The group fanned out around the ballroom. The party was still in full swing but Ferrik was sulking in the corner, a sour look on his face. He still gave no indication that he had seen Avery. Even though she had had plenty to drink already, Sari sipped her own wine until the glass was empty then discreetly switched it with Avery's to make it look like she finished it. They tried laughing and grabbing attention but Avery's acting was not up to the task.
When Ferrik got up and left the room without noticing her, Avery looked to Sari apologetically and then ran to the restroom. Sari gulped back the rest of the drink and hurried after her.
Avery was heaving into one of the toilets. As she retched Sari crouched down and began rubbing her back but Avery shook her off.
"You shouldn't touch me. It's very strong," she said, reaching for some toilet paper to wipe her mouth.
Confused, Sari backed off and offered to help her up but Avery brushed the hand aside. She clambered to her feet on her own and stumbled to the sink to rinse out her mouth. Sari watched from the toilet stall, her limbs feeling very heavy. Her fingers were tingling and she looked down at her hands trying to bring them into focus.
"Sari, what's wrong? Did you touch my skin?" a distant voice asked. She looked up at the human drying her hands by the sink. Avery's auburn hair seemed to burn red against the bronze dress. Sari suddenly wanted to tell her about the mating bond. She wanted the human to know how much Roedin and the whole alpha pack loved her. She wanted to call Avery sister.
The room began to spin. An earthquake. A tornado. Something upended the castle and brought the floor up to her face. It didn't hurt, hitting the floor. The cool, smooth marble relieved her burning skin. Then Avery's face was in front of her, brushing her hair back. Her sister's eyes were full of worry.
"Sari?" Avery gasped and knelt beside her friend.
Sari tried to get up but couldn't focus her eyes or get her feet to work. Avery's face blurred as did the figure standing behind her. A hand reached around clamped over Avery's mouth, yanking her back. She screamed into his palm but the sound was so quiet, so pathetic.
The male pinned her against his chest as she squirmed. Sari's stomach heaved in disgust as she watched him run his tongue along Avery's collarbone and up her throat before whispering in her ear.
"Did you miss me?"
**********
Panic overtook Avery immediately. Any training she had received was forgotten in her terror. Her worst nightmare was coming true.
Ferrik kept his hand over her mouth, choking off her air. The other arm wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides. She twisted and thrashed her legs but he was still a male sapien and she a human.
I will land two punches, I will land two punches, I will land two punches, she repeated in her mind.
She pushed off the walls of the stairwell and tripped him. He cursed and slammed her up against a painting. Her skull cracked the glass and blood trickled down the back of her neck. Stars sparkled across her vision for a moment as she crumpled to the ground. Ferrik kicked her in the stomach.
"Get up! Get up, you witch!" He pulled her up by her hair and continued to drag her down the hallway. "I knew it! I knew you had power! I will be greatly rewarded when he finds out."
Avery gasped and clutched her side, trying to get her feet under her to take the weight off her neck. She pushed off the ground and slammed an elbow into Ferrik's throat.
One, she counted silently.
He dropped her for a moment and but she tripped over her gown before she could run far. She let out a short scream as he tackled her and punched her face to silence her shouts. He staggered to his feet again then kicked her once more. She heard more than felt the rib break.
The pain overwhelmed Avery's senses preventing her from being able to effectively fight back. Ferrik half-dragged, half-carried her down a narrow stairwell to an outdoor covered walkway.
"Just need to get out of the wards, then I can bring my prize back," he ranted. "I will get what I deserve. You are nothing but my ticket. Just a stupid human witch."
He wasn't even talking to her, just ranting to himself. Avery could smell the alcohol heavy on his breath and something else. There was something else that made his eyes bloodshot and pus seep from his scar.
She could barely struggle, every movement agony. Tears mixed with the blood on her face and ran down her neck.
Roedin! Her mind screamed. Please!
The trap was sprung, where were her friends?
They were almost to the courtyard where the slipstream platform sat outside the wards. Fireworks exploded, the sound mixing with shouts of joy from the guests. Ferrik glanced around the open space, but even the guards carelessly had their backs turned to watch the show. Sweat poured off Ferrik's brow and his body spasmed in jerks and fits while he muttered to himself. Then he closed his eyes to rally his power and Avery screamed into the hand over her mouth. Nothing happened.
Ferrik gasped, falling to one knee. He couldn't open a stream. He grabbed Avery by the hair and yanked her head back. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"
Reaching to his hip he pulled out a knife as light exploded around them. Ferrik squeezed his eyes shut and twisted his face away but continued to hold Avery to his chest with the knife at her throat.
"You fucking witch! What have you done to me?!" he screamed again, pressing the blade to her neck.
"Oxytropis. In my makeup," Avery said through clenched teeth. "Did you get a good taste?"
Ferrik roared and drew the blade across her throat.
The gravel bit into her skin through the dress. It's all she could think about even as the warm blood poured out of her. She saw feet. A familiar face in the distance. He lunged for her but Arctos and Tobias held him back. He was screaming on his knees.
"You can't touch her, Roedin! The oxytropis!"
Then Khalil's face before her, his eyes creased in concern. She tried to tell him not to touch her but he held his hands above her face and a deep warmth washed over her.
*******
Everything was happening too fast, in slow motion. Chaos reigned. Khalil stopped the bleeding and closed the wound but the oxytropis on her skin kept reopening it. Andas was barking orders to the guards. Ferrik was dragged away. Someone wrapped a cloak around Avery, shielding them from the poison. Khalil scooped her up and ran to the apartment.
"Turn on the shower! We have to rinse off the oxytropis first!"
Tobias ran to the bathing room and cranked the lever. Khalil placed Avery on the shower floor and carefully pulled off the cloak so that the water would rinse her skin. The red spilled over the edge and leaked onto the bathroom floor, turning the room into a grisly scene. He went to remove the contaminated dress but hesitated.
"Where are the females?" Khalil barked.
"We don't have time for this!" Tobias snapped manipulating the water with his magic to spray off her skin.
Adelyn appeared at the doorway but took one look at the bath of blood and ran to the toilet to vomit. Adelyn, who seen many battles over the centuries, was heaving her insides out at the sight of blood. Tobias leapt up and ran to her side.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he whispered as he held her hair back.
Adelyn convulsed and shivered as she clung to the porcelain. Tobias looked up at Khalil pleadingly as Aubrey and Joshua raced into the bathing room and took in the scene. Aubrey ran to the shower and reached out to pull off Avery's dress but her husband held her back.
"'Brey don't! The oxytropis!"
She pushed him off. "It'll pass. I'll take the brunt of it so Khalil can heal her. Or Hayden. Where is Hayden?" She started peeling off the blood-soaked dress.
Khalil went over to Adelyn, now curled into a ball on the floor. He placed one hand on her face and looked up at Tobias in surprise. "Poison."
"Get me some towels!" Aubrey ordered from across the room. Joshua went to the cupboard and brought them back to the shower, helping Aubrey wrap up the human.
Arctos was holding Roedin back at the door.
"Where is Hayden? He's been trained in healing, we need him here!" Aubrey shouted at them.
Hayden and Sari had not appeared in the courtyard as planned. At that moment the door to the suite burst open with Hayden carrying a limp Sari in his arms. Her dress was covered in vomit and her skin a pasty white. Hayden's eyes burned with fury and concern. He passed the brothers on his way into the bathing room.
"Turn on the shower!" Hayden begged. "It's poison!"
Aubrey removed Avery from the shower and carried her to the bedroom while Khalil held his hands to her throat.
"I need to stop the bleeding and restore the airway first. As long as Sari's still breathing she's second in line," Khalil called over his shoulder.
Tobias watched the exchange of females in the shower but didn't leave Adelyn's side.
"What the hell is going on?" he snarled.
Adelyn whimpered below him. "The drinks. We were taking Avery's drinks and exchanging them for field wine. A server kept bringing her cocktails, so we would switch." Tobias's head shot up and he looked from Hayden to Arctos and Roedin.
"Where's Niamh?"
Arctos dragged Roedin from the apartment and out into the hallway.
"Focus, brother! Use the Whispers. Where's Niamh?" ordered Arctos, but it wasn't needed. At the end of the hallway a figure in a green dress staggered towards them clutching her abdomen. The males sprinted for her as she mumbled incoherently and collapsed into them.
"I can't...I can't...He was there...but I..."
"It's okay, it's okay. We're here," Arctos reassured her.
Niamh let out a groan of pain as he scooped her up and carried her back to the suite. As he entered the suite Andas galloped down the hallway after them and stormed into the foyer.
"I've got Ferrik under guard and Caiaphas threatening war."
His eyes went wide as he took in Niamh in Arctos' arms. At that moment Tobias carried Adelyn out of the bathing room and across the foyer to a bedroom. Hayden appeared behind him with Sari wrapped in towels, shivering violently.
"All the females?" Andas asked in horror.
Hayden's temper flared. "Something was slipped into their drinks. Rather, Avery's drink that they switched out." He moved across the foyer and into their bedroom.
Andas spun and shouted at the guards to lock the palace down. Footsteps rang through the halls as soldiers issued commands. He turned back to the room but the males had carried the sick females away, leaving Roedin looking devastated in the middle.
The Equus walked up behind Roedin and growled through clenched teeth. "Come with me. I have need of a Whisperer." They went hunting.