Page 67 of Hybrid Heroics

“What would make you think I’d fall in love—No.” The mage shook his head. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

Palmer snatched the remains of his shirt off as he jumped back into the fray. Normally, that action would worry me, but the button-down had been ripped until the pieces were hindering his movements. He had marks across his torso, though no blood was on his skin.

But I needed to talk to him, dammit.

I searched for him and the rest of the guys, having lost track of some of them hours ago. Or minutes. I had stopped keeping up with the passage of time.

They were still fighting, trying not to kill the cursed innocents, but it was a difficult battle. Knocking them out wasn’t as easy as killing them would have been. We were putting the effort in, though we were taking a beating in the process.

Stone turned his head, checking on our group, too. And his injuries made me grimace. He had healing gashes all over his demonic arms… and the tip end of a short sword stuck out of his chest; the hilt buried against his back.

Briggs’ black wolf appeared metallic each time rays of sunlight hit him. Clumps of fur were missing from his sides, but I didn’t see any open wounds.

York and Vaughn were faring better. The druid was tying up the cursed with vines, much like Sloane had done to us a few weeks back. They weren’t staying restrained, but it was enough to give us a moment of reprieve between waves.

The fae was covered in frost and ice, using it as armor to block strikes from the sword wielding orcs surrounding him. Two of his opponents had smaller injuries, nothing life threatening. And one lay on the ground, trying to get his hands and feet out of the bricks of ice Vaughn had created.

I blocked a punch from the man to my left, weaving the opposite way. He followed me, his fist grazing my shoulder and landing in the dead-center of another man’s chest. I swept his feet out from under him, following through with a hit to the side of his jaw that sent him tumbling. I turned to strike again and paused.

The sweet tang of peaches filled the air, and my entire world stopped moving. I knew that scent as well as I knew my own name.

I dropped to my knees in the middle of the fight, ready to fucking weep with joy. Tendrils of darkness caressed my cheek as her presence grew stronger. She was everywhere and nowhere.

And maybe I was fucking stupid for stopping mid swing, but nothing else mattered now that I knew she was awake.

Not just awake…

She was here.

And she was… calm.

So godsdamned calm that I wondered if we should get out of her way.

A band of black smoke snaked around my hand, spreading to form a dome in front of me as the orc swung his fist.

I turned my head to peek over my shoulder, a grin slowly crawling over my lips when I saw her. Unharmed and completely herself, a smirk rounding her left cheek as her eyes sparkled with familiar madness.

Sloane fucking King was chaos in a gloriously gory package. And she was all ours.

She rolled her shoulders back and glided toward us as if this were any other Wednesday… and I guessed it was. For us, anyway. But she wouldn’t kill in this fight. I knew, because I could see that glimmer of challenge in expression.

Trouble winked at me as she passed. The supe before me trailed behind her, moving left and right as if he was unsure of how to attack or trying to get her attention.

Her purposeful stride took her straight toward the epicenter of the battle. She only stopped to grab the hilt of that sword in Stone’s back. With a swift jerk, she snatched it out and grinned as he spun on his heel.

“Ouch,” he whispered, a seriousness in his tone that led me to believe he hadn’t noticed she was here. “Thanks, Kitten.”

“You can have this back,” she said as an ironic smile stretched her lips. “I don’t need it.”

“Are you okay?” the demon asked, leaning down to look into her eyes.

“Of course,” she sang. “I had a lovely vacation. I’ll tell you guys all about it in just… a minute. Maybe two.”

She pushed forward, and Stone shot me a confused grimace as he mouthed the word vacation. I shrugged, not bothering to move… because now the attacks were focused on her. And I definitely didn’t need to get in the way of whatever fuckery she was about to create.

They surrounded her in droves, which was not a smart idea. But who was I to tell them how to fight her? They were cursed, assumed to be led by Alric, and he wasn’t that ignorant.

She spun in a slow circle, gazing at the crowd like she was counting. Her eyes bounced from face to face to face as her smile faded into something almost apologetic.