I took in the blood staining the right side of his face and marking his entire side half a beat before he dragged me into his arms and kissed me so hard he stole the breath from my lungs.
I broke for him, falling apart and kissing him back as the scattered pieces of my soul reformed and burned for him so fiercely that it felt like my entire body must have been glowing.
His tongue pushed into my mouth and he growled possessively as the scent of smoke, cedar and man enveloped me and I felt the furious pounding of his heart against my chest, letting me know how close he’d come to a much worse fate.
I shoved him back suddenly, my fist snapping out and driving into his chest – which actually hurt like a bitch because his stupid muscles were rock solid so it was kinda like punching a wall. “Don’t fucking worry me like that,” I snarled before turning away and moving to greet my friends.
“Roxy!” Darius called after me, but I just flipped him off over my shoulder and kept walking.
Geraldine came rushing over to the herd with a mountain of clothes floating along behind her on a gust of air magic.
“Never fear, Grussy is here!” she called by way of welcome, clicking her fingers at a group of rebels who had followed her here so that they could help hand out the clothes to the Pegasus herd.
I spotted Catalina embracing Xavier while he crushed her in his arms, blood staining his skin and making my gut clench with the knowledge of the danger they’d been in.
Sofia squealed as she spotted me approaching and I threw my arms around her, squeezing her tight despite the fact that she was butt naked.
“Shit, I’ve missed you,” I breathed as she crushed me in her hold and let out a choked kind of laugh.
“Zodiac hasn’t been the same since you all left,” she replied just as another set of arms joined our hug and I was smashed between her and Tyler as he wrapped himself around me from behind.
“That had better not be your balls pushing up against my ass,” I warned him, though I was grinning, unable to really summon the strength to get angry while the relief over them being here and being okay filled me.
“My balls belong firmly to the girl on the other side of this hug sandwich,” Tyler replied. “So don’t worry about it, Princess.”
I snorted at the use of my title and let them squeeze me for a moment longer before the interruption of a pissed off Dragon snarling behind us drew my attention.
“Oh, Tyler there’s probably something you should know about me and Darius-” I began a beat before Tyler was ripped away from me with the force of a Dragon Shifter in beast mode and I whipped around to find him sprawled on the floor several feet away. Darius was stalking closer to him with death burning in his eyes.
“Where did the black rings in your eyes go?” Tyler asked as he stared up at Darius from the ground, his gaze shifting to find my eyes and a gasp escaping him as realisation hit. “No fucking way! How did you guys-”
He was cut off as Darius lunged at him, but I managed to flick an air shield up between them before he could attack and I stepped forward to grip his arm, tugging on it to force him to take notice of me.
“Hey dude, the only balls I have any interest in are yours, even if they aren’t going to be getting anywhere near me for the foreseeable future due to the stunt you just pulled by running off on me like that,” I snapped.
Darius ignored me, smoke spilling between his lips as he glared down at Tyler who raised his hands innocently from his position butt ass naked on the floor.
“I get it man, she’s your girl. Even if that makes no star damned sense after the whole Star Crossed thing. But whatever. Message received. No more naked hugs no matter how emotionally provocative the reunion is,” Tyler promised and Sofia stepped from foot to foot anxiously as she watched.
Darius still looked intent on murder, so I reached out and gripped his jaw in my hand, forcing his gaze around to meet mine.
“I’m guessing you’re all tapped out?” I asked him, the irritation in my voice pretty clear over the fact that he’d let himself end up vulnerable like that. No doubt he had damn good reason for it, but right now I was pissed at him for risking himself without having me there to watch his back, so I wasn’t going to be reasonable.
Darius grunted some kind of affirmative response that didn’t contain words and I tightened my grip on his jaw in warning, my fingernails biting into his skin just enough to make him take note of how serious I was being.
“Then I think instead of attacking my friends, you should be getting cleaned up and piling gold all over yourself to replenish, don’t you? I’ll come find you once I’ve made sure Sofia and Tyler are settled in. We need to talk about your macho bullshit.”