Jace tried to clench his teeth over his yell, to keep quiet, but his body had taken over. Darkness clamped his brain, and through it he saw the Collar, a white band around his neck, every nerve outlined with fire.
His yell turned to a scream. The Collar didn’t want to let go of him. It clung tighter to Jace’s neck, the link Dylan had just pulled off fusing again to his skin.
Jace fell from the stool to the floor, landing on his knees, brutal pain the only thing in his world. Every nerve was crackling, cold washing through him followed by heat so powerful he burned from the inside out. He started to shift, but every bit of fur emerging from his skin hurt, doubling his agony.
“Jace.” Deni’s voice cut through the fog. Her touch fell like cool water on his burning skin. “Hold on.”
Jace heard other voices, too faint and faraway to bother with. “Shit.” “Andrea, can you help him, lass?” “Have you killed him?” came Fionn’s disdain. “Well done, Shifters.”
The only important words were breathed in Deni’s voice. “I’m here, Jace. Hang on.”
Jace clung to her voice, needing its warm cadence. His brain couldn’t form the syllables of her name, but it didn’t matter. He knew her touch, her warmth as she put her arms around him, on her knees too. He knew her scent, the low sweetness of her voice, the soft gray of her eyes, which went a lighter gray when he made love to her. Jace took a long breath, taking in the goodness of her.
The hurting eased the slightest bit. Underneath the pain, the tightness in Jace’s chest radiated a different kind of tingling—it still hurt, but without the brutal sharpness of the Collar.
Jace held his breath, wondering if the second pressure was what he thought it was. Through pain came amazing happiness and at the same time dismay. Not now. Not here. Wrong time. Wrong place.
“Jace.” The word cut through his agony.
Deni. She was Deni, lithe, beautiful. And a Lupine, for crying out loud. Their kids wouldn’t know whether to bark or meow.
“Help me,” he croaked.
Deni’s warmth covered him, her br**sts soft against his burning chest. “Hold on to me.”
She had both his hands between hers, her head on his shoulder. The Collar kept sparking, biting into her as well. She took up the dregs of the pain, jumping a little as the sparks bit deep.
Another female hand touched Jace, this one inflicting a new kind of pain. His nerves balled into one place of fire, Jace shouting with it, then slowly, it eased.
Jace drew a long breath and opened his eyes.
He found himself flat on his back in the middle of a circle of faces—Andrea, Sean, Dylan, Fionn, Deni. Andrea had one hand on the blade of the Sword of the Guardian, which was humming. Fionn’s long, thin braids brushed Jace’s legs, Fionn’s concern mixed with curiosity and fascination.
Deni raised her head and touched Jace’s face, her little bracelet making a faint jingling noise. She exhaled in relief.
“Sorry, Jace,” Sean said, his voice rumbling with sympathy. “You all right, lad?”
Jace opened his mouth to say he’d live, but nothing came out. He dropped his head back in exhaustion.
“Leave him be,” Deni said, suddenly brisk. “Sean, hand me that blanket. You all have tortured him enough tonight.”
Sweet of her to take care of him. Jace didn’t move—mostly because he couldn’t—and let himself enjoy Deni draping a thick blanket over him and lifting his head in her competent hand to slide a cushion underneath it.
She started to get her feet again, but Jace grabbed her hand. No. Stay.
Deni caught his gaze, her own filled with pain and worry. She gave him a nod and sank down beside him, folding her lovely legs under her.
“We need to find the link,” Dylan said. “No use half killing him trying to pull any more off tonight.”
“Agreed,” Sean said, sounding relieved.
“If you pull it off all at once, he goes feral?” Fionn asked, sounding interested. The lilting accent in his voice, different from any Jace had ever heard, made him start to growl.
“Aye, that’s what happens,” Sean said. “Have seen it myself. If the Shifter is too far gone, he can’t come back. Best you can do is kill the poor bugger.”
Jace growled again. Deni held him tighter and kissed his lower lip. “I won’t let them,” she said.
Jace remained still. He didn’t trust himself not to attack everyone in the room if he moved, with the exception of Deni. He might even go for Andrea, but only after he smacked down the Fae who stank up the place.
“Jace needs to rest,” Deni said. “Leave him be.”
“I know,” Sean said, putting a hand on Jace’s shoulder. He quickly took it away as Jace’s growl turned to a snarl. “You take as long as you need, lad. We won’t start again until you’re ready.”
“No, you’ll find yourselves another victim,” Deni said sharply. She sat up, but kept herself between Jace and the others.
“Not victim,” Sean said. “Volunteer.”
“I know what I said.” Deni glared at them, Lupine defiance in the face of powerful Felines. What a sweetheart. “Leave him alone and figure out your problem with someone else. Like me, for instance. I’m already half crazy, so I might not notice the difference.”
“No!” Jace came up off the floor to fold himself protectively around Deni. “No.” He still had to think about how to form words. “Won’t let you. Too much pain.”
Deni gave him a startled look, then a stubborn one. “Well, I won’t let them put you in too much pain either.” She switched her anger back to Sean and Dylan. “He’s not expendable.”
Both Sean and Dylan took a step away, as though sensing something had changed about Deni, and about Jace. Andrea unfolded to her feet and turned to the sink to run some water. The Sword of the Guardian had cut her hand. Brave woman, saying nothing.
“Interesting how the female defends the male,” Fionn said. “Fae women, on the other hand, can turn on their men in a heartbeat, running them through and joining their enemies if they find it expedient. Shifter females, I note, will stick with their mates even when the mate is defeated. She’ll die for him.”
“Isn’t that what attracted you to my mother?” Andrea asked from the sink.
Fionn went silent a moment, and when he spoke again, the arrogance had gone from his voice and a sad note entered it. “Yes. One of the many things.”