Evans, Gabrielle - From This Moment [The Moonlight Breed 7] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic Ma by Gabrielle Evans (ebook reader with highlight function .TXT) 📗

had subsided.

“I know. Cole is trackin’ the GPS in my phone. Enforcers are

flyin’ in as we speak. They’re just waitin’ on the location of this lab.”

78                        Gabrielle Evans

“So, what do we do now?” They were so close. He couldn’t

fathom turning around  when their destination was within reach.

“We keep followin’ your nose,” Devlin answered with a short dip

of his head. “Then we get you on a chopper back home.”

“All righty then.” A huge yawn rolled up from his diaphragm, and

Zavion  snuggled closer to Cian’s neck.  As long as he was able to find  The Hive before they packed him off back to Wyoming, he could live with that plan. It wasn’t like he would be much use in a fight anyway.

“Maybe I should ride with ya.” Surveying him with clear concern,  Devlin stepped forward, but he didn’t make it far. With a loud snort,  Cian whipped his head around, shoving his nose into his brother’s midsection so that he was forced to retreat several steps. “I’ve got  no designs on your mate,” Devlin assured  Cian. “I do have concerns that he’s goin’ to fall and break his damn neck, though.”

Cian snorted again and shook his head so that his mane flapped in  Zavion’s face. Then very carefully, he lowered himself to the ground and shifted so that Zavion found himself wrapped around his mate’s

very  nude and very human back.

“Ya can keep all your  private bits to yourself, Devlin Murphy.”  The possessiveness was evident in his lover’s tone, and Zavion  couldn’t stop himself from smiling against the dewy skin of Cian’s

shoulder. “And you’ll want to keep your eyes upward if you’re  intendin’ to keep those bits and bobs.”

Considering Zavion and Devlin were both naked as they day they  were born, he could understand  Cian’s jealousy. He did think his

lover was overreacting just a little, though. Plus his head pounded like  someone had nailed him between the eyes with a baseball bat, and he  didn’t appreciate all the  shouting.

“Can you please keep it down?” he asked with a pathetic moan.  Even the sound of his own voice made him feel like his eardrums

were going to bleed.

From This Moment                       79

Pulling Zavion around to his lap, Cian gave him an odd look. “No one is yellin’, Zavion.” Cian gripped his chin and tilted his head up.  “How bad is it?”

“Just a headache,” he lied. “We should get going if we’re going to

meet the others.”

“Stubborn fool,” Cian mumbled in  clear frustration.

“It’s nothing major. I can keep going. Hopefully, we’re close, and  then we can turn it over to the big guns.”

“I don’t like this.” It had become Cian’s mantra over the past  week,  but what he did and didn’t like wasn’t going to change  anything. With a disgruntled huff, he turned to cup  Zavion’s cheek  and peck him on the lips. “Can ya hold on, then?”

“I’m not going to fall asleep or pass out. Don’t worry. Your  brother’s oversized penis will come nowhere near me.”

Cian growled and pinched Zavion on the butt. “Just how would ya  know what my brother’s cock looks like?”

“Because he’s ass naked?”

“Well, stop lookin’.”

Zavion laughed, though it was quiet and a little raspy. They’d

have to work on his mate’s jealousy, even  if he did find it kind of

cute.

A sharp pain stabbed through his temple, causing him to grit his teeth together to keep from crying out. His vision dimmed, his muscles cramped, and another wave of nausea rolled through him.

They  had  better find their destination soon, because he didn’t know how much longer he was going to last.

* * * *

This was stupid, idiotic, foolhardy, unwise, and a slew of other

synonyms  that  described how much Cian detested  dragging Zavion

through the woods in his condition.

80                        Gabrielle Evans

By the time they’d reached the other side of the turtle-shaped rock,  Zavion was shivering from head to toe, his skin felt clammy, and each breath stuttered through his blue-tinted lips in a wheezing gurgle. His heartbeat was still steady, but it felt slower than it should have been, and every new coughing fit sprayed more blood into his pale hands.

Suggesting the man shift into his fox form to combat the cold had seemed like a good idea at the time. After listening to the agonizing moans as Zavion struggled through his transformation, though, Cian had internally berated himself for a half hour.

When the seizures began, he’d never felt more useless or helpless in his life. Shifting back to his human skin had slowed their progress, but with Zavion only half-conscious, he’d needed arms to carry his

mate.

Approximately a mile beyond the boulder, they encountered a dirt road that traveled north and south. Cian didn’t want to disturb his

lover, but needed to know which direction to go. “Where to, Zavion?”

Lifting his furry head, Zavion sniffed at the air, pointed his  muzzle to the north, and whimpered. Continuing their trek, Cian  rubbed his cheek over the top of the tiny fox’s head. “Hold on,  a  ghrá,” he whispered when Zavion went limp in his arms once again.  “Stay with me.”

“You must be kiddin’ me,” Flynn grumbled twenty minutes later  when the trees on either side of the road parted to reveal a large  rustic-looking building, complete with a parking lot and  welcome  sign. “A  park  ranger station?”

Zavion  shook violently as he whined and whimpered in obvious  fear. His muscles tightened, his spine stiffened, and his body began to  reshape right there in Cian’s arms until he was completely human  again. The metamorphosis took an unusually long time, and the  tortured sounds spilling from his mouth made Cian feel like someone  had sliced open his heart and left it to bleed.

From This Moment                       81

“No,” Zavion gasped, grabbing at Cian’s shoulders and clinging to  him as much as his waning strength would allow. “I can’t go back in  there.”  Cough.  “I want to go home now.”  Cough.  “Please take me  home.” The last plea was ended with a violent coughing fit that made  Cian wince.

“A car is on the way to take us to the helicopter,” Devlin informed  him