“If you don’t tell me right now, I’m going to kill you!”
A set of fangs sank into the back of my calf, and I cried out as burning pain ripped through the muscle. Shocked, I twisted away, letting go of Danrian so I could confront my attacker. My blood dripped from Mika’s fangs as she snarled and charged at me again, still crazed from the drugs. My leg was too weak for me to dodge, so I dropped to the ground and rolled to the side, then slashed at her again with my knives. I got her in the side again, and she roared as the wound from last time, which was not fully healed, split open again.
The battle fever pumping hard through my veins allowed me to spring to my feet, and I grabbed Danrian, who had been trying to sidle away, by the arm. “Come on. We’ve got to get out of here!” As much as I wanted to release the shifters from their cages now, I knew they would all just attack us – I needed to get us to safety and wait for the Enforcer’s Guild to show up. They had to be on their way by now. They just had to.
“I’m afraid I’m not going anywhere with you, Miss Baine,” Danrian said smugly as I spun him around. I caught the glint of three darts in his hand as he raised it in the air, and I tried to avoid them, but momentum was on his side. I cried out as the darts jabbed me in the side of the neck, then screamed in agony as the icy hot poison rushed through my veins, stronger and more painful than last time. Fear burst through me, followed by a healthy dose of disgust – I couldn’t believe that I was about to die at the hands of a filthy human like him.
“That dose will definitely kill you if Mika doesn’t.” Danrian’s voice sounded very far away as I sank to the ground. I looked up at him, and it was like I was staring at him from the bottom of a pool – his form wavered, too blurry for me to focus on properly. “You came close to winning, but not close enough. On behalf of the Benefactor, I give you my regards.”
He disappeared then, and the last thing I saw was Mika’s bloody fangs before everything went dark.
19
“Do you think she’s ever going to wake up?”
My mind stirred at the familiar male voice, which sounded distant beyond the black, greasy fog that seemed to surround me. It took me a moment to put a name to the voice – Fenris.
Who was Fenris?
“Of course she’s going to wake up. Do you doubt my healing abilities?” another voice snapped – and this one I recognized instantly; Iannis. My heart warmed at the edge in his voice – he must be concerned for me.
Why was he concerned for me?
“No, it’s just that she was struck with three darts.” Fenris’s voice came again, and this time a picture of a wolf with coarse brown hair floated into my mind. Ah, yes. I remembered him now. “The amount of silver in them would have killed any full-blooded shifter.”
“Sunaya is forged from stronger stuff. She will pull through.”
Huh. He’d used my first name. I’d never heard him use my name before. I kind of liked the way it sounded when he said it – kind of exotic with his musical accent. I wanted him to say it again.
“Are her eyelids flickering?” Fenris’s voice turned urgent. “Iannis, I think she can hear us!”
Strong fingers wrapped around my hand, and their warmth drew my attention to how cold I was. I was half-frigid, half-numb, and I wondered whether my body was actually encased in a block of ice. But those warm fingers squeezed mine, and some of the ice retreated.
“Sunaya. Can you hear me?”
I cracked my eyelids open to see Iannis’s face hovering above mine. Anxiety shimmered in his gorgeous violet eyes, and I was so happy to see those eyes again that I could have kissed him.
“Are we on a first name basis now?” I croaked.
Fury eclipsed the anxiety in Iannis’s eyes, and his grip on my hand tightened painfully. “Certainly not. Being on a first-name basis would imply a level of trust we have clearly not achieved, or you would have clued me into the extreme danger of your investigation.”
Guilt settled onto my chest, a heavy weight that made it hard to breathe. “I’m sorry,” I muttered, lowering my eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the Shifter Royale, or about your plans to apprehend them? I could have provided assistance and possibly prevented this whole catastrophe.”
“Iannis.” Fenris’s voice was low, but firm, and he gently pulled Iannis back, allowing me to see that he was sitting in the chair next to the Chief Mage. He smiled at me. “I think now might not be the best time to berate her. She’s clearly very tired.”