Zoe stood and kissed Tierla on the cheek. She now knew what she had to do. Find her mate.
“No,” Aiden repeated.
When she and the boys walked past the queen, she reached out. “Please,” she whispered.
Zoe nodded. “I will do everything in my power to bring them home.”
“Is no one listening to me? I said no,” Aiden waved his finger about.
Zoe, followed by the boys, walked up to Aiden, and she patted his cheek. “You’re not cruel enough to say no to all three of us, are you?”
She looked down, and both boys were giving Aiden the biggest Puss in Boots’ eyes she had ever seen. Not wanting to be outdone, she looked up at him with her saddest eyes.
“Argh! I am commander in name only. Either that or your family has no respect for my authority! I can’t wait to give Gage a piece of my mind about shoving me through a portal. Fine!” he threw his hands up in defeat.
“Respect my authoritai,” Meryn mimicked.
Behind her, the boys took ahold of her robes. Together they walked through the portal to look for the missing piece of their family.
Chapter Fifteen
When Gage came to, he was in complete darkness and filled with indescribable pain. He listened carefully and heard ragged and raspy breathing around him. The cage! “Priest! Oron!” he called out. He stopped. He knew he had called out, but he couldn’t hear his own words. He took stock of his situation. Moving slowly, he gasped as the pain got worse. He tried to make out his surroundings, but there was so little light. He felt a hand on his arm, and he went to swing. His fist was caught, and his hand was brought up to a face.
He blinked and saw that it was Oron leaning over him. As his eyes adjusted, he could see more.
“Are you okay!” he yelled.
Oron shook his head ruefully and held his wrist out to Gage. Gage could only stare before he shook his head. He wouldn’t feed from his brother the way he felt. He’d drain him dry.
Scowling, Oron took out a knife and cut his wrist before thrusting it in Gage’s mouth. He went to turn his head, but the aged fae blood began to race through his veins. Draw after draw, his strength began to return.
After a minute, Oron pulled his wrist away. “Can you hear now?” he asked, wrapping cloth around his wrist.
“You know I hate feeding from you guys.”
Oron gave him a flat look. “You were close to dying. Get over it.”
That sobered him. Gage nodded and started to move gingerly. “My back?”
“I’m not going to lie. It looks mangled. You were the last one through, so I think you took most of the blast.”
“Priest?”
“I’m here, buddy,” Priest said, from his other side. “Broken ribs, and something’s wrong with my lower back, but other than that, I’m good.”
Gage had to fight the urge to roll his eyes at Priest’s flippant answer.
“The hostages?” he asked.
“Knocked out for the moment, which is probably a good thing. They got banged around in that cage. I bet we have several broken bones and concussions to treat,” Oron said, looking over his shoulder.
“Oops, we forgot to pack a healer,” Priest joked.
Gage went to laugh and inhaled sharply. “Gods, that hurts.” He looked around. “Where the fuck are we?”
Oron winced. “Noctem Falls, I think.”
Fighting back anger fueled by his pain, Gage breathed through his nose. “You think?”