Jalkyn woke slowly, his head pounding. He felt fuzzy, the recognizable remnant of a magically induced sleep.

He sat up slowly, bringing a hand to his forehead and groaned. Or started to. His jaw hurt and he quickly shut it again, bringing a hand up to prod at it tenderly. It was broken. His limited training as a healer told him that much.

He winced and dragged himself to his feet slowly, his head pounding.

Slowly, as his ears stopped ringing and his vision cleared, the sound of yelling met his ears.

He winced and began to stumble away from the yelling. His head hurt too much.

He turned a corner and came upon one of the most disturbing scenes of his life. He gaped. Oh hell no. That was not normal. Goddamn. This was why he didn’t allow himself to be put into magical sleeps. It was deeper than how he usually slept. The farther he went into unconsciousness, the less control he had over his powers. Innis had told him to drop his shields. He didn’t have shields, not for his powers. Rather, he locked the hunger and lust inside, within his skin. All that contained power did create an aura of sorts, the thing Innis had mistaken for shields.

Jalkyn sucked at shielding and lessons with Meara didn’t help. The man didn’t like him much and wasn’t particularly patient or helpful so Jalkyn did as best he could and faked the rest to the best of his abilities.

He sighed and pulled his ainmhain lust closer to himself. He coated himself in personal glamour to make himself invisible to the pair on the ground and was surprised to find it wasn’t more of a struggle than it usually was. He thought about that as he strode through the hall unseen. He had been out for who knows how long- long enough that Innis, Iain, and Sin were gone. Well, Sin and Iain could be screaming at each other back there. He vaguely remembered Cayden, but he was accounted for, half of the pair that he had just passed.

He didn’t have enough energy that he would dare heal himself or do any magic other than this, but he could walk and he hadn’t fallen on Cayden and his partner like a sex-crazed maniac and that was definitely impressive for him after what had to be at least awhile after sex. Maybe it was the proximity? As he strode through the halls, he saw more couples twined together and winced. Had to be. So much sex, he had probably just sucked up some of the energy given off.

He sighed and headed towards Sinjin’s room. Maybe he could get the man to fuck him again. His ass still hurt, but he needed something now-ish. He wasn’t desperate, but he was horny and tired and Sinjin was pretty much the only one who wouldn’t hurt him and wouldn’t be pissed off at him for turning them all into basically bitches in heat.

He smirked faintly, wondering what had happened to Iain. He made the rest of the prudish faeries look wanton. Jalkyn hadn’t been here too long, but he hadn’t even heard a rumor of Iain taking a lover, past or present. It could quite well be impossible- Iain was huge, bigger than Sinjin and if his equipment matched, he would break most faeries in half.

Jalkyn changed his glamour from invisibility to his usual projection of an uninjured self and knocked on the door. Not really expecting an answer, he was reaching to open the door when it flew open.

His eyes widened and he fell back, clutching at the wall. It was only a moment later that he realized that it was a bad idea to show weakness to someone he was well and truly scared of. But Iain didn’t smirk at him, didn’t mock him. He looked as panicked as Jalkyn felt, although he definitely wasn’t scared of Jalkyn.

Jalkyn began backing away, down the hall, but Iain grabbed him by his shirt and yanked him inside.

Jalkyn flinched, but Iain didn’t hit him. Instead he carried him into the bedroom.

Jalkyn tensed, mind going straight to worst-case scenario. Iain could seriously hurt him. He squeezed his eyes shut, and winced as he was thrown. He landed on a soft squishy surface that bounced. He was going to get raped. Maybe he should just give into the need now.

“Heal him.”

Jalkyn’s eyes flew open and he stared at Iain. His eyes widened. He hadn’t noticed before but Iain was wrapped only in a sheet that was curled around him toga style. Where his skin showed was marked with deep scratches.

Iain glared at him. “Turn around, whore,” he snapped.

Jalkyn turned and his jaw dropped. He quickly scrambled to his knees and crawled over to Sinjin. The man was bleeding heavily from dozens of bites and scratches and he was bruised heavily.

Jalkyn sank into a healing trance effortlessly, the green glow flowing from his hands. He managed to stop the blood flow from the deepest wound, a bite on his shoulder, before the glow faded. He didn’t say anything, he couldn’t, but he wanted to start screaming. Iain had raped Sinjin. The quick overview his powers had provided had told him that. Sinjin’s bruises were centered on his thighs, wrists, and back and his ass had been abused.

“You’re not healing him,” Iain growled.

Jalkyn whirled around and gave Iain the finger.

Iain growled and Jalkyn made a soft sound as he was picked up and slammed against the bed. It still hurt despite how soft the surface was.

One large hand coiled around his throat. “Heal him, or I will snap your neck, slut.”

Jalkyn paled and stared up at Iain. It was there in his face- he would kill him.

So Jalkyn could do the only thing he could do- he unleashed the Hunger on Iain.

Iain’s silver eyes widened, but he didn’t grab Jalkyn. His eyes were focused on Sinjin behind him. Shit.

Jalkyn grabbed his chin and turned his face towards him, but Iain didn’t seem to even notice him.

“Sin,” he breathed.

Jalkyn’s breath sped up. Fuck. He couldn’t let Iain rape Sin again. His body probably couldn’t handle it.

Maybe an illusion would work. Quickly, before Iain could make the lunge he was tensing for Jalkyn cast an illusion over Sinjin so he would look like Jalkyn and changed his own illusion so he looked like an uninjured Sinjin.

It worked. Iain was far enough gone because of the lust that he didn’t even question the abrupt change. Iain tackled Jalkyn, shoving him against the bed and kissing him brutally.

Jalkyn bit down a scream and deepened the illusion so Iain could Sin’s voice whisper, “Not so hard. My mouth hurts.”

Iain’s lips softened and moved down, making Jalkyn go limp in relief. He managed to completely sidestep the cut on his neck as well. It was all he could do to stay conscious as Iain took him roughly against the bed. It was as painful as taking Sinjin and Lonnie earlier, more so, because Iain didn’t prep or use lube.

But, when Iain came, a rush of power swept over him.

Jalkyn gasped and lost his hold on the illusion. He collapsed backwards and he barely noticed Iain start yelling. His hands fisted in the covers and he arched against them.

Iain grabbed him by his shoulders- his clothes had been shredded and fallen off him.

“I should kill you,” Iain hissed.

Jalkyn just stared at him. His jaw was still broken- he wasn’t talking. Instead, he called that green glow to his hands and reached back towards Sinjin, ignoring the press of claws on his bare shoulders.

Iain glared at him but didn’t let go. Slowly, his eyes widened. “Your jaw…” he whispered.

Jalkyn barely heard. He was concentrated completely on the single hand resting on Sinjin’s stomach. He could see the green glow expanding from the corner of his eye and could feel the deep cuts closing, the bite marks healing. Sinjin’s bruises faded and healed, the blood vessels under the skin repairing themselves.

Finally, Sinjin was completely healed.

He sighed, but no other sound besides soft breathing reached his ears. Jalkyn reached towards Iain, figuring the man deserved it for the overwhelming amount of power that had just swept over Jalkyn, but Iain darted away, throwing himself back.

Jalkyn didn’t bother to pursue him. Instead, he raised his hand to his face and healed it, the bone of his jaw knitting together almost painlessly. The bruises, deep and aching, faded to nothing and the deep scratches on his shoulder and back that Iain left faded.

He yawned and crawled over so he could collapse next to Sinjin, no more thoughts of Iain crossing his mind. He felt warm and sated and comfortable and drifted off to sleep in moments.