Page 84 of Feral

“It would help me a lot.”

He taps his throat. “It’s all yours.”

My fangs drop and I lean in, inhaling his scent before biting. Yannis wraps his arms around me, enveloping me in the feeling of home, and as his sweet blood flows, I feel my strength returning.

Dimi watches, but doesn’t say a word. He might be afraid of me now, but hopefully he’ll understand once we can explain.

Minutes later, I hear Viv and Viper hurry in, followed by the sounds of my brothers.

“He’s over here,” Rhett says.

I reluctantly pop off my love’s neck, waving them away. “I’m fine. I’m healing.”

“Let us check anyway,” Viv says.

When I look up, all my brothers and their mates are here, gathered around. Yves looks pissed.

“I had a feeling New Onyx would become very attractive to criminals,” he says.

“It’s my fault,” Yannis says. “They targeted me and I led them here.”

“No,” Damiano says. “It’s their fault. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Yannis shakes his head, clearly not believing the words. “I feel guilty.”

“You have to stop that,” Yves says. “Damiano is right. You didn’t do anything, and eventually, they would’ve likely become a problem for us anyway. They always do.”

“And if they were trafficking, I would’ve found them,” Thorn says. “I fucking hate that shit.”

“He does,” Syn says, holding Bowie close.

“All that matters is that you’re safe,” Kyson says.

“That’s right,” Thorn says, beaming at his mate. “And Hale will be fine. Bullets hurt, but they won’t take out a vampire.”

“Vampire…” Dimi whispers. “Holy fuckballs.”

“Let me get these out of your back,” Viv says, picking at my skin with large tweezers.

I flinch with every removal, but Viper is there running some sort of liquid over the wounds that eases the burn. The skin begins to stitch itself together as soon as each bullet is gone.

“Better.” I nod. “Thank you, ladies. As always, your gifts are appreciated.”

Viv nods, packing her things away in her satchel. “I need to look at the ward and see what I can do to block out bad people.”

Yves squeezes her shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up. If trouble comes, we’ll handle it.”

“I know, but I’m still gonna do some research. We have mortals to protect.”

“Mortals…” Dimi whispers again, his eyes shifting to his brother.

Yannis frowns, but looks at me. “You’re okay now?”

I nod, sitting up straighter. “In a few hours, I’ll be as good as new. Don’t worry about me. Talk to Dimi.”

“Yeah, I better. Can we go in the back?”

“Of course.”