Page 49 of After Midnight (Skye Druids #7)

Chapter Forty-Four

Diana moaned as pain jostled her awake.

“ Easy , lass,” a deep voice murmured. “ You’re safe now.”

She cried out as something was tied tight around her abdomen.

“ I have to stop the bleeding,” he told her, breathing heavily.

She managed to open her eyes and saw a man leaning over her with dark hair and a bushy beard. Blue eyes briefly met hers before her eyes closed. A cry fell from her lips when his arm brushed against her stab wounds as he lifted her.

“ I know, lass, I know. I’m sorry,” he said.

He sounded winded, as if he had run a long distance.

She began to shiver. He placed her into the back seat of the Rover and draped something over her.

She drank in the warmth. She heard the soft snick of the door closing near her head, and a heartbeat later, the driver’s door opened.

She tried to ask him to get her phone, but her mouth felt like cotton.

She drifted off, only to be startled awake by the roar of the engine turning over.

“ Hold on, lass,” he threw over his shoulder. “ Do you hear me? I’m going to get you help, but it’s going to be a rough drive.”

Words were forgotten as she moaned in pain each time the vehicle bounced over a rock.

“ Doona dare die on me!” he bellowed.

If only it were up to her. But it wasn’t. Not this time.

Sabryn heard the guys talking, but she wasn’t listening.

Her gaze was fastened on the spot where they had dumped Kurt .

Shouts came from Parker’s boat as they neared.

Callum didn’t slow until they reached the other craft.

Sabryn dove into the water before their boat even stopped and swam as fast as she could, but it wasn’t quick enough.

The dark water had swallowed Kurt completely.

Suddenly , a light shone through it. She looked over to see Callum swimming past, a flashlight held between his teeth. Sabryn attempted to follow, but he cut through the water much quicker than she could.

Pressure built in her ears as she descended, but she kept going.

She wouldn’t stop. Not until she found Kurt .

At least that was her thought. Unfortunately , her lungs had other ideas.

She was forced to turn and head back to the surface.

She gulped in air and immediately went under again.

The muscles in her arms and legs burned, but she kept swimming.

She saw something move in the dark depths.

A moment later, Callum appeared, towing Kurt by the neck of his shirt.

Panic seized her when she realized Kurt wasn’t moving.

Sabryn immediately turned around and followed Callum up.

By the time her head breached the surface, Killian was helping Callum pull Kurt into the boat.

Sabryn heard a motor gun near her. She glanced over in time to see the water churn from the other craft and tried to move.

Arms reached down and grabbed her, jerking her out of the water just as the propellors whirled to life where she had been.

Out of breath, cold, and unnerved, Sabryn watched Parker and his boat speed away.

“ Let them go,” Killian said as he did chest compressions. “ We have Kurt .”

Kurt . She spun around and dropped onto the floor of the boat next to him. He wasn’t breathing. She tilted his head back, watching Killian so she knew when to blow air into Kurt’s mouth. The instant Killian nodded, she pinched Kurt’s nose and blew.

Water splashed, but she didn’t move from Kurt . Callum rushed around her to the back and helped Carlyle and Finn into the boat.

“ Stop ,” Finn told them.

Sabryn didn’t look up as she shouted, “ No !”

“ CPR won’t help. It’s a spell,” Carlyle said breathlessly. “ They used a bloody spell.”

Sabryn stilled as Finn knelt beside her. Carlyle pulled Killian back as Finn searched Kurt’s front. She shivered in the cool night air, unsure what to do.

“ We need to find the entry point of the fekking spell,” Finn said hurriedly.

That spurred them into action. Callum produced a knife and cut away Kurt’s shirt. There were wounds on his front, but Finn barely looked at them. It wasn’t until Carlyle turned Kurt onto his side that Sabryn saw the ragged entry wound the size of a softball on his right shoulder.

“ Fek me,” Killian murmured.

Sabryn had never seen such a spell before. “ How do we reverse it?”

“ We don’t,” Carlyle said as he looked to Finn .

Finn had already laid his palm atop the injury by the time Sabryn realized what he planned.

His face immediately creased in pain as Finn used his Bleeder abilities and took Kurt’s feelings from him.

Carlyle bade Killian to hold Kurt and then hurriedly moved to Finn’s other side to help hold Finn up.

Sabryn smoothed hair from Kurt’s face and willed his eyes to open. She couldn’t lose him. She looked up at Finn , who was bent to the side, supported by Carlyle and Callum . She couldn’t lose Finn either.

She caught Carlyle’s gaze. “ They told you it was a spell?”

“ Not willingly,” he admitted.

“ Why would they at all?” Killian asked. “ They outnumbered us.”

Dread slithered through Sabryn . She glanced back, but Parker was long gone. “ Why would they tell you?”

“ Maybe they know we can no’ save him,” Callum replied.

Sabryn gently turned Kurt onto his stomach. “ I need a light,” she bade.

A heartbeat later, a beam from a flashlight shone on Kurt’s back. Sabryn bent close to look at the discolored skin. She grabbed Killian’s arm and moved the light where she needed it, then pressed on Kurt’s back. Puss came from the wound, followed by a thick current of blood.

“ Sabryn ,” Carlyle called.

“ Something inside.” She sat up and looked at Finn . “ Stop him. There’s no way he can take all the pain. It’ll kill him.”

It took all four of them to remove Finn’s hand from Kurt . Finn never opened his eyes as he fell unconscious.

“ I’ve got Finn . You tend to Kurt ,” Carlyle told her.

She turned her attention to Kurt . “ I need…tweezers,” she said helplessly.

“ I got those,” Callum said as he jumped up and pulled out a first-aid kit. He rummaged through it before producing the tweezers.

Sabryn took them and began to dig into Kurt’s wound where she had glimpsed something metallic.

The rocking of the boat didn’t help and made her have to repeatedly adjust. One of those times, she felt the tweezers clink against something firm.

She redoubled her efforts and was rewarded when she finally clamped the ends around the object and extracted it.

“ Will he wake now?” Killian asked.

Sabryn looked into the Irishman’s eyes and shrugged. “ I don’t know.”

“ Finn doesna look much better,” Callum said.

Sabryn slid her gaze to Carlyle . His bleak look said it all.

Emily wandered around the empty, quiet house. For sixteen years, she’d spent her time in a tiny room. The cottage was huge in comparison. Elodie kept telling her it would take time for her to adjust. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was her middle child— Edie .

The moment Emily learned about Edie , she had wanted to find her grandchildren.

She insisted they stay with her and used the excuse of wanting time alone with them.

But the children knew something was going on.

She , Elodie , and Elias were trying to make life as normal as possible for them, but there was nothing normal about their parents disappearing.

The kids were quiet and withdrawn. She gave them as much space as she dared while also endeavoring to prevent another generation of trauma.

Her children had endured plenty. If she had any say in it, her grandchildren would be spared.

Her grandbabies were staying the night with friends, which they needed. But it meant she was alone in the mostly empty cottage. The rooms were blank, waiting for her to find furniture and decorations. Eventually , the house would feel like hers, but she felt like an outsider right now.

A helpless outsider at that.

A war was raging on the isle, and she was sitting on the sidelines while her children and their significant others risked their lives. Emily didn’t mind sitting out when her grandbabies were with her, but when she was alone, she knew her time could be put to better use.

The sound of an approaching car caught her attention.

The closest cottage was over a mile away.

If she heard a motor, then the vehicle was nearly at the house.

The cottage was heavily warded by Druid and Fae magic, thanks to Balladyn , and there were also thick bolts on the doors.

But she knew that wouldn’t keep someone out if they really wanted inside.

Lights moved through the windows and bounced along the walls.

A moment later, the engine shut off. She listened and heard two vehicle doors close with several seconds between them.

She walked toward the front of the house, staring at it as if she could see through it to who might be approaching.

Her mobile dinged at the same time someone pounded on the door.

Emily glanced over her shoulder to the kitchen where her phone was. She kept forgetting the doorbell had a camera. She should look at that since it was likely why her mobile had sounded. Just as she turned to do that, another round of pounding came. She halted and swung back around.

She walked to the door and looked through the peephole to see an older gentleman with an unconscious woman in his arms. The man lifted his head, and she gasped as she recognized his face from pictures. Her fingers hurriedly fumbled with the locks as she threw open the door.

“ I need your help,” he stated.

Emily stepped aside and let him enter, her gaze going to the woman’s blue top soaked in blood.

She shut the door behind them, locking it out of habit, and hastened after them.

He headed down the short hall to the bedroom and laid the woman on her granddaughter’s bed.

The woman moaned as her eyelids fluttered open.

He untied a makeshift bandage and then ripped open the woman’s shirt to reveal multiple stab wounds. “ We need to stop the bleeding.”

His words sparked Emily into action, and she ran to get towels and the first-aid kit. She raced back into the room and handed him the items. Emily looked down when the woman took her hand and mumbled something.

Emily shook her head and leaned down to hear better. “ I didn’t hear you.”

“ Forgot ,” the woman said.

“ You forgot something?” Emily asked.

The woman nodded, her eyes drifting close as she pinched her lips against a round of pain.

“ Hold this.”

She lifted her eyes to the man. His dark hair was gray at the temples. He had a beard now, but she still recognized him. “ Luke Ryan .”

His blue eyes briefly met hers. “ Aye . And you’re Emily MacLean . The woman bleeding is Diana Barclay .”

“ As in Kurt and Parker Barclay ?” she asked.

Luke nodded.

“ Where have you been?” Emily asked him.

He glanced at Diana . “ We need Healers .”

“ Must …tell…her,” Diana mumbled.

Emily frowned. “ Tell who?”

“ Sa …”

Emily looked at Luke , who was busy trying to stop the bleeding.

“ Sab …”

“ Sabryn ?” Emily asked. “ You’re talking about Sabryn Beaumont ?”

There was a hint of a smile that vanished as Diana’s eyes cracked open. “ Sh …she…”

“ Wait until we get your wounds seen to,” Emily said.

A tear ran from the corner of Diana’s eye. “ Can’t .”

Emily looked at Luke .

His lips flattened, his look bleak. “ Get her whatever she wants.”

“ I’ll call Sabryn ,” Emily said.

Diana’s fingers tightened on her wrist. “ No …time.”