She nodded, and I sensed her reach out to support his heart, while I focused on guiding his body through the transition. It was a complicated process, and as I knew all too well, not one guaranteed to succeed.
But there was a major difference with Vic—he wanted it, and understood what we were trying to do. When I told him to take deep breaths and focus, he listened. When his equine half started to fall away, he didn’t fight it.
As a result, by the time he lay naked and trembling as a human, he hadn’t skated with death like the others. But when he raised his gaze to my own—I saw the first frisson of doubt within it.
Isobel sensed it, too. She refocused the bloodmagic and grabbed hold of my Satyr self. My scent exploded from me, and she took and twisted it. Boosted it with the bloodmagic’s natural high, and pounded it into Vic.
It shouldn’t have worked on him, but mixed with the bloodmagic’s power—he gasped as the surge hit him, his entire body stiffening. The red mist expanded like a tidal wave through the healer and me, to the Bellatis guarding the door. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, but the lust seized hold of me, too.
The guards humped whatever hard object they could find, and Vic grabbed hold of the young healer. She was more than happy to comply.
Any sign of reluctance within Vic had vanished. As I pushed against the bars of my own cage, and rode the wave of lust, I acknowledged that Isobel had been right.
If they were willing, it could work.
She already had six other new recruits panting to try.
The surge that passed through the others took me with it as well. I trembled as I sank to the chair in my cage.
No one could stand against that. Vic turned rapturous eyes upon Isobel. Another convert to the cause.
If she continued to use me on the children, she’d have seventeen more.
So if Riley was going to try rescuing them, she’d better hurry.
11
Havoc
I stood near the meadow gate and wondered what the fucking hell I was doing.
Why was I helping with this nutzoid scheme? I’d put a lot of effort into escaping the Isobitch, and now I was heading straight back into her lair?
Well, not exactly into her lair. I was part of the group that would receive the children at a gathering point near the stronghold, as the Dreambitch got them out, one group at a time.
Ifshe got them out.
She was going after Rafael, too, and I had mixed feelings about that. The Isobitch kinda valued him. She wouldn’t let him go easily. But if I were honest, I wanted him outta there too. I owed the do-gooder for helping me escape…
In a battle between Riley’s team and the Isobitch, there was no contest. Even the mere thought of Riley failing—and what that might mean for her—had both my beast and my monster agitated as fuck. Which brought home the real reason I was doing this.
They were giving me little choice.
There was nothing uglier than an internal civil war.
I ground my teeth together as I scanned those waiting in the meadow. Only some of those skulking around us were part of tonight’s fucking party.
Us big Dragon dudes were included with the so-called catch team. The retrieval team was going into the stronghold with Riley, and the only Dragon going with her was Lucas, a little skinny guy.
He didn’t look like much. Certainly not someone who could provide her with any true protection. But she’d insisted that stealth was their aim. That big muscles were just more dead weight she’d need to lift.
Fine. I didn’t want to get within spitting distance of the Isobitch. Problem was, my two inner partners didn’t wantherthere, either.
The whole bleeding meadow was a regular tender farewell scene. Lucas was currently being seen off by his mates—a drool-worthy red-haired Dragona who moved like a fighter, and a big Bellati guy who radiated a scary kind of energy. Not far from them was the Blocker that would be going with the retrieval team. She was Dire and surrounded by her three mates. They were pawing each other, and I looked away. Dires were always an emotional mess.
I scanned those present and mentally checked off my catch team. It included the Legion Dragon, Tyrez, and the assassin Dragon, Talakai, along with two of his mates, Rafael’s twin, Anna, and the Dire that was now a Dragon.
We’d packed the muscle onto my team, but we needed to keep this mission as light as possible, or Brock’s eyes and ears would be all over us. We couldn’t take any Sabres or Bellatis—their scent might give us away. In the underworld, Sabres meant the council, and the only Bellatis around Isobel were her own.
