Desire Unchained

Shade glanced at E. “How is she?”


Tayla stood, brushing herself off. When many demons shifted, they retained their clothes, and Tayla was one of those fortunate species. “I’m fine. Good as new.”

Eidolon seemed as reluctant to leave Tayla’s side as Shade was to leave Runa’s, but several hospital staff members who’d come to the rescue were in bad shape. Still, Shade took the time to kiss Runa, a lingering, hot meeting of mouths that promised more later. He owed her so much, and he’d spend the rest of his life making up to her what he—and Roag—had done.

Kicking into medic mode, he broke away from her. Some of the injuries were severe enough that Shade had to dip into the medic kit Kynan had brought. Fortunately, since everyone except Runa was a medical professional in some capacity, triage went quickly, though they did lose one physician assistant, a lion shapeshifter who’d been on staff for nearly ten years. Walking woundeds took the more severely injured to the Harrowgate for transfer to the hospital. By the time Shade and Eidolon had done all they could, they were both exhausted.

Someone had raided the rooms in the castle and brought down some of the sacklike tunics Roag’s minions wore, so Runa and Shade donned them while Eidolon used the last of his energy to heal Runa, Gem, and Kynan, and when he was done, Shade made him take a seat on a wooden stool before he fell over. Tayla crawled into his lap and wrapped herself around him.

“Got all the bastards.” Wraith stumbled out of the stairwell, a mass of blood and gaping wounds. “And Solice.” He swayed and hit the stone floor with a crack of kneecaps. “That bitch.”

“Shit.”

Shade darted to him. He and E reached their brother at the same time, each grasping one shoulder to hold him up, and both sending waves of their power into him. Eidolon’s energy began to knit the massive injuries together, but the process was slow … E was drained. Cursing softly, Shade probed for internal injuries. Fortunately, Wraith’s organs were intact, but he was dangerously low on blood. His head hung so his chin touched his chest and his long hair concealed his face, and Shade wondered if Wraith was too weak to lift it.

“He needs to feed,” Shade said, coming to his feet. “Now.”

Straw on the floor stirred in the cold drafts and the silence. Gem stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”

An erotic swirl of lust spun up like a breeze from Wraith, and E raised an eyebrow. “You prepared for that? Because you’ll be beneath him with him inside you in about five seconds after he starts feeding.”

She swallowed, but nodded. “It’s not like I’m a virgin or anything.” There seemed to be some subtext there, but fuck if Shade knew what it was.

“No.” Kynan moved forward and knelt in front of Wraith. “I’ll do it. He’s fed from me before.”

E stood and shot Shade a look of surprise that had to match Shade’s own. When the hell had Wraith taken Kynan’s blood? And why? He couldn’t imagine Kynan allowing it, but Gem didn’t seem surprised. Maybe … nah. Seminus demons didn’t do males—they could reach orgasm only with a female. Though he supposed a Sem could screw around with a male as long as a female was present. So had Gem, Ky, and Wraith …

Shade shook his head, needing to clear it. His mind was taking him places he did not want to go.

“Will he still need sex?” Runa asked, and Shade nodded.

“Best to have both at the same time, but if he can get blood now, we can find him a female at the hospital.”

They backed away as Kynan rolled up his sleeve and offered Wraith his wrist. Wraith’s nostrils flared, and before Shade could shout a warning, Wraith sank his fangs into the human’s throat. Kynan flailed, convulsed once, and then relaxed.

“I’ll bet he doesn’t volunteer to do that again,” Shade muttered.

After a few minutes, Gem knelt next to Wraith, who growled at her, his gold eyes viewing her as a threat to his food.

“Easy there,” she said softly, as she took Kynan’s wrist. “Wraith, you need to stop.”

Wraith jerked Kynan closer, taking long, powerful pulls as though trying to ingest as much nourishment as possible before his meal was taken away.

Shade felt for Kynan’s pulse on the other side of his neck. It was fast, too fast, and weak. He probed with his power, and yep, the human was too low on blood for comfort.

“Stop, bro. Now.”

Wraith sucked harder. Eidolon grasped Wraith’s shoulder and tugged him back.

“Dammit, you’re killing him.” E cuffed the back of Wraith’s head. “You’re going to kill Kynan. Wraith!”

The gold in Wraith’s eyes faded, replaced by electric blue. He disengaged his fangs, blinking as he came out of his bloodlust. Kynan sank to the ground, way pale and way unconscious.