Free Healed by Fire by Catherine Banks

away.”
    The Sidhe prince bowed, but I saw his jaw
bulge as he ground his teeth together. “Of course.”
    The vampire prince sighed. “We’d better not
die. I want to live to two thousand years. If I stay your friend I
may not live that long though.”
    The werewolf prince smiled. “Oh come on. You
know you’re excited to finally get a chance to meet Rhea. Besides,
we haven’t had a good challenge in a while.”
    “You’re lucky I’m so fond of the two of
you,” the vampire prince said as he started walking away.
    “Don’t let him fool you. He’s been worried
about you as well. He was in an uncontrollable rage when we
couldn’t find you,” the Sidhe prince said with a fond smile on his
face.
    “How long was I missing?” I asked
curiously.
    “One hundred and five years,” he said
without hesitation.
    I hadn’t known my eyes could open so wide or
my mouth. “One hundred years?!”
    The werewolf prince nodded his head.
    “No wonder it was so hard to control my wolf
when Selene found me. I was in wolf form for…” I tried to calculate
how long I’d been a wolf, but it was all a blur now. “I was with
Selene sixty years so that means I was a wolf for forty five
years!”
    The werewolf prince stepped in front of me.
“I’m leaving now. I expect you to stay out of trouble.” He laughed
and shook his head. “Saying that to you is like telling a vampire
to stay away from the darkness.” He sighed and pressed his forehead
against mine. “Stay safe until I return. Please. I could not bear
to lose you again.”
    I inhaled his scent and my hands found their
way to his hard, broad chest. “I will be anxiously awaiting your
return.” I leaned into him and inhaled his scent again, trying to
hold it in as long as I could. I wanted some way to keep his scent
with me, but before I could ask he was taking his shirt off and
handing it to me. I held it away from my body and smiled at him.
“Thank you.”
    He kissed me quickly on the lips then ran
after the vampire prince. “If I don’t leave now I fear I never
will.”
    The vampire prince put his arm around the
shorter man’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, she’ll look exactly the same
when you get back. That’s one of the many perks of mating with
preternatural women.”
    The werewolf prince laughed and shook his
head. “Always looking on the bright side aren’t you?”
    The vampire laughed and looked up at the
dragons in their nests around the Lair. “When you’re a child of the
darkness, that’s the only place you can look.”
    I took a sniff from the shirt and exhaled
softly. “Come back soon.”
     
     
    ~~~
     
KODA
     

Chapter Seven
     
    Not only had I been forced to hide in this
tent while Ares met with the Council and Artemis, but now I was
being forced to wait while he went on a treacherous journey. I had
been beside my brother since I was weaned and I did not like being
away from him now. I trusted Victor to guard Ares, but was only
seventy percent sure that he would give his life for Ares’. I would
never even hesitate. Ares was my alpha, my brother and my only true
pack mate since Matt’s death.
    I had felt sorrow at Matt’s betrayal and
death, but nothing compared to the pain at Artemis’ kidnapping. She
was so pure and so sweet, the most perfect female in any race for a
million years.
    And yet she was not mine to have, except as
a pack member. The one kiss we had shared resonated in my skull and
burned my heart with longing. I knew she was Ares’ and even
Achilles’ before she would ever be mine, but it didn’t stop me from
wanting and wishing.
    Once she had fully accepted Ares as her passt genau I had given up on thoughts of courting her and
simply enjoyed her company as part of the pack. Then when she had
accepted the challenge from Natasha, there had been a glimmer of
hope for me. If she had lost and asked for mercy I would have left
Ares’ side to be with her, but her love for Ares was too strong.
She had basically died to