"You don't understand love. If I am to use whatever little power I could garner, she has told me that using it would directly affect you. It would injure you, which means it will affect our babies," said Daryn with misery all over his face. His wolf wanted to protect his mate and his kids. 

All at once Dawn heard another explosion coming from a distance. At first she was confused but then shoved the thoughts that occurred in her mind. 

Dawn removed Daryn's hand from the face and said, "Look at me baby." 

He turned his body towards her and placed his head on her lap. She started stroking his hair gently and said, "You must continue to work on your power Daryn. That's the only way we can counter her."

"No!" he said decidedly. "I will never ever let her injure you with her invisible powers. Don't you get it? Because she can't reach you physically at the moment, she is trying to weaken you through me."

Dawn continued to stroke his hair gently as his misery reached her heart. She leaned to kiss him and rested her head on his. "I love you…" 

Daryn grasped her tightly. "Every day for me is like I am struggling to come out of the surface of water…" 

Suddenly Dawn got up. "I have an idea." 

Daryn groaned. "Woman, why don't you rest? You have a full day ahead of you yesterday. I swear if anyone else comes here instead of you, I am going to gouge her with my claws. I don't care for the competition!" 

Dawn chuckled. "See, don't use your powers on women who resemble me. Use them on someone smaller, maybe like a servant or on an anomaly you see. As for the women who resemble me, use your claws on them." Dawn was so jealous when that female had sat between his knees during the tournament that she wanted to wring her neck. 

Daryn jerked his head up to look at his jealous wife. The sadness that had shrouded his mind cracked up and he laughed. He tapped her nose and said, "I have a liking for jea-hell-us Lunas!" 

She frowned. "Lunas? Make that singular immediately, else face my wrath, Lykae!" 

He stared at her and said, "Lunas." 

She narrowed her eyes. "I am giving you one more chance!" 

"Lunas." 

"Damn you Lykae!" she said a little loudly. "Now face my wrath!" 

Before she could leap out of the bed, she was already pinned under Daryn—his silver crescent tattoo pressing her lips. She bit his nipple over there, and the next two hours they spent pleasuring each other. 

By the end of it, Daryn said, "I love you wrath." 

She bit her lip.

In the night when she was about to sleep, he murmured, "Lunas." 

---

Emma took her back to her tent before sunrise. A thick fog surrounded the entire place. As soon as Emma left, Dawn said, "Come out Ileus."

Ileus emerged from the fog looking disheveled. His shirt was torn and there were wounds on his arms and torso. His face was pale and there were black and blue marks on his body.

"Ileus!" Dawn rushed to him and helped him to take off the tattered shirt and make him sit on the bed. "What happened to you?" His skin was blue on the left side of his stomach. "Shit! You have internal bleeding." She rushed to soak cloth for him in cold water. 

Ileus whimpered and then bit his lip in pain. He closed his eyes. When Dawn removed the cloth, he drew an invisible ancient symbol on the injury. 

"What was that?" asked Dawn as she once again pressed the wet cloth on him. "Hold it here," she said. She started to clean the rest of his skin when he held the cloth. 

"That's a symbol for healing," he replied. 

Dawn noticed the dagger of Zor'gan strapped on his belt. "Oh you got that? Sherwin managed to make it sharper? But how did you incur those injuries? Tell me Ileus!" she said, sounding miffed. 

Ileus lay back on the bed and closed his eyes, as Dawn continued to clean his wounds. 

A few minutes later Brantley came. He was looking annoyed as hell. Not able to hold his anger, he blasted, "Boy! You are so immature. I am fed up with your antics. Couldn't you simply come out of that place? What was the necessity of fighting with the winged demons? Don't you know that the claw on their wings could potentially harm you for the rest of your life?" 

Ileus turned his face away. "I didn't really have an option." 

"I was waiting for you to give me a signal as decided! Damn it!"

Dawn was looking back and forth at them. She interjected, "Can someone fill in the details to me please?" 

Ileus took out the jambīya from the belt and gave it to Dawn. "I had gone to get this back from Sherwin yesterday night. I had asked Brantley to stay back and wait for my signal in case anything untoward took place. When I came out of the tavern, I was suddenly attacked by a horde of winged demons." He clenched his teeth. "Once again!" 

Dawn took the dagger. She asked. "What the hell?" 

"They wanted to steal this dagger from me. And this is one of the main tasks for which Dolgra is here—to kill me and take back the jambīya." He laughed. "They hurled their special ammos at me, which contained aíma and fire. But they will never be able to take it from me!"

Dawn's eyes widened. "Those explosions I heard yesterday—those were from the alley?" 

"Yes…"

She pressed her mouth with her hand. "Oh my God! You went through all this to get a dagger?" 

"That dagger is—" he started coughing. Blood pooled in his mouth. 

"Stay quiet!" said Brantley and walked up to him. "Dawn, get another wet cloth for him."

Dawn nodded and by the time she was back with another cloth, she saw that Ileus was surrounded with soft green lights that shimmered over his body and wrapped him in a layer. There were green stars floating all around him and as they touched him, marks of his body started disappearing slowly. Warmth spread and his skin's color pinked again. Dawn stared at Brantley from whose hands the lights were constantly emanated. 

Ileus closed his eyes, feeling comfortable. "That is going to deplete your energy Brantley…" 

"Yes! But what else can I do when we have someone like you with us?" He grated. "Now sleep." 

Ileus slumbered into deep sleep. 

Brantley sent more healing beams in his direction and then walked back. The lights left his fingers and coiled around Ileus. He took a deep breath and sat on the chair. The sun had risen and the guards could come anytime to take Dawn to the arena. "Dawn, the dagger of Zor'gan is the only thing that can kill Dolgra over here. In fact that is one of the three things that can kill those demons. Dolgra is going to do her best to kill you because she is no fool to not understand that Ileus has given this dagger to you. That was why she sent her army to kill him. In that alley, Ileus fought with around fifty demons alone until I came." A muscle feathered in his jaw as he looked at him. "Idiot!" He turned his attention back to her. "Plunge the dagger in her heart without remorse! Remember, Without Remorse…"