Hidden in Smoke

by Harper Wylde

Theo leaned over Michael, his blue eyes hard and cold as ice. “What was in the vial? A drug? A poison?” His voice was full of authority and command, and I saw Michael flinch under the weight.

  Coughing and spitting blood between his broken teeth, he tried to sneer at us through his swollen eyes. “That bitch got what she deserved. May as well bury her now.”

  My Puca lunged, trying to gain the upper hand.

  Theo merely cocked his head, somehow staying in control. This was one of the many reasons why he was the leader of our group. “You’re an abusive asshole, but you’re still a shifter. You obviously were using her for something. You wouldn’t have tracked her here just to kill her; it doesn’t make sense. While you’re not intelligent, there should still be a semblance of logic behind your actions.” His electric blue eyes narrowed and flashed with dangerous intent as he continued, “You’re obviously not her father, which means you’ve been harboring a minor for a reason. You can either cooperate and tell us what we want to know, or I can let my companion here…” he inclined his head towards Damien, “… dig through your head. I can assure you he won’t leave it in the same condition he finds it, although your sanity is already questionable.”

  Michael paled, seeming to finally realize the depth of the situation he now found himself in. Glancing at the hard, cold, rage-filled faces around him, I saw some of the fight leave his posture, and he licked his lips. “I’ll tell you, but I want this one to heal the worst of this shit first.” He pointed first to Ryder and then motioned to himself. While nothing looked particularly broken, other than a few teeth, I knew his ribs must be cracked and his body would be riddled with bruises within the hour, some already showing up on his face—spread around his eyes and over his nose and cheeks. I wasn’t fucking sorry, and I could tell that Damien wasn’t either.

  A noise rumbled through Theo’s chest, and I saw a flicker of his beast as he tried to keep his Kraken under control. His sea monster wouldn’t do us any good here in the clearing; although, if he did shift, his alternate form would probably smash the guy, so it’d be a win for me.

  “Ryder, heal the worst injuries,” Theo ordered.

  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.

  Goddamnit. There weren’t enough of us to handle this. With Theo down, Ryder keeping Theo alive, Hiro guarding Nix, and me using my powers of illusion, that left Damien.

  The struggle warred within him. He could see from the images I was continuously feeding him that Michael was getting closer to the far edge of the barrier. Theo’s blood spilled in an ever-growing pool as the silver lodged in his stomach kept him from healing properly. Rini was crying, and Theo had mercifully passed out. The blue light continued to radiate from Ryder’s hands. Hiro was past the reach of my powers, and I fucking hoped that meant Nix was safely ensconced in my bulletproof Hummer.

  I pushed an idea to Damien, realizing that we needed to take a chance. Counting down, I prepared myself to drop my illusions. Three. Two. One. I sucked the magic that was spread throughout the clearing back into myself, giving everyone their eyesight back. Michael was so close to the barrier; as soon as he saw the murderous Gargoyle, now over his aversion to killing the man who’d been slowly destroying our family, he turned and fled as fast as he could run.

  The crash of Damien’s body hitting the magical force field shook the ground just as I reached Ryder and helped him haul Theo gently off the ground. Rini helped as much as she could, seeming to get herself under control now that she had a mission to complete: getting everyone the fuck out of this clearing.

  The resounding growl that came from the Gargoyle was chilling, even to me, and I watched as he struggled to push past the barrier. Fucking hell. It must be spelled so that no shifters can cross in their alternate forms. The fucking bastard was getting away. My Puca hopped around angrily in my head, so upset and ready to charge after the villain, that I had to pull him back—hard.

  “Damien. We need to go.” The words were tight as I fought my instincts to give chase.

  Rini must have realized our internal battles because she quickly broke away from Theo, finding the inner strength to go to Damien. Placing her hands on the sides of his face she whispered to him. “We need to save Theo, and we need to save Nix.” Stroking the sides of his face with her fingers, she calmed him down enough to help him shift. It wasn’t done in any kind of romantic way, but touch was the strongest form of communication in our alternate forms, and it was what broke through his anger-induced state and helped bring him back. Breathing deeply, he forced his wings to fold away and his ears to return to normal. While he was still working to retract his fangs, I thought he would be able to cross the barrier now.

  Anger and self-loathing seeped through the mental connection; while I didn’t blame Damien in the least, it didn’t sit right with me that the fucking bastard had escaped. Damien wanted to go after him, but I was sure he was long gone, and now we needed to take care of our own. I would be damned if I lost two members of my family tonight. No. Priority number one was to get Theo home and healed while we waited for Nix to regenerate. Everything else would have to wait.

  Two

  Ryder

  Sweat beaded on my forehead as Damien held down an unconscious Theo. If he woke up during our prodding, we needed to make sure he wouldn’t move and cause himself more damage. There had been enough bloodshed in the last two weeks to last me a lifetime. Blood generally didn’t bother me—I was pre-med after all— but the blood of a loved one fell into an entirely different category. I’d been using my healing powers for so long tonight that my hands were starting to shake as I worked to repair the damage done by the bullet.

  Fuck. The metal was poisoning him from the inside out, burning everything it touched. I was glad that Theo was passed out for this.

  The handgun fired a single shot, and even though the weapon would be considered a low-velocity firearm, the close range of the shot made Theo’s wound fatal. If the shot itself hadn’t been fatal, the silver would have tipped the scales. Not only was having something so poisonous in his bloodstream for so long deadly, but the silver didn’t allow the wound to heal without extensive work.

  I took a shuddering breath, totally worn out from the amount of power I was pouring into Theo as I healed him bit by bit. Aside from the obvious entry point, the bullet hit his stomach, damaging his pancreas in the process. Worse still was the fact that it had nicked his inferior vena cava which was the cause of his excessive bleeding. I had worked to staunch the bleeding as much as I could from the moment I landed next to Theo in the clearing, but it wasn’t going to be enough if this bullet didn’t come out soon.

  Hiro was standing to my right with a pair of slim metal forceps, carefully digging into the abdominal wound to extract the piece of silver. Grabbing hold of it, he pulled it out little by little, allowing me time in between each slide of the bullet to knit my friend back together again, starting with the vein and working my way forward. If we pulled the bullet out quickly, he could lose too much blood before I could repair the damage. He’d already lost so much in the clearing. Clearing my mind, I focused on how my hands heated while the healing power of my alternate form flowed through me. I kept my hands about an inch off of the bare skin of Theo’s abdomen, trying to keep my hands to the side of the wound to give Hiro plenty of space to work.

  With a wound this extensive and critical, we worked this way for over half an hour and were just finishing up when Killian walked into the room, looking as ragged as I felt.

  “How’s it going?” Killian asked. He had been sitting with Nix, waiting for her power to surge back into her body and for her to awaken.

  “Pretty boy’s probably going to kick my ass for leaving him with a scar, but the Kraken will live.” I tried to joke, but I knew everyone picked up on my wariness.

  There was nothing I could do for the sea monster in regards to the small puckered scar. The small round area would be a reminder on his skin of this day, but I hoped when he looked at it he saw himself as a hero. He had fucking saved Rini.

  Exhausted, I fell back on my heels and let my hands drop to my side. My friend, my brother, would live; the silence that surrounded all of us settled heavily on our shoulders.

  Anything from Nix? I knew it was probably masochistic of me to ask because I hadn’t felt any sparks alerting me to her powers returning, but I had to know if maybe I missed it in my fo
cused and drained state.

  No. Killian’s thoughts were gruff and hard.

  I sighed and reached up to rub my eyes with the palms of my hands. Hiro’s hands landed on my shoulders, and he started to massage my sore muscles. Holding my hands over first Nix and then Theo for so long had caused a deep ache, and his fingers were working magic. I couldn’t help the appreciative groan that slid up my throat.

  His quiet, smooth voice was the first to break the silence, at least out loud.

  “Come on.” He helped me up. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” I could tell how weakened the extensive healing had left me. My muscles protested as I stood but I motioned to Theo’s unconscious form on the couch anyways.

  “I really should keep an eye on him.” I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off of the rise and fall of his chest, reassuring myself that my powers had worked. I loved Theo like a brother, we all did. We were a family, all of us guys, and now Nix was a part of that also. I couldn’t imagine losing either of them, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel until they woke up.

  Crooking a finger under my chin, Hiro turned my face toward him so that I was looking him in the eye. We were almost equally matched in height, and I saw the concern etched on his face also shining through his eyes. “You can’t do anything more than what you’ve already done. You did a good job. You took care of everyone else, now let me help take care of you.”

  I stared into his face for a long moment before deciding that he was probably right and giving him a small nod. I couldn’t do anything more for either of them, but it still felt wrong to leave the room somehow. I turned to check on Theo one more time, stalling. I had lost too many people in my life already. My mother and father were gone, and the day I had lost my sister, something irreparable had broken inside of me. My friendship with the guys was the only thing that held me together over the years. Now, somehow Nix had wormed her way into my heart, and for the first time in years, I was scared again. I was terrified of losing her… of losing any of them.