A toothy grin on his suddenly inhuman face, Robin squared off with Bres.

Now it was Robin’s turn to play.

Chapter Eight

Shane stirred, moaned. Pain was etched into every cell of his body. Nausea raced through him and, barely managing to turn enough that he didn’t choke, Shane puked. Thick, viscous black goo poured from his stomach, as foul tasting as it smelled.

“Ew. What the fuck is that? Tar?”

His baby sister’s voice brought a weak smile to his face. He couldn’t even open his eyes, but he could imagine the expression he would see there if he did. Her nose would be wrinkled in disgust, but her green eyes would be lit with worry.

“Ugh. What the hell have you been eating?” Footsteps sounded on wooden floors; Akane hadn’t taken him to his studio. He must be in his parent’s house. “Ma!” Moira bellowed, confirming it. “He’s awake and he puked!”

“I remember when I used to bellow that,” Shane tried to joke, but the words were barely whispered. He tried to remember what Constance and Klaussner had done to him, but he couldn’t think past the pounding in his skull and behind his eyes. Pain wracked every inch of his body. “I think I was hit by a burning oil truck.”

“Close enough.” Warm fingers pushed back his hair, soothed him. His mate’s touch burned him, warmed the cold places that had started to settle through him. “Welcome back.”

He managed to open his eyes, but it was like a film had been drawn over his sight. He could barely see her, and what he did see was shrouded in shadows. “What did they do to me?”

Smoke curled from between her lips. “They hurt you.”

He blinked. “I got that. What exactly did they do to me?”

More smoke. His dragoness was ticked. “They put things into you, pumped poison through you.”

Oh. That. No wonder she was upset. Shane was in for a rough time of it, but when he told her the cure she was going to be really upset. He held back the shivers threatening to rip him to pieces. “I see.”

Her head tilted, her expression fierce. “Do you?” She lifted him in her arms, startling him. “Strip the bed please, Moira.”

Moira huffed but obeyed. Akane’s tone left no room for argument, but at least she’d said please. “I’m okay, a ghrá.”

Akane snorted. “Sure you are. You puke up black goo every day.” She placed him down on cold, fresh sheets, then curled up around him. “I thought you were dead.” She stroked the dragon on his arm, the tears she was desperately trying not to shed obvious in her voice.

“I know.”

“You knew they were coming for you.”

He nodded. He wouldn’t lie to her. He couldn’t. “Da?”

“He’s fine. Whatever they used to knock him out didn’t last long, but he is seriously pissed off.” Moira took the one seat in the room that wasn’t the bed and rubbed at her face wearily. “You are in big trouble.”

“Anyone hurt?” Shane could barely stay awake. All he wanted to do was sleep in his dragon’s arms.

“Leo.”

His eyes snapped open at that. He struggled to sit up, but Akane held him down. “What happened?”

“The leader of the redcaps showed up at his place to take him and Ruby to the Dark Queen.”

Shane shuddered. He hadn’t seen that possibility. “How badly is he injured?”

“Bres sliced him up, but he’ll be all right. Mostly cuts and bruises. He managed to take out most of the redcaps by himself. Robin was seriously impressed.” Akane stroked his arm, trying to calm him down.

Shane sagged back onto the bed in relief. “They shouldn’t have attacked him on his own land.”

“Ruby is pissed. She wants Bres’s head on a pike. Apparently one of the blows came close to Leo’s eye and she thinks it will leave a scar on that perfect face of his.”

Shane shuddered. “He’s all right?”

“Yes, Shane. He’s all right. It would have been different if Robin hadn’t been there, but he’ll be fine.”

“We owe him.” He snuggled back, Akane’s warmth once more driving away the strange chill, lulling him to sleep.

“Yes. We do.” She kissed the nape of his neck, and he got the feeling she wasn’t talking about Robin.

“Tá grá agam duit.”

She sighed. “What the hell does that mean?”

He smiled, unable to answer, as his sister did it for him. “It means I love you.”

Akane’s face burrowed into his hair, her breath hot on the back of his neck as he drifted off to sleep.

“Tá grá agam duit, you stubborn son of a bitch.”

If he’d been capable of it he would have demanded she repeat the softly whispered words, but the exhaustion wouldn’t allow it. Shane let himself fall into darkness, knowing when he woke he’d have little time to hear those words again.

Akane lay beside her mate and breathed him in. Her dragon slowly calmed, but something was off. His scent had changed, and Akane was terrified over what it could mean.

“Moira?”

“Hmm?”

“Get Sean.”

Moira nodded and left the room.

“What’s wrong with him?”

Akane wasn’t surprised to find Jaden had slipped into the room. The vampire would scent the change in Shane and come to investigate, especially if it involved her mate’s blood the way she thought it might. “I think the poison they pumped into him is hurting him.”

Jaden leaned down and sniffed, wrinkling his nose. “Let me check something.” A black claw curled from where his nail had been. Jaden sliced Shane’s arm, a shallow cut that should have bled a sluggish red.

What came out of Shane’s body was neither sluggish nor red. Tiny black tendrils oozed out, reaching for both Akane and Jaden, a parasite eager for a new host.

“Holy fuck!” Jaden leapt back, forcing Moira, who’d returned with her father, out the door. “Don’t come in.”

Moira, like every other member of this crazy family, was having none of that. She tried to push past her mate, but Jaden held her fast, one eye on the ick that slithered from Shane’s veins. The vampire gagged. “That is so fucking gross.”

Akane leaned over Shane, allowing one of the tendrils close to her face. She breathed out, her flames engulfing the tendril.

An almost inaudible screech of agony raced across her senses. The tendril curled in on itself, bubbling into inanimate black goo. The remainder of the tentacles pulled back within Shane’s body, writhing beneath the skin of his arm.

“Double gross.” Jaden allowed Moira in, ignoring the smack to his stomach. Sean raced toward his son, growling at Jaden when the vampire pulled him up short. “You don’t want to do that.”

“That’s my son.” The ground outside the farmhouse rumbled, a sure sign of Sean’s displeasure with his son-in-law.

“Listen to me. Whatever’s inside Shane is dangerous.” Jaden eyed Akane. “How fireproof is your mate?”

She blinked. He could not be suggesting what she thought he was.

His brows rose. “If he’s truly your mate, he’ll be safe, but the…thing should be fricassee. Think about it.”

Once again her dragon nature took over. She found herself crouched protectively over her mate, growling at the vampire. Her wings, which she hadn’t consciously unfurled, fluttered in a dominance display that would have sent another dragon either running for the hills or accepting the obvious challenge.

Jaden threw his hands up in the air. “Well, I sure as hell ain’t sucking it out.” He shuddered. “There’s no amount of Listerine or blowjobs in the world that could convince me to do that.”

She hissed at him. He wanted her to set her mate on fire or somehow drain his blood? Was he insane?

“It could work.” Moira leaned against Jaden, smiling slightly when his arm went around her waist. “Aren’t dragon mates immune to their mate’s flames?” Moira looked at her expectantly.

“I’m not a full dragon, remember? I’m a hybrid. For all I know I’ll accidentally barbecue him.”