Read Online Hels's Gauntlet [Forbidden Legacy 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Heather Long - Free Book Online Page A

answering echo tingled over his injuries, stealing away the acidic sting.
    “Come home soon, okay? I need to see you’re all right for myself.”
    “I promise.” It took everything he had not to slip into Underhill and back out into her arms. He bottled up that emotion, letting none of it leak into his voice. “Go rest. Take care of you. That’s an order.”
    “Or what?” Laughter tinged the worry. “Will you punish me?”
    “Yes.” He opened his eyes and met Jacob’s knowing gaze.
    “Good. I promise to be terrible until you are here again.”
    Desire trumped agony and frayed the ends of his control. “Remember that when my hand is paddling your ass.” He cut off the rest of the conversation with a click. Their woman liked the last word.
    It would gnaw at her, flushing her skin pink and her pussy damp. He looked forward to that particular reward.
    “Something to look forward to.” Jacob slid the phone into his pocket. Vanagan returned, fresh damp towels, a bowl of steaming water, and the requested iodine in hand. “Treat his injuries and let’s get a look at what we caught.”
    Vanagan said nothing, using the damp cloths to clean away the sticky residue of blood and half-scabbed injuries. The iodine he used more judiciously, but Helcyon focused his attention and ignored the ache. He could handle the pain.
    Jacob studied the hooded figure for a moment before he reached over and plucked off the hood covering. His back stiffened with a jerk, and Vanagan swore, hand stilling on Helcyon’s battered shoulder.
    A woman with a riot of purple hair that matched her violet eyes glared up at them groggily.
    A woman.
    Magic surged toward the center of the room, and Helcyon braced, tossing a mental hand toward Jacob. They barely shielded before power fountained up through her to slam into them. The world tilted crazily to the right, but the onslaught, like a spring shower, ended as abruptly as it began.
    The woman sagged in her bindings, and her chin drooped in defeat.
    “Well, hello there.” Vanagan’s awed voice punctured the stunned silence.
    “Go to hell.” Blood bubbled at the corner of her mouth, each word riding a hissing breath. Helcyon slanted his vision, looking at the ebb and flow of magic that scrolled over her skin.
    And it scrolled.
    Tendrils of violet and purple energy shimmered on the surface of her skin, coiling into scripted text and unraveling before the words could quite be completed. The hiccups of power shuddered, and he leaned forward, maintaining a firm mental and magical brace should she suddenly surge up to blast him. Awareness of Jacob hummed in the back of his mind, like the weight bearing beam in the structural support of a building. Jacob shored up the weak points in his shields. The Wizard blended seamlessly along the fringe of Helcyon’s sense of self. The effort to protect him gave him a mental and magical boost, but the silver twining his connection to Cassandra intensified. They were linked through Cassandra primarily, but the vaguest sense of a strand, a bind, stretched between them.
    It flared with each pulse of power, as though trying to negotiate a ping between their uneven heart rates. It would bear further study to see if his oath to Cassandra, an oath soaked in passion and love, transformed the oath of alliance between he and Jacob or if it went deeper.
    For now, Helcyon concentrated on his breathing. Forcing his heart rate to steady and match pulse with Jacob. The flares pinging back and forth between them calmed. Like a metronome, the energy began to ebb and flow like the ocean, pushing from Jacob to Helcyon, from Helcyon to Jacob and back again.
    His aching body soaked up the energy, channeling toward his hurts. Thankfully, he never failed to replenish it before he had to return it. After a few minutes, it became automatic and he didn’t have to split his attention.
    “She’s a Wizard.” Vanagan started forward, but Helcyon’s hand on his leather-clad arm held him