Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)(28)

And I recalled all too well that my injuries were a direct result of helping the vampire in front of me.

“Hey. You two knock it off. I’m injured. It’s partially your fault, Remo, and yours too, Smithy. If you’d work together, you could keep Santos out.” The words burst out of me before I thought better of them, but even as I said them I knew they were true.

Two sets of eyes swiveled to me, both icy now. I lifted my chin. I would not back down.

Ernie burst into the room, panting. “I went you one better! I found Damara, the satyr who healed your brother . . . Whoa, there is some major testosterone going on here.” He waved a hand in front of his face. Behind him popped up Damara, her horns entering the room first. I sighed in relief.

“Damara, thank you for coming. Ernie, you’re a doll for finding her,” I said.

He beamed and she slipped in past the two men. She subtly bumped both of them as she passed with the curling horns on top of her head. “Both of you out, I don’t work with an audience.”

Smithy grunted and stepped out first. Remo stayed until she bleated at him. “I said get out!”

“This is my fault.” His shoulders tightened. “It won’t happen again.”

He spun and slammed the door behind him.

Damara bent over me. “Men, touchy creatures no matter what species.”

I stared at the closed door, wondering just what Remo thought he’d do to make Santos leave me alone.

“Well, you should know, since you have two men.” I winced. I meant, I knew that Tim and Gavin were her two satyr boyfriends, and while it was common for their species to be into the extra partner scene, I probably shouldn’t be pointing it out. “Sorry.”

She laughed. “No, it’s true. But I have them well put in their places. They know that they only get to be a part of my life until something better comes along. So they both fight to keep our trio alive and well.”

That was an interesting take on a relationship. Until something better comes along . . . I suppose that’s what Roger did. I hunched my shoulders, sucking into myself.

Remo’s eyes and his words floated in front of me. “It won’t happen again.” I tasted the words, like trying to identify a new flavor in the cookie batter. Could they mean something other than what they seemed? My mind raced ahead while Damara probed at my ankle and dug into the bag at her side.

“Remo’s going to try and stay away from me, isn’t he? To keep me safe by no longer being around me,” I said softly.

She glanced up at me. “It’s the way of an alpha, regardless of species. He’ll try to protect you any way he can.”

I grimaced, then sucked in a gasp as she pressed something to the open wound. The pain flared up around me, and the world went black.





CHAPTER 7


I snuggled deeper into my bed, breathing in the vanilla scent I’d specifically put in the wash to coat my sheets. I rolled and stretched, sunshine spilling over my face, lighting up the back of my eyelids to a lovely glow. I lifted a hand to scratch my cheek and froze as my fingertips touched my skin. Fingertips that were whole, without chunks of them missing.

The events of the night before washed over me, sending chills through me as if I’d sat back down in the flow of the icy river. A quick inspection of my hand showed the skin completely healed, the wounds gone, and the pain too. I pulled my legs out of the sheet and breathed out a sigh of relief. My ankle was once more intact, though there was a scar around it where the loop had bit into me.

“You were lucky.”

I jerked around to see Damara sitting beside my bed. She yawned and pointed at my leg. “Much longer without my help, and I think you would have lost it.”

“Lost it? You mean my foot?”

Her eyebrows rose. “I mean your entire leg. Whatever they used was spreading up through your entire limb, not just your foot.”

I pushed to a sitting position, cold chills rolling through me, even though I sat in a patch of sunlight. I pulled the sheets up. “Do you know what it was?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like it, at least not in the Supe world. Tell me what happened.”

“They had a snake catcher, a rod with a long noose at the end. The noose cut into me and burned like hot oil. Even after I got the noose off, it burned. Ernie led me to a river, and that washed it away.”

“So not oil based, then.” She tapped a finger on one of her horns, her eyes thoughtful. “Plant based, probably. But I don’t know of any plant that can cause an injury like this. And nothing specific to cause an injury to a Drakaina. You are one tough cookie, you know. The fact that you healed so fast is testament to that.”

“Thanks?”

She laughed. “Look, I’ll see what I can find in the old texts. I’ll pass it on to Ernie if I get anything. But for now, try to avoid that shit at all costs.”

“No kidding.” I swung my legs off the bed. “Damara, I owe you.”

“No, you don’t. Whether you realize it or not, you’re making Zeus pay attention again, even if he is in hiding right now. That alone is worth helping you.” She smiled. “Keep at him, Alena. If he won’t listen to those who are on his side, maybe he’ll listen to a monster who could swallow him whole if she chose to.”