Page 111 of Protect Me

“Fuck, dude, I told you we needed to work on your reflexes,” I say as I study the chunk of flesh torn from his side, thanks to whatever magic Robert hit him with.

“Fuck. You,” he chokes out as he tugs Sway against him. She crawls into his arms and holds on tight.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“Fine, baby,” he replies, closing his eyes and burying his face into her hair. “Just fucking fine.”

The door opens again, and D rushes out onto the roof, Adaya and Fiona on either side of him. The water fae surveys the roof then rushes over toward us and kneels beside Duncan.

“He going to live?” I ask as she takes in the damage on both him and Sway.

“He’ll be okay,” she replies. “But we need to get both of them downstairs so I can get to work. This cut is poisoned with dark magic.

D steps up at my side and reaches down to help Bracken pull Duncan to his feet. Between the two of them, they manage to cart him off the roof and down the stairs.

“Arms around me, love,” I tell Sway. She obeys, and I lift her, cradling her slight body against me.

“You left me no fun,” Fiona complains as she kicks the headless corpse that was once Sway’s fiancé.

There is no humor in my laughter as I stare at his limp body. Honestly, he got off far too fucking easy for my taste. But what’s done is done.

And that asshole willneverhurt Sway again. I lift my gaze to her. “Sorry, berserker, but that one was ours.”

* * *

Sway ispale against the bedsheets. She’s tucked against Duncan, her head on his shoulder while Bracken sits on her other side. I remain standing, too damned tense to sit as we wait for D to report back after his virtual meeting with Nicki.

The agreement was solid, but if she were to go back on it—I shake my head. She won’t. Everything will be fine. And if it’s not? Well, then we’ll fucking handle it.

“I can feel your irritation from here,” Duncan complains.

“Are you okay?” Sway asks.

“Am I okay?” I cross over toward the bed and plop down on the foot of it. Her face is still bruised, her body damaged from what Robert put her through before we got to her. “Don’t worry about me, Sway. I’ll be just fucking fine. You—I can’t even think about what almost happened. Those cuts... What the fuck was that monster trying to do, anyway?”

I share a look with my brothers because we already know the answer from years of experience giving it: torture.

So, Sway’s answer surprises me when she says, “He was going to take my magic.”

“Take it?” I frown. “How is that even possible?”

“He said he’d found some dark magic spell that would allow him to pull it out of me and take it for himself.” Her voice shakes, and she shudders as she adds, “Then he was going to kill me.”

“Like fuck he was,” Bracken growls.

Sway takes his hand and squeezes it, and I am struck by how, even in the midst of her own fear, she’s comforting him. “I’m sorry I went up to the roof,” she says for the hundredth time since we rescued her.

“We’re sorry we left you,” Duncan says as he grabs her other hand and links his fingers through hers. “Brad was supposed to bring you up to the party. We thought you’d be safe enough and we could surprise you.”

“He tried,” she admits. “I told him no.”

“Which is the only reason he’s still breathing,” Bracken snarls. “That and D’s contract preserving his life.”

“Don’t hurt Brad,” Sway says, looking stricken.

“He’s just talking shit, love,” I tell her. “Blowing off steam.”

I don’t tell her there’s a part of him that actually wants to follow through. And part of me too. We won’t. For her, we won’t.