The Ruby Kiss (18 page)

“You . . . saved . . . me.” He winced after each word.

“Devin, help. We must clean up Nightshade’s throat.” Devin held up his hand and the pointed nail on his index finger grew to an inch long. “Time for pain relief now,
ya sadeeky.
No arguments.”

“Bloody hell!” Ruby lurched away, landing hard on her bottom. “Keep that claw away from us.”

Devin flashed her a reassuring look. “Don’t worry. I used to be a medic in my mother’s court. It’ll relieve his pain and sedate him.”

Ruby watched in horrified fascination as he pressed the nail
into the side of Nightshade’s neck. Nightshade’s eyelids fell and his body relaxed.

She cast a murderous glance at Twister, who was still lying on his back looking dazed. “We need something to clean up the wounds. Bites are full of germs.”

Devin followed her gaze. “Maybe the forced change has affected Twister.”

“Good,” Ruby growled. She hoped it had wiped his stupid brain.

A strange rhythmic beating sounded behind her, followed by a thump. Devin looked over her shoulder, and his expression froze. “
Ebn el kalb,
” he spat.

Ruby jerked her head around. The breath stalled in her lungs at the sight of another nightstalker. His facial features were similar to Nightshade’s, but he stood about six inches taller and had the bulk to match. He’d ruined his black hair by bleaching it. Those brassy yellow strands danced around his head as if in a breeze as he paced toward them, his footsteps pounding ominously against the stone.

He halted ten feet away and fisted studded gauntlets on his hips. His chest was partially covered by a mesh of leather straps with a brass dragon insignia in the center. “Well, well. Either I’ve arrived in the aftermath of a violent and rather interesting four-way sexual encounter, or Twister’s been playing with his food.”

“Dragon.” Devin rose to his feet. The stillness in the room felt like the calm before a storm.

At mention of the nightstalker’s name, a jolt of recognition rocked Ruby. This was Nightshade’s father.

Dragon’s eyebrows rose, and he grinned lasciviously at Devin. “Pleased to see me, are you, smoky? Remember, my offer’s always open if you fancy a little exchange of bodily fluids.” He took a step forward and curled his lip, flashing huge
fangs. Tiny wisps of smoke rose from Devin. “You know you want to.”

His gaze skated over Ruby without interest, settled on Nightshade. “You’re always in a battered heap on the ground, pisky boy. At least when I see you.”

The nightstalker smiled with cruel amusement. Ruby decided she hated him.

* * *

Nightshade had to get to his feet; he refused to lie on the ground like an invalid in front of his father.

He struggled to sit up. As the tendons pulled in his damaged throat, he had to bite back a groan. Devin’s shot in the neck had helped ease the pain, but he still felt as though a troll had danced on top of him. Ruby took his arm to help him.

He gained his feet, but the room wavered. A pricking rush of concern washed through him. He’d been beaten up before, but he’d never felt this disoriented and weak. This time, something more serious was wrong. He had to figure out what it was.

He straightened, pulling away from Ruby’s steadying hand. With his gaze fixed on Dragon, he lifted his chin. “I want to talk to you.”

Dragon glanced at Devin and Ruby with a smirk. “No one’s stopping you.”

“I want to talk about Rhys.”

“Tired of him, are you? Kids are damned irritating until they reach about eleven or twelve. If you want rid of him, he can return to live with the Teg in Wales for a few years.”

“No. Give up your rights to him.” His determination to protect Rhys was bringing welcome strength back to his muscles. “Seal the bargain with a blood oath.”

Dragon threw back his head and roared with laughter.
Nightshade breathed slowly, steadily, kept his temper under control.

“Why would I want to do that?”

“You’ve just said you don’t like kids.”

“You keep him while he’s a kid—till, say, fourteen—then I’ll have him back.”

Hot anger built in Nightshade’s chest. “You’ll never get your hands on him.”

“Who’s going to stop me, pisky boy?” Dragon stepped closer, using his height and bulk to intimidate.

Nightshade’s fingers slid into the front pocket of his jeans and touched the bag where he kept his father’s stones. This was the moment to play his trump card, to demand a blood oath to give up Rhys in exchange for the return of his father’s Magic Knot. But while Nightshade was weak, Dragon would probably need all of ten seconds to wrest the Magic Knot away. His only option was to wait until he was fit enough to bargain.

Dragon’s eyes scoured Nightshade and settled on his pocket. “Do you have something to trade?” He moved a step closer. “Let me see what treasure you think will buy Rhys his freedom.”

Nightshade silently cursed himself for stupidity. Their last encounter should have taught him that his father wasn’t stupid. He weighed his options, yet he could see no way to deny he had a bargaining chip. He drew the small black bag from his pocket and held it in his fist.

Twister chose that moment to rouse from his stupor. He scrambled to his feet and staggered to the nearest chair to sit down. “Glad to see you, Dragon,” he said. “I wasn’t sure you’d make it in time to help.”

So the Unseelie king had called on Dragon’s help. It figured. Nightshade blinked against the pounding in his temples, then uncurled his fingers to reveal the bag. He caught movement from the corner of his eye, and he saw Devin shaking his head,
expression grave. But this was the reason he’d come to Scotland in the first place. What other choice did he have but to try to strike the bargain?

“This, in exchange for the blood oath to give up all rights to Rhys,” he said, loosening the drawstring closure on the bag. He paused for a beat, and the room itself seemed to hold its breath, then he poured Dragon’s red-speckled stones into his palm.

Dragon leapt into the air, landing a foot in the center of Nightshade’s chest. Nightshade’s breath whooshed out from the kick. He jackknifed over, curling around the pain with no strength to fight back. His father seized the Magic Knot with a triumphant roar and slammed a fist against his jaw. Nightshade staggered sideways, going down on one knee.

Ruby screamed his name. Out of the corner of his eye, Nightshade saw Devin holding her back. When Dragon stopped, Devin released Ruby, and she ran to Nightshade’s side and put her arm around him.

“That’s enough, Dragon. You have your Knot, now go,” his friend said.

Dragon backed off, staring at the stones in his hand. “When your friend took my Magic Knot, I swore I’d make someone pay.” The nightstalker’s gaze snapped up as he pushed the stones into his pocket. “In recompense, I claim your woman.”

“No!” Twister was out of his chair and beside them in an instant. He took up a defensive posture in front of Ruby, blocking Dragon’s path. “She’s mine. Think of another forfeit.”

Dragon grunted. “Very well, the woman doesn’t interest me anyway. Let me think on it.” He headed toward the exit.

Twister scooped Ruby up and threw her over his shoulder. She swore and battered his back as he followed Dragon toward the Bunker with Ares and Apollo yapping at his heels. Nightshade closed his eyes on a bitter rush of powerlessness. He couldn’t even protect the woman he loved.

Devin crouched at his side, a hand on his shoulder. “I’m
sorry,
ya rajol.
It would have done no good for me to intervene. This matter must be settled between you and Dragon.” He administered another fingernail shot of pain-numbing poison. “I need to get you into bed.”

Nightshade tried to shake his head, but he could barely move. “Check on Ruby first,” he croaked.

Devin hooked Nightshade’s arm over his shoulders and pulled him to his feet. “Twister won’t hurt her. I’ll check on her once you’re sorted.”

Nightshade’s heart raced and skipped unevenly while sweat soaked his face and pooled beneath his arms. He was sick and getting worse by the minute. Which meant . . . when Twister made Ruby face Fenrir, there was no way he’d be able to protect her.

Ruby paced back and forth in her room, too wound up to sit still.

Twister had locked her in, and she’d hammered on the door, shouting until her arms ached and her throat hurt. Exhausted, she had collapsed on the bed and fallen asleep. How long had she slept? What was the time now? Was Nightshade all right? Where were her dogs?

“Damn, damn, damn.” She kicked the empty log basket beside the cold fire. She wasn’t sure who she hated most, Twister or Dragon. They were both monsters.

The door handle turned. Ruby dashed across the room, fists clenched, ready to belt Twister if he didn’t let her see Nightshade. But Devin stepped through the doorway, and at the last moment she hauled back her burst of angry energy with a frustrated squeal. She grabbed the lapels of his purple coat.

“Ruby, are you all right?”

“Where’s Nightshade? How is he?”

“In his room. He’s asleep.”

She let go of Devin and stepped back. The tense ache in her shoulders eased a fraction. “Do you know what happened to Ares and Apollo?”

“They’re with Nightshade. Twister wouldn’t unlock your door earlier, so I couldn’t bring them to you. I left them with Nightshade, as he seems to like having them around.”

“Twister’s mad.” She gave a harsh laugh. “Did he think they were going to help me escape?”

Devin held out a red backpack. “I’m sorry it’s turned out like this, Ruby.”

“Is this mine?” It looked like the pack she kept on the coat pegs by her back door at home. When Devin nodded, she accepted it. Inside she found a pair of her jeans, a jersey, and underwear, all folded neatly atop her favorite leather boots.

“I thought you’d be more comfortable in your own clothes, so I nipped over to your house. I hope you don’t mind that I rifled through your drawers.”

A sob caught in her throat, and she pressed a hand over her eyes. Ever since Twister had thrown her over his shoulder and taken her from Nightshade, she’d buried her fear and vulnerability beneath her flaming anger. Crying was a useless waste of time that would only make her feel worse, yet in the face of this unexpected kindness, emotion surged up and overflowed. Tears poured down her cheeks.

“Thanks,” she mumbled.

Devin opened his arms. Ruby stepped into his embrace, hugging her backpack and pressing her face into the incense-fragranced fabric of his coat. She didn’t care if he could torture people with his thoughts; her senses told her he was good and she liked and trusted him.

After a few minutes, she recovered and dragged the back of her hand over her eyes, and from inside his coat Devin produced the baseball bat she kept under her bed. “Nightshade told me this is your weapon of choice. I thought you might need it.”

I have a weapon of choice?
What an incredible concept. She almost laughed, thinking back to her first meeting with Nightshade. “It’s a baseball bat,” she explained. Perhaps Devin had never heard of baseball.

“I know. It works well as a weapon. It’s extremely similar to the wooden clubs used by some of the troll clans, in fact.”

There were troll clans? She didn’t even want to think about
that. She took the bat gingerly and hugged it to her chest with her bag of clothes. After a moment she asked, “So Twister’s still set on me trying to change Fenrir?”

Devin nodded. “I’ve just spent three hours arguing your case with him, but Dragon’s still around, and he makes it impossible to get anywhere. He’s a spiteful bastard. He’s not interested in Twister’s father, either. All he wants is some entertainment.”

Ruby’s heart lurched while nausea burned the back of her throat. Would she really have to face that huge wolf without Nightshade to protect her? “Will you take me to see Nightshade?”

“Twister’s asked me to fetch you, but we can stop at Nightshade’s room on the way,” Devin promised.

“Will Dragon be with Twister?”

“Too much to hope he’s buggered off.”

“Good,” Ruby decided. “I’ve got a few things I want to say to him.”

She dumped her pack on her bed and pulled out her clothes, keen now to get moving. She intended to tell Dragon exactly what she thought of him.

“I’ll wait outside while you change,” he said.

“Devin.” She grabbed his arm as he turned. The locked windowless room was getting to her. “Leave the door ajar.”

Ruby rid herself of the leather dress before donning her other clothes. She hugged herself, comforted by their familiarity.

When she went outside, Devin led her to Nightshade’s room and opened the door. Firelight lit the interior. Nightshade was a dark shadow on the bed.

“Lights,” Devin said softly. Six flared to life on the wall. “I’ll give you two a moment alone.”

Ares and Apollo jumped up from the rug by the fire and dashed to Ruby, tails wagging madly. She gave them each a quick pat before moving to Nightshade’s bedside. He stirred, and she skimmed her hand down his arm.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Better than I was.” He levered himself up on an elbow and gripped her hand. “How about you?”