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I woke to an explosion of pain.
Still groggy and half-asleep, it took me a minute to figure out what the fuck was happening. And in that space of time I got clocked in the face again.
"Son of a bitch!" I rasped out, reaching into the dark to trap the flailing arm that smacked me in the stomach. "Oisin?"
A broken scream was my only answer, as Oisin thrashed and twisted on the bed beside me. The dim lamp on the nightstand flicked on, and I met Con's worried brown eyes. He reached out a hand and clumsily caught Oisin's other arm when it went whipping toward the human's chest. "What's wrong with him?"
I shook my head, trying to restrain the wiry fae, rolling over him to hold him down. He was stronger than he looked. His eyes were squeezed shut, and he was drawing in ragged, panting breaths while his whole body trembled.
I felt a wave of magic building in him and darted my eyes toward Con. "Fuck. His magic...Con, get out of here before he loses it!"
"Oisin!" I yelled as Con slipped out of bed and almost fell on his face, his feet tangled in the sheet. "Come on, fae, wake the fuck up!" I tried to give him a shake, but it was everything I could do to hold him down. I outweighed him, but he was as twisty and contortionistic as a wet cat.
"What's going on?" Hisashi's deep voice was rough with sleep.
"I don't know," Con said from across the room. "Do you think someone cast a spell on him or something?" I could hear the anguish in his voice. It might seem odd for the two men to share a house and a lover, but he and Oisin seemed to really care about each other.
I glanced up to see Kaimana slide into the room and press against Con's side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they stood in the doorway.
Oisin screamed again, then called out in a language I didn't understand, his voice breaking. He almost slithered free of my grip. "Oisin, please," I said, my own voice cracking at the sound of his pain.
Hisashi knelt by the bed, bare-chested and sleep rumpled, his eyes liquid silver. He was looking at Oisin, but it seemed like he was seeing something else. He batted a hand through the air around the fae. "Gods. Get off him."
I glared. "Well excuse me. You let him punch you in the face few times." He might be small, but the fae wasn't weak.
Hisashi turned his eyes to me and I shivered under that silver gaze. "Not you. Them." He waved his hand again, gesturing to something I couldn't see. My hackles rose.
Oisin whimpered.
Hisashi leaned over the fae and gripped his bare shoulders. Pain crackled across the fox's face like lightning. He sucked in a deep breath and pressed his forehead to Oisin's. "Come back home, pretty little fae."
I felt magic surge between them, so strong it made my hands tingle. Oisin stopped flailing, and I risked letting go of his arms.
"Hisashi?" I said slowly. "What are you doing to him?"
His fox ears were out, and that stunning bundle of white tails whipped around his back as he half-shifted to more easily tap his powers. "Oisin," he whispered. "Don't get lost there. Come back to Gesa. She needs you."
I reached out and stroked Oisin's sleek red hair, now a tangled mess against his head. "I really do."
The fae's eyes opened and his body went rigid. The emerald green orbs widened, and he lifted his hands to push at Hisashi's broad chest. "What the hell? Fox?"
Hisashi pulled back, dropping a kiss on Oisin's forehead before sitting back on his knees. "There he is." His voice sounded shaky.
Oisin sat up and ran a hand through his hair, clearly agitated. "What in all the realms just happened?"
I shook my head.
"Nightmare," Hisashi whispered. "You were having a nightmare. About the past."
Oisin was out of bed so fast my eyes could barely follow his movements. He paced toward Hisashi with death in his eyes. "You! You were in my head? I told you not to touch me, fox. And you used your magic on me?" He clenched his fists around the shimmering swords that had appeared in his hands from thin air.
I leapt up and grabbed Oisin's arm to stop him from attacking the poor fox.
"Jesus, Buddha and Odin, Oisin. He was helping you. Calm down." I gave him a little shake. "That scared the living shit out of us! You wouldn't wake up."
Oisin finally seemed to register that he wasn't alone. His eyes took in the destroyed bed, Hisashi still kneeling on the floor, and Con and Kaimana in the doorway looking confused and worried. "I don't have nightmares."
I scrubbed a hand over my face. "Sure you don't. That was just what? A wet dream?"
He glared at me. Then he turned back to Hisashi, the blades disappearing in the blink of an eye. "What did you do?"
The fox was still half-shifted, and he stayed where he was, kneeling and vulnerable at Oisin's feet in nothing but a pair of underwear that left nothing to the imagination. "I'm sorry," he said, his deep voice barely a whisper. "I couldn't just let you hurt like that."
The fae took a deep breath and stood there glaring.
"Oisin," I said, dropping his arm to sit back down on the bed. "I could feel your magic. You were about to lose your shit. Maybe everything that's been happening lately with your family stressed you to the breaking point and—"
He closed his eyes. "Leave."
I gaped at him. "What? He just kept you from hurting everyone here and you want to send him away? Gods, Oisin, don't be a complete asshole."
The fae opened his eyes and gave me a look. "Not him. You." He glanced at Con and Kaimana. "All of you. Everyone out but the fox." He pointed a slender finger at the door.
I cast a look at Hisashi. The poor guy still hadn't gotten up. His fox ears were pulled down slightly, like a dog about to be disciplined. He glanced up at me. "Go. The fae and I need to talk."
I narrowed my eyes at him. More secrets. Just what had Hisashi seen when he touched my lying little fae?
"Fine," I growled. "It's not like I wanted to be in my own damned bedroom in the middle of the night. Not like I wanted to sleep or anything."
Con beckoned me toward him with his free arm. "Come on, Gesa. We can go to my room. You can sleep in there if you want."
As if any of us would be going back to sleep after this little shitfest. Oisin didn't lose control of anything. Ever. Let alone his magic. I glanced over my shoulder one last time to see Oisin's attention firmly fixed on the fox. "Stop staring at me, gryphon," he said without even looking at me. "I won't murder your new pet, I promise."
I snorted and closed the door behind me.