Page 51 of Broken Souls

Clenching my jaw, I snap, “Fucking hold her.” As much as I don’t want him anywhere near her, I’m not going to let my feelings get in the way of her comfort. She could hurt herself thrashing about, cause more damage than Leno can heal with his magic. He isn’t as good of a healer as Mother. She could die if I don’t let another man touch her.Another man? He’s my fucking brother.

Stepping up to the bed, Enoch weaves his hands through the air, wrapping his magic around Micha’s body, making her stiff, board-like. I know I can release her shoulders, that I’m not doing anything to help her, but I don’t.

Can’t.

She’s fucking mine.

Realizing I’m not moving out of the way, Leno shuffles beside me, then lines up the glass to the hole in Micha’s belly. He glances at me side-eye, and I’m just about to snatch the potion and do it myself when he slowly starts to pour it in. For a second, she does nothing, lost too deeply in her unconsciousness, but then she screams.

Her eyes snap open.

Glassy and unsure but full of anger.

And pain.

So much fucking pain.

Releasing her shoulders, I grab her hands. I act like it’s for her, so she can squeeze them as she needs to (Enoch’s magic is only on her limbs), but the truth is,Ifucking need this connection. To feel her warmth, her strength, herlife. To know that she is alive. That we’re not killing her despite how much she looks like we are. For the agony in her eyes is matched only by the breaking screech of her screams.

“Fucking finish it,” I snap at my brother, my voice too raw to be familiar.

Leno glances at me as he pours more of the potion inside her. My new position has forced him to twist awkwardly around me, but I can’t move. Can’t give him the space he needs to work comfortably. Can’t fucking let go of my mate.

He tips out more of the potion, but he doesn’t dump it in all at once like I want him to. If my hands weren’t wrapped around Micha’s, if I weren’t giving her my strength and taking hers in return, I would wrap them around his fucking throat. “Leno.”

Krypto growls, his teeth bared at me, his ears flat.

“I can’t go any faster; I need to heal her layer by layer,” my brother says as he reaches with his free hand to ruffle his dog’s head between the ears. “It’s fine, boy. He’s just got his panties wedged up his ass. There.”

The last drop falls.

My attention jerks off him and flies to Micha’s stomach. The skin is red and raw, but there is skin where there wasn’t before. Her eyes are still glassy though, still unfocused like she isn’t really aware, and her breathing’s harsh and ragged, but she doesn’t look like she’s one breath away from dying anymore. Doesn’t look like I’m about to lose her.

My breath catches as her eyes find mine. I want to tell her I love her, but the words are trapped in the tightness of my throat. I work my tongue around my mouth, but by the time I start to open my lips, her eyes flutter shut and her breathing deepens.

Her fingers stop squeezing me.

But I don’t stop squeezing them.

Can’t.

Still fucking can’t.

Closing my eyes, I lean down and press my lips to her forehead, feeling the warmth of her body, the taste of her sweat.

She’s alive.

She’s fucking alive.

“Right,” Leno says as he drops the glass to his side. “I’m going to see to Mother.”

My attention’s back on him – or, rather, on the answers he can help me get. I straighten, lock my emotions down, force myself to be the logical Boss I need to be.

But I still don’t release Micha’s hands.

“Send her in when she’s awake,” I say.

He frowns. “She would’ve used a lot of ma–”