Page 50 of Broken Souls

My throat is raw, emitting a noise that is the sound of a heart breaking from pure terror.

She can’t be dead.

Not when we haven’t even started our life together. Not before she even knows that I love her.

I take that next step, a near fucking leap, even though a loud part of me is yelling at me to leave her. To clear the

zone. To make sure there aren’t any surprises hidden in any of the other rooms. That she isn’t bait left alive to trick me into lowering my guard.

BecauseI can hear her breathing now, can see the rise of her chest even if it’s faint.

And that part of me that’s screaming, that intelligence that has kept me alive all this time, gains momentum. Yells louder. Tells me if I kneel down beside her, if I drop my gun to feed her a healing potion, then I’ll be attacked by the wolf that’s clearly hiding somewhere in this room.

But for once in my life, I ignore it. With that hole in her stomach, Micha doesn’t have time for me to clear the zone.

So I shove my gun behind me, leaving it to swing on the shoulder strap, and pull out a vial from my pants pocket.

“Micha,” I rasp as I drop to my knees beside her. Popping open the cork, I pour the healing potion between her lips. It doesn’t seem to do anything, telling me there’s too much damage inside for it to focus on stitching together her skin.

“Micha.” Her name is a hiss now, a fucking order as the pulse that has stayed calm all this time jumps up into my throat. Seeing my mate so pale, so lifeless even though she breathes is making me fuckingweak.

Fuckingfurious.

I’m going to kill whoever did this to her.

“Varius!”

My head snaps up at the sound of Enoch’s voice coming from the hall above. “In here!” I shout as I slide my arms under my mate and lift her into the air. By the time my brother makes it down here, I’m at the door.

“Move,” I snap.

“Let me –”

“Don’t you fucking touch her.”

His eyes widen, but he steps back quick, pressing himself against the wall to give me space to leave. I stride up the stairs, doing my best not to jostle her despite the harsh pace. My brother hurries behind me.

“The wolf you shot –” he starts, but I cut him off.

“Is Mother conscious?”

“No. She’s –”

“Then get me Leno.”

“But he’s –”

“Fucking get him,” I snap as I reach the landing.

Feeling his eyes on me, I force my anger down. My want to attack everything around me isn’t going to fucking save her.

“Enoch,” I growl as I step out into the hall, the burnt monster a terrible stench in my nostrils.

“Yeah, okay.” He pulls out his phone and calls his twin. Leno won’t answer if he’s in the middle of treating Mother. He relays the message, informs them about the hole in her belly, and by the time I make it to Micha’s room and lay her on her bed, Leno is striding in with a pint-size brew in one hand and Krypto beside him. Swirling his other fingers over the glass, Leno mutters a spell beneath his breath, and the dark-green liquid brightens.

“Hold her down,” he says. “This is going to burn like hel.”

Steeling myself to seeing her pain, I press my hands on her shoulders. Enoch raises his to use his telekinesis, but my low growl has him dropping them again. He steps back and shares a quick look with Leno.