Page 19 of Reign of The Beast (Immortal Passions #2)

19

~Jaxon~

“Hold him steady, Jaxon!”

“Easier said than done,” I told Lucian. “I use too much force and he’s dead anyway.”

Mia blew back into the room. “Nobody’s dying today.”

Lucian and I exchanged a look. She was more than a little optimistic, given the situation.

It probably helped that she couldn’t sense shit on the level that me and the old bloodsucker could.

When she’d teleported back into the safehouse in a blinding flash of blue light with Ryker slumped in a groaning heap at her feet, I’d felt his lifeforce hanging on by a thread. His pulse had been so weak, I’d barely been able to make it out. And those fucking black veins all over his hands and face, any part of his skin visible in his jeans and leather jacket getup, had been a hell of a giveaway too.

Mia came up beside Lucian and Ryker’s bed, where the Ancient had his wrist held over Ryker’s mouth, which he was having to force open because he was now out cold. Lucian was frantically feeding him his powerful blood from a deep, dripping wound he’d gouged into his wrist.

It was the only thing keeping Ryker alive right now.

But it wouldn’t last much longer.

Lucian didn’t have a limitless supply of his own blood and magic users could only ingest so much anyway. His body would start resisting soon enough.

“Claws,” Mia called to me, gesturing at Ryker’s jacket and t-shirt.

I shifted onto the bed, using my knees in place of my hands to hold Ryker down while he seized violently.

Then I let my claws drop and I swiftly shredded Ryker’s clothes until his chest was bare, his clothes hanging in tatters about his arms.

Lucian cursed, tears springing to his eyes, as he took it what we all were.

The black veins had spread everywhere, just a couple of inches out from crawling their way toward Ryker’s heart. Given the rapid spread we’d witnessed over the last twenty minutes since the two of them had teleported back here, simple math pointed to it being mere seconds before Ryker fully succumbed.

“My beloved,” Lucian rasped, tears spilling down his cheeks.

Seeing somebody as formidable and as hardass as Lucian Black breaking down was several levels beyond intense. In that moment, I really saw just how deep his love ran for Ryker.

Also a known hardass, I saw the cracks in Mia too. She was struggling to hold on and focus on doing whatever the hell she thought she could do to save his life.

I saw her fumbling and cursing under her breath as she fiddled with a syringe that she’d run to get from the infirmary earlier .

She hastily shook off her coat, baring her blue blouse underneath. Fucking lace. My weakness. She didn’t leave it at that, shoving her right sleeve up past her elbow. And then she moved to jab herself with the syringe.

I started in surprise when it didn’t penetrate her skin.

“Dammit,” she muttered. “The dark power I invoked, it’s protecting me. It won’t wear down for a few hours.” She winced at the state of Ryker. “He doesn’t have that long.”

“Dark power? Are you fucking serious?” After all her struggle with it, after taking off for three goddamn months and now she’d just let it out, risking so much in the process.

“Calm down,” she snapped.

One of the worst things to say to an Alpha wolf.

A growl rumbled in my throat.

She shoved her wrist at me. “I need your claws again.”

“What?”

“I need you to slash me. Deep. My skin can’t be penetrated by any forged weapon outside of an Immortal blade right now until the protective element of the power I invoked wears off. Your claws are natural. Plus, we’re mates, so my power shouldn’t be defensive with you.”

“You’re seriously asking me to hurt you, your mate who is an Alpha wolf? Do you not get how insanely overprotective and possessive I am with you?”

Her hardheaded, determined expression softened for a moment. “I know and I’m sorry. I understand that it’s abhorrent to you.” She gestured at Ryker who was still violently seizing beneath my hold. “He’ll die, Jaxon. I can’t let that happen. I can save him.”

“You can?” Lucian asked, jerking his head toward us.

He’d been immersed in his grief and torment at the state of Ryker, blocking everything out and just focusing on feeding him his blood .

“How?” I added, eyeing Mia warily.

She held up the syringe she’d tried to inject into herself. “This is my father’s blood. I stole it from the Guardian Archives before I left a few months back, as a precaution. It has incredible healing properties. It will numb the unbearable pain the Immortal blade infection is causing Ryker, and give him one hell of an adrenaline boost that will jolt him awake.”

“Him being unconscious is the only reprieve he has from this suffering,” Lucian argued.

“He must be conscious for the next step to work.”

“Next step?” I asked.

“I need to spark that defensive magic of his with a… jumpstart. Ryker has the ability, with his new type of power, to disintegrate even Immortal magic upon contact with his. That’s what this infection is. Magical.”

Lucian cocked an eyebrow. “You’re saying he has the ability to heal himself from an Immortal wound?”

Jesus Christ. That was a hell of a thing.

“Not right now. Not in this state. But he will once I jumpstart it for him.”

“Jumpstart? What are we talking about here? Like a defibrillator?” I asked.

“Pretty much. Just magical rather than electrical.”

“That’s a great risk, given the state of him,” Lucian cautioned.

“Exactly why I need to bolster him with the blood first.”

“Why do you need me to cut you?”

“A non-immortal can’t take a shot of pure Immortal blood. It will overwhelm them. So, I need to use mine, that of a half-Immortal, to dilute it a little.”

“Just add Cornelius’ to mine,” Lucian said, gesturing to his bloodied wrist still dripping into Ryker’s open mouth .

Mia shook her head. “Too diluted.”

She thrust her wrist at me again. “Do it. Please, Jaxon.”

I grasped her wrist, but stopped short to eye Lucian. “You got this?”

He pulled his wrist from Ryker’s mouth, then stroked a hand gently through his hair. “Whatever it takes to restore my beloved. This transcends even bloodlust.”

Wow. Their love was… extraordinary.

Mia smiled at his words.

I readied myself for the hell that was no doubt about to break loose.

Then, I swept my claws across Mia’s wrist, slicing deep to ensure it didn’t heal up too fast with that dark power of hers protecting her, before she’d done what she needed to do.

She hissed.

It had my gut twisting like a son of a bitch. I gritted my teeth and fought to swallow it down, focusing on keeping Ryker steady, as she plunged the syringe into her open wrist wound and filled the rest of it with her blood, effectively mixing it with her father’s.

I watched Lucian’s eyes flame, his fangs drop, as the scent of her blood filled the air.

“Lucian!” I snarled.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tightened his hold on Ryker.

In the next moment when he opened them, his fangs had retracted, his eyes settling back to a muted glow.

Damn, that really was something impressive. He’d come leaps and bounds since the last time he’d scented Immortal blood.

“All right,” she murmured to herself. “Here goes nothing. ”

She moved to the left side of the bed, then injected the weird blood cocktail into Ryker’s open shoulder wound.

Stepping back, she placed the syringe down on the bedside table, then looked on nervously.

Barely a couple of seconds passed before Ryker’s body stopped seizing.

The wound began to heal, flesh, bone, and tissue repairing itself at an astounding rate.

The veins covering his body faded to a muted gray, the progression halting.

“Whoa,” I uttered, more than a little shocked. “Immortal blood really packs a hell of a punch.”

A choked sound of relief came from Lucian.

He scrubbed his hand over his face, sucking in a breath.

“I need room,” Mia said, eyeing the two of us.

I pulled away from Ryker and climbed off the bed, taking a step back.

Lucian was much more reluctant.

“Lucian, if my magic touches you, we’ll have another severely injured party on our hands,” Mia warned.

“I can’t leave his side.”

“Lucian,” she pressed. Her eyes shot to me. “I’m going to need a hand.”

I eyed Lucian.

The two of us had finally found some peace between us, an understanding, after so many years of me hating on him. The last thing I wanted was to shit all over that. Especially with the responsibility of the Covenant hanging so heavily over our heads, pressuring us all to be united.

But, at the same time, my mate was asking me for a favor.

I winced and started forward.

Lucian’s eyes flashed .

“Now who’s the reckless one?” a croak sounded, pulling the both of us up short.

All three of us looked to see Ryker’s eyes opening, a weak smile spreading over his face as he looked up at Lucian.

He reached out and slid his left hand into Lucian’s hair, his other cupping his cheek. “Mission accomplished,” he croaked. “The Guardian Movement survived.”

Pain bled from Lucian as he stroked Ryker’s hand against his cheek. “At too great a cost.”

Ryker grimaced. “I’m sorry.”

Lucian gathered him into his arms, holding him tightly, breathing him in.

“We don’t have much time,” Mia told them gently.

Giving a nod of acknowledgement, Lucian carefully released Ryker, then climbed off the bed, settling over on the opposite side to Mia, far enough away to avoid being touched by her magic.

I strode over, joining him.

Mia took a seat on the edge of the bed beside Ryker.

He turned his head and grinned at her. “Sweetness. Going to set my body on fire with that magic of yours, huh?”

Lucian and I exchanged a look. Even in his less than stellar state, he was still with the flirting and fooling around.

Mia’s brief grin at his words faded as she focused up and raised her palms and called her magic.

It erupted in the form of her vibrant-blue fire.

Good. She wasn’t using that dark power that worried the fuck out of me.

“This will be intense, Ry,” she warned. “To wipe out the infection, I’m going to need to basically attack you with mine to spur the full intensity of that defensive, next-level magic of yours. The Immortal blood I injected into you should be enough to bolster you to withstand it.”

“Should?” Lucian questioned.

“This is brand-new territory for all of us. It’s extremely rare for anyone to be wounded by an Immortal weapon. Not to mention, Ryker’s new form of magic has never existed before. That being said, it’s the only option. If I don’t do this, he will die. The blood won’t hold the infection at bay for much longer.”

“When he refused to drop the wards shielding us from Draco, that fucker found another way to make it happen. Ryker dies, his magic dies with him,” I pointed out.

“Yes,” Mia confirmed.

Ryker grasped her hand, jolting her gaze to his, urgency spilling out of him, as he said, “If this fails, find the dagger.”

“What?”

“It sounded like Draco is searching for it.”

“He’s going to kill my father.”

Ryker gave a nod. “Find the dagger before he can. Form the Covenant with Lucian and Jax. It might be just enough to conjure wards strong enough to hide from Draco until you can free Cornelius.”

“Stop,” Mia told him. “There’s no need for alternate plans. You’re going to be fine. Any second now. Do you hear me?”

He smiled. “Of course, sweetness. Guess I’m just being paranoid.”

The three of us exchanged a look, knowing how overly optimistic Mia was being, how completely unable she was to even consider things going a bad way here. She couldn’t imagine life without her best friend. She refused to.

“Ready?” she asked, stepping up close, her hands hovering over his heart .

He smirked. “You know me, sweetness. Born fucking ready.”

Mia’s eyes hardened, that all-business, fierce side of her surging to the surface.

And then she unleashed her magic, her vibrant blue fire streaming wildly at Ryker.

He jolted violently and bellowed out a curse as it shot through his body making him shudder uncontrollably.

I watched his hands spark.

His green lightning erupted.

Mia pulled back and bolted away from him.

His lightning intensified.

Grew.

Raged.

It spread over his entire body, enveloping him completely, building and building until it culminated in a blinding explosion of luminous green light.

When my vision finally managed to adjust, I was shocked to see Ryker standing strong on the bed before us, radiating strength and power.

He looked out at us as he pulled his magic back.

Off our shocked reactions, he chuckled, “You didn’t really think it would be that easy to get rid of me, did you?”