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Finally, Kris removed the needle and I could breathe a little easier than before. She took out a few more bottles from the inside pocket of her coat and offered them to me. I drank them down without hesitation because I carried similar ones on me.

We kept the basics on us at all times to afford us a little time to procure the more specialized and potent healing and recovery-specific agents. The other two Hunters would likely have immediate access to better stuff, for sure, and I couldn’t express how grateful I was they were there.

And without Kris’s intervention, I’d definitely be worse off.

Phillip explained previously that the serum deactivated most of my abilities, but I’d still retain enough to regenerate better than regular humans.

Only if I didn’t suffocate first.

My enhanced abilities wouldn’t be at the level I was before he activated my blood, but they’d be better than my human counterparts. So, I wasn’t totally human but not really Hunter either. Which was about the only solace I took out of this entire experience, and one I’d never take for granted again.

Kris’s eyes flicked up to meet Sloan’s, an intensely silent moment passing between them.

“Okay. Go,” Sloan finally said, sighing, and Kris promptly disappeared from above me.

My vision wavered as intense agony seemed to burn across my chest and suffuse to every internal organ inside of me. From my previous experience, I could almost guarantee it was because I’d been poisoned. Very few things mimicked the sensation of poison, especially a lethal one this fast-acting.

Nigel appeared next to Sloan, jaw strained and eyes crazed. “She’s been poisoned. I can smell it in her blood. You better have an antidote on you, Hunter.”

Sloan didn’t respond to the angry Shifter, simply inspected the open wound without ever looking up. Then, with a flick of his eyes up at Nigel, the Brit ripped open the top of my shirt to my internal horror and dug out something from inside his pocket. The pale-eyed, uber-pretty Hunter poured several more vials into my open wound, probably to speed up tissue regrowth and what was likely a numbing agent because the entire area outside of the wound was void of sensation, pain or otherwise.

Still, the burning pain inside my chest remained, a tight clench on my heart.

I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out. With my abilities barely better than a normal human, despite the potent potions Sloan used, the pain resonated inside of me like death calling. It was an echo of pain I remembered from the time before Phillip came.

It didn’t occur to me that I’d miss being superhuman. It was all I wanted, to be human. But I hadn’t considered what it would be like after a fight.

I’d never felt so helpless.

I struggled for a second to breathe, finding it harder to take in air properly the longer I laid on the ground. Kris had helped some with what she’d done before, so it was clearly all poison-caused.

“Where’s...Phil?”

Nigel’s face distorted for a second before he went to a knee on the other side of me. “My pack and Kris have gone to help. The magic-user didn’t shoot fast enough. Phillip had already gotten loose of the magic’s hold on him, and the mercenary fled when we arrived.”

Oh, thank God.

I breathed a sigh of relief, then hissed when Sloan prodded my injury with a silent gaze. “The poison has reached your lungs.”

“Could’ve told you that,” I rasped, smiling in spite of overwhelming anguish.

Sloan’s lips rose into a sly grin. “Guess I should’ve known you would’ve figured it out all by yourself.” He hummed lightly to himself, thinking. “Kris and I know about you and Phillip’s special condition, so it shouldn’t be long before your lung heals. That’s not what concerns me right now. The poison, however, is the bigger issue, so we’ll need to get the proper antidote.”

So, Sloan and Kris were privy to our hyper-mutated condition. It was a relief someone knew, because I wasn’t sure how I’d explain it. It wouldn’t have been an easy conversation to have with the poison taking my lungs hostage, anyway.

To Nigel, it’d likely seem as if I was the way I had been before my blood had been activated by Phillip. He wouldn’t be worried about the chest injury because I’d suffered worse injuries. Injuries my own grandmother inflicted on me during training. So, the Shifter’s concern would likely be the fast-acting poison I likely suffered.

Nigel grunted, muscles in his torso pulled tight. “Mia can put together an antidote faster than any of you Hunters ever could.”

The arrogant manner the werewolf spoke in was new for me. It reminded me oddly of Phillip, and it bothered me Nigel was outright rude to the Hunter beside me, who had been nothing but kind to him.

“Hey,” I rasped, irritated, “don’t talk to Sloan like that.”

Nigel shifted next to me, bulky shoulders slouched. “I—”

“He’s here to help, same as you. You—” Another rush of heat hit my chest, and I gasped. But I was nothing if not determined. “You better get your act together if you want us to ever be friends again.”

“You’re right,” he responded with a sigh. “I’m sorry, man. I-I guess everything just sort of went to my head.”