Avet, Danica - Ain't No Bull [The Veil 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) (37 page)

There was a roaring in her ears and she shook her head. Damn, the demon had really rung her bell! No, wait, that wasn’t in her head. She looked up to see Grant charging through the remaining Eturians, his focus on her.

Time seemed to come to a standstill. She saw the others fighting the depleted Eturian forces, heard the ring of steel, the grunts of effort, screams of pain. Then she saw Ormond turn his attention to Grant, who didn’t even notice the elemental. Fields sent wave after wave of water at Ormond, who just shook it off.

The fire elemental cupped his hands together. An ember ignited in his palms, and in mere moments, it was a solid ball of electric blue heat. Her heart stopped as she realized it wasn’t quite a fireball, but something else, something stronger. He lifted the ball in one hand, his head coming up as he took aim at Grant, who was just passing in front of him.

As usual, Izzy didn’t even stop to think. She only knew that Grant wasn’t prepared for Ormond’s attack and she wasn’t going to let some power-hungry bastard kill her mate. Using the wall as a springboard, she pushed herself off of it, catapulting herself between Grant and Ormond. The sphere the elemental had produced went airborne, striking Izzy in the shoulder instead of Grant.

Searing pain, unlike anything she’d ever felt before, ripped through her body. She was out before she hit the ground.

* * * *

Grant’s heart stopped when he heard Isola’s agonized scream. She landed on the floor hard, her body bouncing until it skidded to a stop against the opposite wall.

Her tunic had burned away, leaving her bare to the waist. A strange blue light stained the skin of her injured shoulder. Even as he watched, the light spread into her torso and down her arm. She moaned, curling her body into a tight ball.

“Oops. I missed,” Ormond mocked as he called another ball of light. His eyes gleamed with malice. “Let me fix that.”

Grant turned his head towards the elemental, the Minotaur’s Rage in full effect. As though seeing it from a distance, he saw Ormond throw the sphere. Fields flung his hand into the air, encasing the ball of fire in ice.

That’s when Grant made his move. He charged the fire elemental, head lowered so his horns were on level with the other man’s chest. Mere feet away from his target, Grant twisted his head to the side, impaling Ormond with the tip of his horn and driving the elemental backwards until he met the wall.

He didn’t stop there though. He kept pressing until he felt Ormond’s body reluctantly yield to the pressure and he felt stone scrape against the tip of his horn. Ormond’s hands flickered with blue fire as he grabbed onto Grant, searing his skin.

The flames died even as blood poured from Ormond’s mouth, but Grant wasn’t going to let the bastard go until he knew for sure he was dead. Hands pulled at Grant, trying to tug him away. He ignored them. The need to kill the man who’d injured his female burned within him.

“Grant,
taureau
, you must see to Izzy,” a Cajun-accented voice whispered in a raspy tone that finally broke through Grant’s single-minded focus on Ormond.

He stepped back, shaking the dead man off his horn and flinging blood into the air. Spinning on his hoof, he stormed over to the knot of people standing over his female. He snorted threateningly until they opened up to let him through.

By the time he reached her side, he was in his human form again. Saga and Rosetta were kneeling by her side, their eyes teary. He ignored them, his attention on his mate.

She lay on her side, her bruised and battered body curled into a tight ball. The blue on her shoulder still glowed brightly, although it had stopped spreading. He brushed the tips of his fingers over her cheek, feeling the heat in her body. The magical fire might not be spreading, but it had already done its damage.

He vaguely heard the others talking, but his sole focus was on Isola, on the tiny frown lines between her eyebrows. Even though she was out cold, she was in pain. He heart bled for her. Why had she thrown herself in front of him? Did she really think he was so weak that he couldn’t take a direct hit? Did she believe he’d rather she was injured?

Ineffectual anger filled him. She was his mate, the mother of his future children. She should never have put herself in danger that way. The minotaur chomped with the need to roar out his anger, but Grant held it back. Right now wasn’t the time to raise hells about her actions. It wouldn’t do any good anyway since she was unconscious. No, he’d wait until she was awake and stronger. Then he’d rip into her for her stupid act.

“Grant, we have witches on the way to tend to her,” Ricky said from somewhere in the back of the group.

“What about the fight topside?” Saga asked in a hoarse voice.

Grant looked to see that her eyes were swollen and the tip of her nose was red. She was struggling to keep her tears at bay. He frowned back down at Isola. He wasn’t the only one who was hurt and angry at her actions, her friends looked properly horrified at the state she was in. Ticking off another matter to yell at her about, Grant scooped her into his arms.

“Looks like Ormond’s group cleaned them out,” Ricky ground out. “There are bodies all over the place.”

“Any of your deputies?”

“No, my guys are good.”

“I’m taking Isola up,” Grant stated as he pushed through the group. It was the first time he really noticed the newest additions. He didn’t recognize any of them, but that didn’t mean anything since he didn’t leave his corner of the world much. These were all Isola’s people, he realized. These were her friends, the ones who cared about her.

One woman in particular drew his attention, and he frowned at her. She looked like Saga and her sister, Ocean, except there was a stronger sense of power in her gaze. The hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. He pulled Isola closer to him and planted his feet wide apart.

“Who the hell are you?” he demanded when the woman cocked an eyebrow at him.

“I’m her queen,” she answered coolly, not at all impressed with his aggression. “Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m her mate.”

She snorted. “We’ll see, minotaur. I don’t allow just anyone into my camp.”

The challenge to his hold on Isola’s future threatened to send him into the Minotaur’s Rage. “I don’t plan to live in your camp. My mate and I will stay here.”

“I don’t think so. She belongs with her family.”

“She belongs with her
mate
,” he growled back at her, his hands crushing Isola to his chest.

“I don’t think this is the time to worry about that,” some asshole with dimples and dark hair suggested as he stepped forward. “I’m Malachi Cromwell, this is my mate, Noelani Fayard.” He introduced himself with his hand on a small fairy’s shoulder. “Izzy needs to be cared for before any plans can be made. We also need to get some GEs in here to handle cleanup and I’d like to take—”

“Ormond’s body is gone!” Rosetta shouted, drawing everyone’s attention back to the end of the hall.

Grant swiveled around to see the bloody stain where he’d dropped the body and nothing else. “How?”

Three official-looking people crowded around the site, their heads together. The tallest, a male vampire with long black and red hair, answered Grant’s question. “Looks like one of the demons teleported them out.”

“Fuck!”

“He was dead, though, wasn’t he?” Rosetta asked in a demanding tone.

Everyone exchanged uneasy glances. Grant was almost positive Ormond had been dead. There was no way he could’ve survived being gored like that. At least he was pretty sure it was impossible. He frowned.

“What about the others?” Ocean asked as she nudged an unconscious Halfling. “These Halflings are as much victims of Ormond’s deeds as the rest of the Veilerians.”

It was Malachi who spoke up, casting the long-haired male a hard glance. “I’ll take responsibility for them. Lani and I will make sure they don’t cause any trouble. Maybe they can be helpful in finding where Ormond’s body was taken.” He paused, his face tight. “Even if Ormond is dead, that doesn’t mean this is over, you know that, right? He might’ve been the Overlord, but he wasn’t the only Eturian who wanted to see the Veil fall.”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it right now,” Ricky interrupted when several people started talking. “We need to get out of here, get patched up, and let cleanup crews come through before the humans are drawn here.”

Grant agreed since he could feel Isola stirring against him. If she awoke now, before the witches had a chance to heal her, she’d be in excruciating pain, and even as pissed off as he was, he wouldn’t wish that on her for anything.

The transfer from the tunnels to topside was accomplished in a short time. Grant reluctantly handed Isola up to Fallon so he could climb the ladder, but he grabbed her as soon as he was upstairs. The incubus sent him a knowing glance, but he ignored the bastard.

Ricky’s deputies had secured the perimeter of the building and as the rest of the group filtered out of the tunnel, Guardian Elites showed up to strengthen the deputies’ numbers. Grant didn’t care about the site; he just wanted Isola in his bed, resting.

“Dammit, I forgot it was late afternoon,” the long-haired male muttered. He squinted pale green eyes at the weak sunlight. “Fields, get Tawny to bring the van closer. If I go home with burns, Ruby’ll have my ass.”

“Yeah, since you told her she had to stay behind,” Albreda shot back with a smirk. “My niece does not like being told what to do, Lucian. I thought someone as smart as you would’ve figured that out by now.”

Lucian frowned, ignoring Malachi’s smirk. “Ruby’s pregnant.”

“Again?” the Amazons all asked in unison.

“Holy crap, y’all are gonna need a bigger house if you keep up the way you’re going!” Rosetta exclaimed with a laugh.

Isola stirred in Grant’s arms. He looked down to see her eyes blinking open. Her lips were pressed together tightly and lines of strain marked her face.

“We have to get to my place.”

Fallon looked at him, then at Isola. “I can take her to your house and get her settled.”

Grant didn’t want the incubus taking his mate anywhere, but reluctantly admitted to himself that it would be safer and easier for Isola if she were teleported instead of driven back to his place. Gritting his teeth because it was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, he handed his tender burden to Fallon.

“You’d better fucking take care of her.” He growled in a low tone.

The incubus only nodded with a half-smile and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

A large hand clapped Grant on the back. He looked to see Lucian looming over him. The bastard was tall, very tall. “Why don’t you ride with us in the van? We have some questions for you.”

He was already being herded to the vehicle when he noticed the Amazons weren’t joining them. It was just him, Lucian, Malachi, the water elemental, and the tiny demoness. He heaved an inward sigh. It looked as though he was about to face an interrogation. Fucking joy.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

She squeezed her eyes shut. If she opened them, she knew she was in trouble. She could feel it hovering in the air above her. Izzy wasn’t sure she could deal with whatever shitstorm was gathering over her and manage her pain at the same time.

She hurt from the ends of her hair to the tips of her toes. Had one of her sisters thrown her in front of a train like they’d always threatened? No, she was almost positive that hadn’t happened. For one thing, she remembered leaving Grant’s house under her own steam, being kidnapped by Dov, Grant killing Dov…then, Ormond Steele.

Her eyes snapped open. It took a few minutes for her pupils to adjust to the weak sunlight pouring through the window next to the bed. The ceiling looked familiar. That’s when she realized it was her room at Grant’s house. Once she established where she was, Izzy let her gaze travel the room. She seemed to be alone. She frowned. But if she was alone, why did she feel that weird vibe…

Grant sat in the darkest corner of the room. The shadows covered the top half of his body, leaving his lower stomach, hips, and legs in the light. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and the only reason she knew it was him was she’d spent so many days memorizing his bellybutton.

He didn’t speak, didn’t even twitch, and for one hopeful moment, she thought he was asleep. But no, even as she prayed that she would be spared just a little longer, the muscles in his stomach flexed as he shifted slightly.

“You’re quite the hero, Isola,” he stated in a flat voice.

Okay, that wasn’t quite what she’d expected to hear. A part of her, the stupid, girly part had wanted him to take her in his arms and confess his feelings for her. She gave a mental snort. It was obvious the stupid bull only wanted her for a mate because his fucking ring had told him she was his. It had nothing to do with feelings and she was an idiot for thinking she mattered beyond that mystical connection.

“No comment? You saved the day. I figured you’d be crowing about your triumph,” Grant continued in a silky voice.

“What triumph?” Izzy finally asked although it sounded more like a croak from suppressing her urge to cry. When she felt better, she was going to kick his ass for hurting her feelings.

“You saved my life,” he gritted out, leaning forward in his chair so he could pin her in place with his glare. “You threw yourself between me and Ormond and saved the fucking day.” His cold voice rubbed her nerves the wrong way. “You must be so proud of yourself. Your queen is talking about cutting your exile short, and I overheard a couple of the Councilors talking about making you an apprentice.”