“Don’t fucking touch what’s mine.”
Two voices speaking as one.I knew that sound.Then a bunch of scuffling sounds as the world went dark, my eyelids too heavy to keep open.
Twenty-Six- Come One, Come All, To The Big Top Show & See Every Trick Under The Sun
Lizzie
“Temps!Temps!”IshotCerberus a glare, tears streaming down my face.“Fucking do something!”
He sank onto the floor next to us, the floor under Temps turning more and more red.With his claws, he reached into Temps’ shirt, ripping the hole made by the knife larger.The stab wound was grizzly, this slice through her warm tan skin, which was steadily losing color as she bled out.I didn’t know what I expected him to do, but licking across it wasn’t it.
The swipe revealed more of the injury, and he grabbed my hand, getting me to push down on the area right above it.
“There is no poison.That is good.” Cerberus sucked in a breath at the wound, sniffing Temps’s blood.“And no malignance.I will beseech my mothers.”
“Your mother?What the fuck would she—No, it’s not important.Go.”
I watched as she shut his wolfen eyes, holding a clawed hand over Temps’s shoulder.Energy hummed around him, and that dark connection I’d noticed before—the way he seemed to be this creature of nature and death—swirled in the air.
Frantically looking around us, I made sure that no more surprises lurked in the shadows, doing what I could to keep the ball of light glowing in my palm.I wasn’t the alchemist.I wasn’t the proper spellcaster.I did things on instinct and intuition.But I knew those assholes didn’t like the light.So, I went with what Temps had shown me.
Come on, baby.You can’t leave me.
The call in my blood toward her zinged, perking up as Cerberus began to growl our words that I couldn’t understand.Threads of gold appeared beneath his hands, and I watched them tighten, threatening to snap.
“There is resistance.”
“Well, I don’t give a shit!Get her stable!”I looked down at Temps.“Don’t you dare fucking leave me!Don’t you dare!I need you!”
The golden threads wavered in the air, vibrating like a tuning fork.Cerberus grabbed my hand, thrusting it between them.I could feel the ghostly heat rumbling over my skin, and I snapped my eyes up to his.
“Will you give to have her?Will you bind so that your fates are entwined permanently?”
A sharp chuckle bit out of me.“Aren’t they already?Temps is my life.I won’t lose her.I won’t haveyoulose her.”
Cerberus nodded, one of his eyes going blue as Caleb appeared at the surface, their voices speaking as one.
“Agreed.”
The chords of gold went taut around my skin, looping around our joined hands and squeezing down.They cut into our flesh as they sank deep, and a few drops of blood trickled down from both me and Cerberus.Even Caleb’s brighter red blood was there.It landed on Temps’ wound, seeping in.
Light emanated from our little group, and just beyond it, standing at the threshold with their hands joined, stood two women.One had light hair cascading down to the floor in a white dress, the other nude with long black braids trailing into eternity and horns perched on her.
“What in the holy fuck?”
More warmth blazed at my back, and I turned over my shoulder.Two more women stood there.One had blazing red hair and antlers, this time, a black eye and a gold eye.The other looked like it could have been Temps except for being so much paler.Dark hair hung down, mingling with the fabric of her deep blue dress.
Four booming voices called out into the room.“It is done.”
At once, the entire room flashed white before going dark again, and I sat on the floor with Temps lying there, Cerberus receding some, so that it was this hybrid between him and Caleb.
“Temps,” I held her cheek, rubbing my thumb back and forth over her skin.“Temps, baby.”
“Temperance!”Caleb’s voice rang out.“You heard Lizzie.Get back here!”
He reached forward, his hand covering mine as he held her.Zap!Electricity launched through us, this arch I could feel ring through my head to my toes and then back to Caleb and Temps.My concentration on the light faded, and in the darkness, almost too dark to see, a faint glow emanated from Temps’ chest.
“Fuck!”She shot upright and into our waiting arms.“What the…Did I almost die?”
