I bit my lip as I touched him. His skin twitched, but I visualized pushing energy to him, as I had before.
The cut stopped bleeding before it sealed right over. And while draining Aaron had taken something from me, healing Matt—the surge that passed between us robbed me of breath.
Matt’s eyes glowed softly at me as he wrapped my fingers in his own. “That felt—incredible, Angel.”
His beautiful gaze captured and held me in thrall. For that moment, only he and I existed in the world—
Something crashed, loudly, from within the bar, and it shattered the moment.
I cast a worried glance to the back entrance. “Do you think he needs help?”
“Nothing in there he can’t handle.” There was admiration in Matt’s voice. Instead of worrying about the Bellati, he turned from me to kick Aaron, none too gently, in the ribs. His body swayed from the impact, but the Dire didn’t rouse.
“If we’re going to catch Darius, we need more details,” he growled. “This bludger’s out cold.” He planted his hands on his hips and raised a brow at me. “I’d grab him by the ballocks, except then I’d have to grab him by the ballocks. Can you shoot some jam back to him? Like you did with me in the forest?”
I stiffened. It meant that he nowbelievedI’d taken him to the brink of death. “I’m not sure,” I confessed. “But I can try.”
I crouched over Aaron, grimacing as I placed my hands on each side of his face. I didn’t want to even touch him again, but we needed to know everything he did if we were to stand any chance of getting the twins back.
I placed my hands on the Dire and closed my eyes. Immediately, I sensed the thing inside me. It helped to think of it like it was another entity that lived within my skin. I had never been more connected to the concept ofshifter.
I may not shift form, but I did, indeed, have a beast living within me. And it was still angry. It didn’t want to rouse Aaron. It wanted toendhim.
I gritted my teeth and fought with it. My hands shook with the effort, and the trickle of energy I managed to coax free might have the Dire breathing more easily, but it was far from enough.
Matt crouched across the body from me and laid his own hand over mine.
“No,” I protested, trying to pull away. I’d already taken too much from Matt—I didn’t want to risk him again.
But he held on. “Just take it, Angel,” he said softly. “We need this.”
I was acutely conscious of his hand’s warmth. The moment he’d made contact, our energy—life essences? I didn’t know the truth of it—had bridged.
I swallowed. Took what he so freely offered, and diverted it from me to Aaron.
5
Anna
When Aaron coughed and his eyelids flickered, Matt pulled his hand away from mine.
“That’s awesome, Angel.” His voice was rough, and I glanced at him, worried, as he rose. “He doesn’t need to be a bouncy roo. Just talking.”
He walked to a barrel next to the building, looked into it, then hauled it over to Aaron.
“Stand clear,” he instructed.
I backpedaled as he upended the contents over Aaron. Water, none too clean, along with a drowned rodent that bounced off the Dire’s body.
Aaron woke, coughing and spluttering.
The bar door opened, and Sebastian emerged, holding a roll of paper in one hand. His eyes lit when he saw Aaron sit up.
“Excellent,” the Bellati said as he shoved the roll into my hands. Without breaking stride, he grabbed Aaron by the throat and lifted him as though the two-hundred-plus-pound Dire weighed nothing at all.
Sebastian slammed him against the building hard enough to dislodge bits of broken stone.
“Where is Darius?” he hissed.
