She smiled, her eyelids fluttering.
“No.” He yanked off the shirt to find the wound. Forget taking it slow and courting her. She was his, damn it.
Her chest looked intact.
He patted down her legs and then turned her around, scouting every inch and finally shooting his hands into her hair. “You’re all right,” he said slowly.
She nodded and turned. A low sob escaped her, and she fell into his chest.
He patted her back, and only then did he see Ivan’s head on the table. The body had fallen down on the other side next to a guy slowly regaining consciousness. “Honey?”
She leaned back, and tears streaked down her face. “Not my blood.”
Three better words had never been invented. Daire stepped away and ripped his shirt off to shove over her head. He reached for a paper towel and quickly wet it, wiping off her face. Demon blood burned skin. “You killed him?”
She nodded, her face paling under a couple of quickly purpling bruises. “I said I was going to.”
Aye, she did. He grasped her hand and saw the empty syringe on the floor. His world stopped. “Did they inject you?”
“No.” Her fingers threaded through his. “We’re still mated.”
His body settled. “Good.” Leading the way, he kept his body between her and danger. She’d taken out Ivan, and damn if that didn’t make Daire want to roar in pride, but that was her last fight to the death. Ever. Unfortunately, with planekite living in the walls around them, his strength was slowly ebbing. “Keep on my six.”
“Go left. I think Logan is to the left,” she said, her hand trembling in his. “Wait a minute. You should stay here—there’s planekite everywhere.”
“I’m fine—don’t worry. Zane and Sam are fighting their way here, and we can’t wait. The alarm went out the second we landed.” Dizziness still catapulted through his head, but he shook it off in order to fight. Teleporting was not for him, that was for damn sure. Or maybe it was the planekite messing with his equilibrium. He loped into a jog, and the hallway narrowed. A soldier ran toward him from a locked door, and he lifted a gun he’d taken off a demon soldier, firing off two shots. The guy dropped.
Felicity shook her head and pointed at a metal doorway in the rock. “I think the mine is that way.”
He halted. “We don’t know who’s waiting on the other side.” More than anything, he wanted to grab Sam and have him take her to safety, but Logan’s time could be limited. “How about you wait here for Sam?” Daire asked, releasing her.
“No.” She slid to the side.
That’s what he’d figured. “Fine, but get on this side of the door.” He slapped the gun into her hand. When he opened the metal, she’d be protected on the other side.
She opened her mouth to argue.
“No.” He nudged her gently out of the way. “I know you’re a badass who can fight, but I need you there so I can concentrate. My weakness, not yours.” Because he fucking loved her. One thing at a time, and he had no problem confessing to a weakness if it kept her alive.
She stayed put, settled her stance, and gripped the gun.
“Plus, gotta be honest. The planekite around us is messing with my system, and my aim is surely off.” He slowly opened the door. Nothing. “Come on,” he whispered, sliding inside a stone hallway similar to the one he’d just left, sans the carpet. Mining lights shone along the walls, and he stalked silently, heading down gradually.
Silence pounded eerily around him. The mining operations probably halted when the alarm had gone out. Chances were the miners weren’t soldiers and had headed for safety. Even so, if Logan was being kept in the mine, there’d be more soldiers to fight. “What makes you think Logan is down here?” he asked.
“Gut feeling?” she answered. “Besides the bedroom I was locked into, it didn’t seem like there were prison cells on that side of the mountain.”
“Bedroom?” he muttered.