Fuck no. Ryder spat the words and Damien sent them to us telepathically.
Ryder and Theo locked eyes as a silent battle commenced. This is our chance to help her. I have no idea what the hell he gave her, and until we know, all we can do is sit around and pray she wakes up. What if whatever he gave her ends her? He had a purpose in coming here. I just got her; I’ve barely had any time with her; I won’t let her go. I’m not going to just stand here and do nothing. There’s five of us and one of him. Heal. Him.
After a short stand-off, Ryder finally nodded his head once. Fine. Growling, he pushed his fingers through his hair, leaving some blood clinging to the purple tips. “I hope this fucking hurts.”
Crouching down next to the part-blood, he hovered his hands about two inches above the guy’s body. Closing his eyes, I watched as Ryder’s hands glowed blue while he read the man’s injuries. Without any fanfare, Ryder pressed his hands into the man’s ribs, eliciting a scream from him as he hastily knit Michael’s bones back together.
Ryder’s grin edged towards feral as he retracted his magic as quickly as he had started it. “It’s enough.” His voice was rougher than it had been only minutes before, deepened by the magic of his animal.
Michael was gasping, breathing heavily, his face white when Ryder stepped away. I growled. I didn’t like the idea of the bastard having any kind of relief. The momentary glimpses we had gotten from Nix during her first shift were only snippets of her pain. He should suffer just as much.
“Speak. Now.” I’d had enough. He could give us the information we needed, or he could let me undo all the work Ryder had just done as I knocked him out again.
“Kill.” Theo’s voice was hard—a warning to reign in my temper. Narrowing his eyes on Michael as the man sat up on the hard ground, he pushed for answers. “What did you give her?”
“It’s Vish Kanya venom.” Snarls ripped through the clearing, the most ferocious coming from the kitsune holding Nix. He may not be right there with us—instead, he was guarding Nix—but he was far from left out of the proceedings.
“Fuck.” Ryder visibly paled and hurried away, heading back towards Nix to check on her.
“Why?” Theo ignored Ryder, keeping his eyes trained on the murdering, sadistic creep. “That’s not an easy substance to get ahold of, and there are far easier ways to kill someone.” The menace in his tone did not go unnoticed.
“She’d just revive if I used other means.”
“Except for iron, but you already know that.” The conversation between Theo and Michael continued as we all listened in. “Hence the knife.” Theo motioned to the weapon lying in the grass several feet away. “You knew she was a Phoenix. You didn’t want to kill her.”
I was trying to piece together the information, but it was hard to think through my anger. Thank fuck we had Theo.
A disturbed laugh came from Michael. “Oh, I have no problem killing her.” Damien and I roared at the same time, but Theo stayed a hand in our direction.
“Careful, part-blood.” The menace wasn’t lost on him.
Sobering, the asshole rephrased. “I don’t care what happens to her if she’s useless to me. I expected the bitch to change years ago.” Hiro snarled through our mental line. Listening to this fucker talk shit about our girl was pushing all of our patience.
“What does it matter to you if she changes or not?” I couldn’t keep quiet any longer as I spit the words out.
The sick bastard chuckled, his eyes glinting. “Not so smart after all, are ya? Don’t know much about Phoenix shifters, do ya? That girl’s worth her weight in gold. All I needed was her Phoenix’s blood. Could’ve made a fortune selling it. Stupid slut, too fucked up to shift. Her human blood is useless! I needed to bleed her Phoenix!” He was shouting the words by the time he finished, trying to get his eyes on Nix’s prone form. His face flushed with his anger and his eyes brightened as he yelled towards the other end of the clearing. Turning back to us, he sat up. “I could make you all rich beyond belief. I’ll let ya have a cut if you turn her over to me now. I fucking know she should be able to shift. Now, with that there venom, she should be a gold mine.”
The growl that ripped through the clearing wasn’t mine. I hadn’t had the chance to get a sound out before Theo’s form bulked up in size, and he grabbed the man by the scruff of his shirt and hauled him up off the ground, winding up with his other fist and letting it fly in the asshole’s stomach.
“You fucking bastard!” Again, not my words… even though I was damn well thinking them. “You killed her!” The feminine cry let the air as Rini strode across the clearing, purpose flaring in her eyes as tears streamed down her face.
Theo shoved the asshole away, pushing him towards the ground before he turned to catch Rini as she flew toward Michael. She shouldn’t be here; her bears would kill her if they knew she had put herself in danger like this.
Everything happened so fast after that. Just as Ryder, Damien, and I started to move towards Michael so that Theo could deal with Rini, the bastard pulled the gun from the back of his waistband.
“THEO!” Damien roared as we rushed forward.
Aim.
Theo turned, throwing himself in front of Rini.
Fire.
The silver of the bullet glinted in the moonlight as it flew towards Theo. It was like everything had changed to slow motion, and my eyes widened as I watched it pierce his skin. Grabbing hold of his stomach, he went down.
“Theo!” Rini screamed and lunged at his fallen form.
Anger burst from me as I unleashed my Puca, who had rushed forward the second we saw the gun. I let his magic flow freely from my fingertips, aiming our illusion around the clearing. The hallucination of thick fog swirled around everyone, blinding Michael and the guys in the process. Faking him out, I threw projected images of Damien and me around the clearing. The dark misty shapes flashed in and out, giving Michael a false sense of direction.
Killian! Help me! I can’t see! I need to get to Theo! Ryder begged telepathically.
With my hands spread out to my sides, I stood with my feet braced and threw my magic around the clearing, shielding my brothers as they moved. My eyes closed as I worked on sending them images of reality. I focused on getting Ryder to Theo first, watching as he reached him and knelt down, immediately applying pressure to the wound to staunch the Aussie’s bleeding. Theo coughed and gurgled, his eyes glazed over from the pain, as Ryder’s hands started to glow with healing power. Once Ryder was settled I checked on Hiro. He was cradling Nix’s body against his as he ran her to safety and was almost to the barrier. Changing my focus again, I pushed through the illusions I had created and sent the images to Damien, essentially giving him eyes. Michael was blindly aiming around the clearing, trying to get a lock on one of us—all illusions—as he backed up, working to find an exit.
It’s silver. I need to get this bullet out, or he’ll bleed out before we can save him! Guys! We need to move! Ryder’s voice was strong and sure as he ordered us.
Go. I’ll stay behind. Damien responded.
Like hell. I growled. We don’t split up. I’m not letting this asshole go. I’ll stay with you.
I watched through my illusions as Ryder tried to heft Theo off the ground, but he was still larger than usual, his Kraken having pushed against his restraints before he was shot. The result left Theo much heavier than he typically would have been. A dense heaviness. Rini tried the best she could to help, but she was no match for the mythological.
I can’t move him. Ryder grunted through our minds as he tried again. Get Rini out of here! She can’t see this. If we lose him… His voice cracked in our minds.