Enslaved

Chapter 18

Ryuu's blood was boiling as he stared at Kaida's quivering form splattered in green blood. If he had been any later, if he hadn't been on night duty- he shook the thoughts out of his head. He had made it on time, that was all that mattered. His gaze locked back onto his shaking mate where she stood in front of him, green blood speckled on her face, neck, arms, and clothes from the now headless hybrid spy. Ryuu looked to his sword fleetingly and shook it, spraying some residual blood onto the grass before he sheathed it behind his back and looked back up to Kaida. Her eyes were glued on the ground so he moved her to his right and knelt down to look up at her.

"Kaida, did he hurt you?" Ryuu forced his voice to stay calm but winced at the rough undercurrent. "Are there more of them?"

Kaida's eyes briefly met his before they looked away and Ryuu bit back his curse and stood up. His eyes did a quick perimeter scan before his gaze returned to Kaida and he laid a hand on her upper forearm gently.

"Kaida, I need you to walk with me to my cabin so I know you're safe. Kajeel can protect you there while I fly a perimeter check, okay?"

Without so much as a word she turned and walked towards Ryuu's large cabin in the center of the clearing and Ryuu walked a few steps behind her, his heart aching to be able to comfort her but not wanting to scare her more. She ascended his porch and walked up to the door before stopping and not moving another inch, her eyes on the wood paneling of the floor. Ryuu carefully sidestepped her and opened the door, ducking inside and listening to her near-silent footfalls behind him followed by the click of the door as she shut it.

He examined his foyer, the stairs straight in front of him, the wide open window-covered kitchen and dining area to his left and the moderately sized living room on his right where he spotted the shadow of wings. He walked into the living room, praying that Kaida followed him, and saw Kajeel laying on the couch with his left wing draped over him and his right wing stretched over the paper-filled coffee table. His head was on the edge of the couch closest to Ryuu and resting on the armrest of the couch, the pillow on the floor where it had fallen. Ryuu sighed quietly in relief when his ears picked up Kaida walking into the room as he walked over to Kajeel and shook his right shoulder, hard.

"Get up, Kajeel. There's been an attack."

Kajeel groaned but slowly sat up, stretching his arms above his head and sliding his legs off the couch while pulling his wings behind him. He rubbed a temple before looking at Ryuu, his eyes flicking to Kaida just behind him before returning to Ryuu.

"An attack?" His voice was rough from sleep. "Why is Kaida covered in hybrid blood?"

Ryuu growled at him as his wings extended slightly with both impatience and anger at his second's attitude towards something as serious as an attack on their base. Worse yet, on his mate.

"It was one of the Emperor's hybrids. Help Kaida; show her where the bathroom is and give her some clothes to change into. I have to fly perimeter to make sure there are none of those vermin left." Ryuu's voice was full of both fury and slight panic at the thought of an infiltration while he stood here discussing with his sleepy second. "Now!"

Kajeel stood and, after shooting a tired glare to Ryuu, walked around him and up to Kaida. Ryuu snarled before whisking away through the room and heading straight to the door, blocking out Kajeel's talking. His hand had just closed around the doorknob when a small hand grabbed his left wrist and he halted in his tracks, slowly turning around and looking over his left wing to meet Kaida's mismatched eyes.

"Valik." Her voice was just as beautiful as the first time he had heard it and he swallowed a sigh, knowing now was not the time. "Check the room."