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She leaned closer, her lips brushing my ear. The very barest of a whisper. “Occulta.”

Then she whirled away, disappearing in a blue wave of fire against the wet, cold fog.

My fingers and toes tingled. Pin pricks raced up my legs and arms, a burning march of fire ants as feeling began to return. Voices drifted across the rolling drifting tendrils as the fog slowly dissipated.

“Don’t get any on her, you fucking idjit.”

“You try handling such a monster schlong without any hands and see how good your aim is.”

Pain banded across my chest and stomach. A dull, squeezing ache. Hard to breathe. Giant anacondas wrapped around me. Had I shifted into the cobra queen? But I wouldn’t squeeze the life out of myself. Would I?

Maybe I was hallucinating. Goddess, had I died again? The rolling, endless gray place of death had been horrible last time. Panic made my heart rate thunder in my ears. A steady pounding. Blinking, trying to see. Trying to get up. Why was I stuck?

A face flickered in the thinning fog. Earnest blue eyes, short dark hair. Glasses. “Kevin?” I croaked.

“Goddess, thank you.” He leaned closer. “I’m trying to get you free. Can you unfreeze him?”

The pounding was louder. More rapid. The bands squeezed harder. Something jounced beneath me, jolting my head, clicking my teeth together. A long, deep groan rumbled through me, an endless exhale that rose in volume.

Rik bellowed. “It’s in the floor!”

I bit my lip, drawing my blood. Bracing for full on attack. Lightning and crashing winds crackled in my bond. The cobra queen’s poison boiled in my veins. Ammit slithered closer, ready and eager to deliver justice. Fire. The Eleusinian Mysteries. Whatever I needed.

They’re not taking us alive.

“We’re here, big guy.” Daire laughed nearby, his voice light and easy. “Message received, loud and clear. Let me have her now. She’s safe. But I need you to let her go. Just for a moment.”

The snakes loosened enough I could draw in a shaky breath. Though I immediately coughed, wincing, my ribs throbbing. Daire pulled me up against him, cuddling me close. His hair fell in a soft curtain against my face. He stroked my back.

“Breathe, Shara. In. Out. Slower. Everything’s fine. Just breathe.”

“Rik—”

“I’m here.” His voice crashed like boulders, but he was close. Close enough he reached up to touch me.

“Are you injured? What happened?” I took a deep breath and coughed again. Something reeked. Like urine. Burning my nostrils. I pulled away from Daire enough to look around.

Ah. At least the urine smell made sense. Great puddles of fluid the wrong color for water coated the hallway. But why was it green?

:Because yellow plus blue equals green,: Mehen said with a smug little nudge in his bond.

His dragon filled the hallway, head and neck braced along the ceiling, revealing the lighter creamy scales on his chest and belly. And the absolute largest dick I’ve ever seen in my life. Absurdly large. Like how could he even fly with that thing? Where did he keep it?

Arrogant smugness radiated in his bond as he slowly folded up his dragon and slipped back into his human-like body. Though the image of his dragon dick was emblazoned in my head. For all time.

“Heal yourself, my queen, and we’ll move to a safer location,” Daire said.

“I’m not…” I started to say, though I coughed again. My ribs creaked and jabbed inside me.

Sitting up, Rik pulled both Daire and me into his arms, his broad back heaving. “Goddess. I broke your ribs. Forgive me, my queen.”

Daire leaned around me and bit his throat, though he didn’t feed himself.

He made the wound for me. So I could heal.

Now that I was aware of the injury, I smoothed the bones back into place with my magic. Though I’d never refuse a chance to drink from any of my Blood, especially my alpha. I wrapped my arms around his neck and drank deeply from the bite. Using his blood to settle myself. The familiar act of feeding. My Blood close, their bodies against me. Safe and secure.

Though a ragged sound of self-deprecation tore from Rik’s chest. “In trying to escape from the trap, I hurt you worse than the other queen did. Goddess. I could have crushed you.”