My heart plummeted. “Is it Lex?” I asked fearfully.
He shook his head. “Lex is fine. He’s fine.”
The breath left my lungs and I managed to swallow. “Then what is it?”
“It’s River, princess. River’s alive.”
Chapter Three
“On the count of three!” Akir shouted. The men prepared themselves, adjusting their legs and arms. “One!”’ I was among them, just as bruised and bloody as they were. “Two!” We were determined. Me more than them. “Three! Lift!” We grunted as we all in unison lifted the massive body of the dead hybrid. As soon as its body was up, Kael and Lex were underneath it, gently but quickly pulling River’s body from there. As soon as he was out, we dropped the beast and I was rushing to Kael’s side, bending down to see.
Kael was was quick, frantic as he checked River’s pulse, assessing the damage over his body. I tried not to look. I didn’t want to. But my eyes were drawn to his mangled limbs. Blood. So much blood. I didn’t know how to separate the wholeness of him from the flesh and blood. I didn’t know where he began or ended anymore. This body was new. It was broken.
“How is he?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.
“His leg’s been crushed,” Kael replied tightly. I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked at it. Blood was spurting out at an incredible rate. “We need to hurry or else he won’t survive.” Kael ripped the hem of his sweater off and began tying it around River’s left leg, just below the knee. As soon as he tightened the knot into place, River’s body jerked.
I let out a startled cry as he began thrashing around on the ground. He screamed and heaved his pain and as he died, the knot came undone again. “Keanna!” He shrieked my name and the sound sent a frightening jolt through me. “Ke—Ke—” all of a sudden, his body tensed up, chest arched to the sky and the cords on his neck standing out painfully.
Kael jumped into action, retying the material of his sweater into a knot to stop the blood flow. But it didn’t seem to do anything. River kept spasming and his face had gone a very pale shade.
“Help him!” I shrieked.
“He’s lost too much blood! He’s going into shock!”
I watched with total helplessness as River’s entire body convulsed as if he were being thoroughly shocked with electricity. And then suddenly, it stopped. His body fell back to the ground. He was immobile, his bloody face growing paler. And he wasn’t breathing.
Kael let out a curse, his hands fingering River’s neck to check for a pulse. Then, Kael bent his body over him, placing his palms just over his chest and began pumping away. He paused only to tilt River’s head up and press his lips to my guard’s, blowing air into his mouth before he pumped away again.
Oh gods. My head spun as I watched. River. River. Kael was pushing up against his chest because his heart had stopped beating. River was dead. But he couldn’t be...he couldn’t!
“Come on, Riv.” Kael muttered as he pumped. “Come on!”
I felt the pressure building in my chest all over again. I felt the pain tear open again, raw and exposed. It hurt to breathe, to watch this unfold before me. To lose River all over again.
But still I hoped.
“Don’t die,” I pleaded. “I need you, Riv.”
As if my words struck something in him, as if my words had guided his soul back into his body, River’s chest lifted as he suddenly sucked in one painful and long breath. Kael removed his hands to hold the back of his head as he coughed.
“River, can you hear me?” Kael asked gently.
River opened his dark eyes and set them on me. “Keanna,” he whispered, his voice low and slightly croaking just before he closed his eyes into unconsciousness.
“We need to get out of here.” Kael laid his head gently on the ground again, eyes wandering to his leg wound. “He won’t survive if we do. He needs blood and…” he cut off, his eyes staring down worriedly at his mangled leg.
“And what?” Akir asked, his voice ever-calm.
I knew we had an audience. I knew some of Akir’s men were watching, the others lifting up their own dead and injured. Lex was beside me but I barely felt his presence. Not when my gaze was entirely focused on River.
Kael looked up at Akir. “His leg is beyond saving.”
I choked down the sob that threatened to rip out of me, my eyes traveling straight to the limb in question. He would lose his leg. They’d have to cut it off. Sadness rippled through me but I dutifully pushed it away. I could not be sad. I had to be strong for River, for everyone. Besides, I’d have River without his leg rather than dead.
“We have to go now.” Kael urged. “The supplies in my medical kit aren’t enough to save him. We need to go back to the city.”
Akir gave him a tight nod and turned to his men. “It’s time to go,” he ordered. “Now.”
They burst into action, rushing as if their heels were on fire. Maybe they were just eager to get away. Happy that we were leaving this awful place, putting as much distance between us and the hybrids.
My stomach lurched as I thought of the hybrids. I stood up and looked down at River. I felt so torn. I didn’t want to leave his side. It hurt to even think about leaving him alone. But he wouldn’t be, I had to remind myself. Kael was with him. Gentle, capable Kael who had saved his life. Lex was still crouching on the ground as well.
“Look after him,” I whispered.
Kael didn’t need to look up from his task to confirm. I knew he’d heard. And I knew he would. “Help me carry him to the van, Lex.” He ordered firmly. “Gently but quickly.”
“We’ve got this, red.” Lex said without looking up at me. Instead, he began following Kael’s orders, gripping onto River’s body to pick him up.
I swallowed past the tightness in my throat and turned to Akir. He read what I wanted by looking at my expression apparently because he jerked his head to the side and began walking, leaving me to follow.
We walked over to my mother, still trapped and guarded beneath the net. She looked at me with her wide eyes as we approached, confusion and worry in her depths. She lay incredibly still, afraid that if she moved, one of the men would shoot her.
I glared at them and at their alert guns. “Release her,” I commanded.
They stiffened and glared, obviously angry at my sudden order and tone. They made no move to obey. I frowned.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, lass.” Akir said softly.
I whirled around to glare at him. “What the hell do you mean?”
He looked at me surely, unwavering while the men around him shuffled uncomfortably like cowards. “If what you say is true and they’ve turned the royals into hybrids, it’s best if she’s kept locked away.”
The earlier rage I’d felt directed at him resurfaced once more and I nearly growled at him. “She’s not a gods damned prisoner!”
His glare was equally frightening as my own, but not enough to have my knees quaking. “She’s not a house pet either, lass.”
My skin prickled defensively at his harsh words. “Of course she’s not,” I responded tightly “She’s my mother.”
“She is also a hybrid,” he pointed out, his voice dropping an octave as if he didn’t want to offend me or as if he were talking to a wounded animal. It made me want to punch him in the nose. My hands tightened into fists with that desire. His eyes follow the movement and he raised a brow. “Calm the fire, lass. What I mean is that we don’t know the extent of the damage they’ve done to her. We don’t know what the side effects are or how she will react. We need to keep everyone safe.”
Logically, I knew he was right. I knew he was doing what was best for everyone and were this anyone else, I would have agreed. But this was my mother. How could I lock her up? How could I do that to her?
“We can stand here and argue about it all day if you want.” Akir said casually. “Or we can hurry up and put her in the back of the van and leave before River dies.”
His words jolted me like a shock of electricity running through my veins. “Fine,” I agreed reluctantly. “But if I see one scratch on her then I promise you this,” I stepped forward so that our bodies were but a whisper apart, “I will kill you first.”
The side of Akir’s lip twitched upward. “I would expect nothing less, princess.”
***
They didn’t take the net off of my mother. I glared at them but looked at her apologetically. Her eyes were wide and frightened but something in them told me that she understood why they had to do it. Dead bodies were piled into one van. Among them, Helga. She’d had no pulse, we’d been too late for her. I only hoped that we wouldn’t be too late for River.
He was in and out of consciousness. I found I preferred him to be silent because I couldn’t bear the sound of his screaming, the sound of his pain. It was agonizing. Kael worked furiously with a speed and determination I’d never seen from him before. He used what he could to bind his leg tightly.
“He needs a blood transfusion,” he urged. “The ride is long. He won’t survive without one.”
I looked at my guard. Already his face was pale, too pale and sweating, his lips cracked. He looked like a phantom of the River I knew.
I swallowed the tightness in my throat. “Take my blood,” I offered, holding out my arm to him. He looked at me with a startled expression. “If blood is what you need, take mine. Take all of it if you must, but save him.”
Kael shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”
“The hell it isn’t!” I shouted, thrusting my arm forward once again. “Take it.”
“I cannot, princess. Not without knowing your blood type.”
I lowered my arm. “Blood type?”
“We all have a blood type. I cannot put your blood into him without knowing either of your blood types. If you aren’t compatible, it could harm him more than help.”
My head spun. “Then how are we supposed to help him?”
“He’s type O positive. Keanna is A positive.” Akir’s deep voice drawled from the back of the van. We all turned to him with raised brows. He was looking at me. “You cannot give him your blood, lass.”
I turned back to Kael for confirmation. The healer was looking at Akir with a slight bit of surprise. “He’s right,” he agreed finally. “You cannot give him your blood.”
“I can!” Desperation was beginning to tighten its grip around me, threatening suffocation.
“You can’t.” Akir said darkly. “But I can.”
We all startled at that. It was Lex, who’d been entirely too quiet up until now, who broke the startled silence. “I didn’t even know blood had a type. So how do you know this?”
Akir climbed into the van and began pulling his jacket off. He dropped it to the floor and went to sit next to an unconscious River. He didn’t even spare Lex a glance when he replied, “Some of us are smarter than you.” Before Lex could come up with a retort, he was thrusting his arm in Kael’s direction and saying, “You’ll recall we took blood samples when you arrived at the Ruined City and ran analysis. I’m O positive. Give him my blood.”
Kael looked into Akir’s eyes for merely a moment, communicating silently before he got to work. He began pulling things out of the medical kit. Needles, bags, disinfectant… The supplies became a blur in my mind as he started connecting needles to tubes to bags. I had to look away when he stuck a needle through Akir and River’s arms.
Lex looked away as well and his light brown eyes found my own. He gifted me with a small smirk as if he meant to make me feel better, and asked, “Did you know blood had a type?”
My choked laugh came out more like a sigh. “I didn’t,” I confessed. “He didn’t even take my blood in the Ruined City.” Then again, he’d spied on me quite extensively before our engagement was announced. He probably already knew what it was. “We’re probably like cavemen compared to them.”
He let out a small bout of quiet laughter and I studied him. I hadn’t gotten a chance to do so, not with everything that had been going on. He, like all of us, was covered in ash and dirt and blood. The blood on his face obviously wasn’t his but seemed to have splattered and stayed there. He appeared unharmed and I almost would have believe he was perfectly okay if I hadn’t noticed the slight wincing he did when he laughed or the way he seemed to lean towards his right side.
“Let’s have a look, then.” I demanded, reaching my hands forward to grab the hem of his shirt.
He flinched. “I’m fine,” he said tightly. I raised an eyebrow at him with disbelief and he laughed, wincing as he did so. “Okay, I’m not fine but I’m not dying, either.”
As soon as the words escaped his mouth he clamped his lips shut, his eyes darting over to glance at River. It was bad form to mention death at a sick bed and the very word made my heart clench but I reminded myself that I had to be strong. So, I brushed the words aside as if I were brushing aside specks of dust and lifted Lex’s shirt up.
The shot wound he’d received from Braxtyn Murtaugh had been stitched up by Kael the night before but the battle with the hybrids had caused it to tear. Blood had seeped out to stain his dirty clothes.
“It really doesn’t hurt that ba—sst—” he winced when I pressed the cloth of his shirt to his wound, attempting to clean it.
I raised my eyebrow. “You were saying?”
“Fine,” he admitted slowly, “it hurts, but it’s not as bad as what other people have suffered so I won’t complain about it, red. And I don’t want you worrying, either.”
“Just let me help you.” I dabbed at his wound again despite his protests. He didn’t wince this time. This time he gripped my wrist tightly with one hand, and with his other, he pressed his finger against my chin to lift my gaze up to his.
“Red, it’s fine,” he whispered.
The tears were prickling behind my eyelids now. I swallowed the thick emotion that caught in my throat but the action still didn’t push it down. I still wanted to cry. “Please, Lex. Let me feel useful.”
He looked at me a moment longer, his gaze softening each passing second. I knew he’d understand my need to be useful. Hadn’t he just confessed to me the night before that he felt he had nothing to offer me? How strange that I was now suddenly in his own shoes, feeling pathetic and worthless. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was in over my head. I had no idea how to help River, how to help my mother. I had no idea how to stop these hybrid attacks and I certainly had no idea who was behind them.
So, I needed to keep my hands busy. It would help me. It would prevent me from wallowing in self pity and helplessness. I needed it more than he knew.
Finally, Lex gave a slow nod and sat back against the wall of the van and let me work.
***
It was minutes later that Braxtyn jumped into the van with such a force that rattled us all in our seats. We turned to look at him with surprise. I tried not to lunge for him, to drag my nails down his stupid face. My hatred for him was now burning deep. If I hadn’t trusted him when I met him, I trusted him even less now.
He’d been the one to shoot Lex. He’d been the one to hold me back as I’d rushed for River in an attempt to save him from a beast. Because of him, River was dying. Because of him.
I glared. Lex glared. Even Kael, whose head was bent over River’s arm, taking the needle out, glared. Akir stood up. Kael had already taken the needle out of his arm only seconds before. He took one look at his younger brother and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Braxtyn didn’t spare any of us a glance. His face was all hard lines and anger. “It’s Cole,” he said gravely. “He’s missing.”
Chapter Four
Cole wasn’t among the dead.
Akir searched every face frantically trying to find that of his youngest brother. But he wasn’t there. And he wasn’t among the living, either.
Because Cole was missing.
I knew his pain. I knew what it was to lose someone you loved. I knew that helplessness soaring through h
im. I saw the panic in his eyes when he looked at me, blue depths pleading. I had to suck in a breath and resist the urge to run to him and take him in my arms. Instead, I grabbed my bow and arrows and took to the woods with Akir and some of his men at my heels.
I left behind the stench of smoke and was enveloped in the soft breeze of pine and familiarity. In these woods, bow and arrow cocked and ready to fly, I became what I was used to. I became what I was comfortable with.
In the woods, I became the huntress.
I studied the tracks left behind. Paw prints disturbed the earth and sent a sliver of fear to my chest. There weren’t any human tracks near them. Nothing to hint that Cole had followed. Nothing to hint that he’d been taken. There was no blood left behind. No tire tracks. But still I followed the breadcrumbs the hybrids had left behind.
It would lead us to their lair, I’d bet anything I owned on it. It would lead us to the lab and lead us to the one behind these attacks.
Akir seemed to realize what I had. “Stop,” he commanded. “Everybody, stop.”
We all froze and turned to look at him. He looked at me and gone was the earlier panic in his expression. Gone was that helplessness and in its place was now the determined, hard leader I knew.
“We have to go back,” he said.
I stared wide eyed at him. “What do you mean?”
“We need to leave. We need to go back to the Ruined City. We can’t follow these tracks.”
His men looked at him with unease. I was the only one brave enough to question him. “Why not?”
Anger blazed like a blue flame in his eyes. “You saw what those things did, how many men they killed. We have no idea what we’re walking in to. It could be a trap. I will not risk what few men we have left.”
Then he nodded at his men and they turned and headed back for camp.
And I had no choice but to follow, even if every fiber urged to turn back around despite knowing he was right.
Freeing the Beasts Page 2