package.
“Duly noted, Your Highness,” he needled Hellion. “Now, are you going to help or sulk?”
“Fuck you,” Hellion huffed. “Why is everyone on my case all of a sudden?”
“I really am hungry,” Wave said, and her rumbling stomach made the point glaringly clear.
“I’ll go make you the soup, Wayla,” Ilijas said. “Try not to stand too long in the shower. You might still feel faint and weak.”
“I’ll get her the fucking soup!” Hellion spun on his heel marched out the door.
His tone and every line in his body called for Irishen to follow him and put him back in his place. Preferably well spanked and under him. Maybe his mate could sit on his face to shut him up.
With a shrug, Ilijas followed Hellion out and closed the door behind him. That jolted Irishen back into the moment and he turned to face Wave.
“Whatever you were thinking about just now, yes,” she said as soon as their eyes locked.
“Little mate.” He couldn’t help but purr and reached out with a strand of ice. Wave eagerly leaned into his caress. “It’s not like that,” he felt compelled to say.
Wave blinked a couple of times and something sad flashed in her eyes. “Okay,” she whispered.
“Shower, Claimed?” Jarred asked, still holding his hand out to her.
“You heard Ilijas. She shouldn’t stand that long,” Marc hurried to say.
“I wasn’t going to let her stand—”
“Why don’t you two take her together?” Irishen interjected. “You did a good job of washing her last time.”
“They did?” Wave looked confused.
“Yes, little mate. They washed the lalwe root off you.”
“Oh.”
There it was again, that tightening in their bond at the mention of the root. She didn’t seem to mind Marc and Jarred washing her then—or now—but she was fixated on the poison. Irishen looked at Marc and decided to risk it.
“Anything you need to tell us, morsel?”
Jarred frowned and Marc looked like he was about to say something when she whispered the words that froze the blood in his veins.
“It was lalwe root last time, too. I’m especially… sensitive to its effects.”
“What?” Marc asked.
Jarred didn’t say a word, just pulled Wave into his arms, and since Marc refused to let go of her, he rose with her so that she ended up sandwiched between the two of them. Irishen tried to keep himself under control, but a thin layer of frost spread over the floor.
“Sparkle? What are you talking about?”
“I was… captured before,” Wave said hesitantly. “He used lalwe root to drug me before—”
Marc’s furious growl cut her off. He sounded so animalistic that Irishen half expected to see him shapeshift. Instead of a latent bear manifestation, a half dome of shimmering air slammed in place around the trio, cutting Irishen outside.
He wasn’t dumb enough to try to push through Marc’s shields. The shield blocked sound and distorted the sight slightly with the shimmer, so he didn’t know what was said, but in a moment, the shield morphed to include him.
“—dare to block my mate out ever again!” Wave’s shout made his ears ring. Jarred looked a bit pained, too, and Marc was beyond sheepish.
“I’m sorry, sparkle. Really! I didn’t do it on purpose. I swear.” The mage kept apologizing, and Irishen decided to help him out.
“I’m here, mate. It’s fine now. No need to tear him a new one.
” He stepped closer and cupped her cheek.
“Gods, seeing you go feral like that does things to my libido.” That distraction worked like a charm, and Irishen winked at Marc, who—honest to god—rolled his eyes.
“The mage was just trying to protect you the way his instincts told him to.”
“I slipped a little.” Now Marc looked remorseful.
“Yeah,” Jarred murmured. “Are you all right, love?”
Wave nodded.
“Um… Could someone talk me through this?” Marc asked.
Irishen shared a glance with Jarred, but it was Wave who spoke. Her voice was soft, but there was steel beneath it.
“I was captured before by my then-boyfriend. He kept me chained in a cell for a year before Mother found us.”
“What?”
“A year?”
“Boyfriend?”
They all spoke at once. Even knowing the capture part, the rest was clearly news to everyone. Wave forged ahead, ignoring their gasps of horror.
“He used lalwe root to drug me and keep me… cooperative. Maybe that’s why it didn’t render me immediately unconscious now. Prolonged exposure to poisons can build up resistance.” It sounded like she was talking to herself more than to them.
“Love,” Jarred hesitated. “A year?”
Wave nodded. “A year. I was chained in that cell for a year.” She rubbed her wrists and throat.
“That’s why I asked Sinister to make sure they wouldn’t chain me at the Council Force cells.
I just—I can’t stand the idea.” She shuddered so hard that all of them pressed closer, cocooning her in the middle.
“Sinister never said anything about that,” Marc murmured.
Irishen was actually happy about that. It showed that his mate’s secrets were safe with the incubus. “Mate, can we go back to the part where he was your fucking boyfriend?”
“That’s how he knew—” Wave cut herself off, but Irishen could fill in the missing part easily. He leaned in to kiss the top of her head.
“So, I assume that he’s dead, or these two wouldn’t be this calm,” Marc said, making Wave actually snort a little.
“Very dead. Drained to the last drop dead,” Wave assured them. “Mother has a vindictive streak when she gets riled up.”
“Don’t piss off the mother-in-law, got it,” Jarred said, half teasingly, but the look he shared with Irishen spoke volumes.
“Lalwe root?” Marc asked, getting them back on track.
“It’s a bit worrying.” Wave sighed. “Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but—”
“We should tell the rest—”
“No!”
Marc stiffened at Wave’s outburst. Then he frowned and looked from Jarred to Irishen. “There’s more to this,” he murmured. When Jarred started to speak, he shook his head. “No, she’ll tell me when she’s ready.” He turned his head so he could rest his cheek on top of her head. “I hope,” he added.
Marc couldn’t see the look in Wave’s eyes when he said that, but Irishen had a feeling that they would be adding the mage into their bond sooner rather than later. He was pushing all the right buttons to melt his prickly mate’s defenses.
“So, we don’t have any concrete clues about who was behind the attack, or what they even wanted,” Wave whispered after a moment.
It seemed like she was going to cry, but between one breath and another, her face hardened.
“Nothing new there. I just need to keep my guard up while sleeping. I guess I’m getting into shielding practices after all. ”
Irishen wanted to reassure his mate, but he didn’t know how. What could he say when she was right? They didn’t know who was behind this attack, and she was used to being on her guard at all times. It burned him that he couldn’t swear to her that he would be there to save her.
He hadn’t been this time, or the many times before that she had needed someone, but been left to face the horrors alone.
“As soon as Ilijas gives you the go-ahead, we’ll get back to it,” Marc said, pulling Irishen’s focus back to them.
“What about the party?” she asked him.
“What party?” Jarred asked. Irishen wanted to know that, too.
“Tanner’s eighteenth birthday party,” Marc said.
“Oh, I forgot,” Jarred said. “You’re going?”
“Yes, and I asked Wayla to join me. Tanner actually requested her presence as a birthday present.”
“How are we going to handle security?” Jarred frowned.
Irishen felt a flash of surprise in their bond and focused on his mate.
“You’re not going to argue about me going?”
“Of course not,” Jarred immediately said and Irishen could see her falling head over heels for him again. The path to her heart was through freedom.
“What if we keep it a secret that she’s coming?” Marc murmured. “I haven’t told Tanner yet. It can be a surprise gift and if no one knows she’s going to be there, then—”
“Then she should be safe. Hard to mount an attack with such short notice,” Irishen finished.
“I’m okay with that,” Wave said. “But I think we should let Sinister know—just in case.”
“Yeah,” Jarred said. “Irishen, can you talk to him? We still need to take Wayla to the shower and you are starting to look a bit pale, love.”
“When is the party?”
“Friday, in two weeks,” Marc said. “His birthday is on Wednesday, but the party is held on Friday.”
“Today is—what day is it again?” Wave looked tired.
“Friday, love,” Jarred replied. “You missed class for three days, but so did Ginny, Diana, and Chrissy. Official line is that your dorm got vandalized and you needed a couple of days to sort things out.”
“No one knows it was an attack on me?”
“People always speculate, but all we’ve been talking about is vandalism and trying to find the perpetrators.”
“Thank fuck.” Wave sighed. “That makes it easier.”
“It was Sinister’s idea,” Irishen said. “We agreed that you should be the one to decide if you want to make an official case or keep it quiet.”
“Well, not all of us agreed,” Marc muttered. When Wave frowned up at him, he shrugged. “I thought we should make it official from the start, but now that I have more information, I’ll concede their point.”
“Thank you,” Wave said. Then a little frown appeared between her brows. “I think I need to let Uncle Essi know, though.”
All three males shuddered at that and Wave gave a small giggle.
“Fine. It can wait for a few days.”
“The way you casually call him uncle makes my balls shrivel,” Jarred complained.
Wave poked his side. “Oh, don’t be a baby. He’s sweet.”
“I think my balls jumped back into my body hearing that,” Marc joked.
“Maybe I should take a look at them to make sure,” Wave shot back, but she was smiling.
Irishen took that as a sign. They could talk all of this over again once she was fed and better rested. He leaned in and kissed her slowly.
“Take it easy, mate. You still need to rest,” he purred before leaning back. “Okay, you two, take good care of my mate. I’m going to check on the food and loop Sinister in.”
“She’s my Claimed,” Jarred immediately shot back.
“And my girlfriend,” Marc glowered.
“Fake,” Wave stage-whispered and then, after a second, added, “Ex.”
Marc’s face fell, but Irishen gave him a slap on the shoulder. “Just take care of her, mage. I even give her permission to play with your balls if you’re worried they’ve disappeared.”
“Like I need your permission to do anything!” Wave took the bait, and Irishen grinned.
“You do, mate. He’s not your bonded like the kitty cat.
Lucky for you, I am a very reasonable and accommodating mate.
You can play with the mage as long as your Claimed is fine with it.
” He almost laughed when he sensed all the emotions flaring in their bond.
Yeah, that got her mind off the attack for a while.
Irishen couldn’t help but lean in and kiss her one more time.
“Go have fun, mate,” he whispered against her lips.
“I’ll make sure you’ll have your croutons. ”