Page 95 of Beyond the Darkness

There was an occasional stream of dragon fire, but none of the dragons had shifted into their natural form. A portal or two opened, then disappeared, taking what Kit assumed was a hunter with it.

Pretty soon the fighting died down, mainly because no one was left to fight. Hudson immediately checked on his dragons, and Kit was happy to see none of theirs were hurt. As best he could tell, no one seemed to be fatally injured.

“Are you hurt?” Kit asked Hudson when he stopped by for a moment to let his mates know he was okay.

Hudson shook his head. “Just a few scrapes and bruises. I’ve had worse than this during training sessions.”

“That’s good to know,” Kit said.

It was then that he noticed how unusually quiet it was… except for the sobbing he could hear.

“What’s that? Who’s… sobbing?” Had he been wrong? Was somebody fatally wounded?

Hudson glanced around the area, then grimaced. “It’s nothing.”

“No. Don’t do that. It’s obviously something. Who is it?”

“There’s a guy standing over there by Don.”

“Shit. I wonder if it’s— Let’s go,” Kit said.

“Are you sure?” Hudson asked.

“Yes. I need the closure.” Kit followed his mates back to the area where Don went down and got his first good look at Chester. He’d never met Don’s younger brother, and he just now realized how odd that had been.

There were hunters on their knees with their hands behind their head. There were also several bodies strewn around that Kit quickly glanced away from.

Kage hurried to them. “Are you okay, Kit? Is he okay? Are you and Connie okay? What the hell happened?

“Lennox managed to get away with Kit, but we caught them before he could escape the tunnels.” Hudson shrugged. “Lennox is dead.”

“Thank the fucking gods!” Raven yelled, his fist held high.

Several paranormals echoed Raven’s thought.

“Do I need to send someone to get the body—”

“There’s not a body. There never is when dragon fire’s involved,” Hudson said.

“Well now, that’s interesting,” Kage responded, eyeing Hudson. “Veryinteresting.”

“It’s a long story,” Hudson said. “I’ll fill you in later. What happened here?”

“The hunters who fought us are dead. The ones who were forced into being a hunter and surrendered are not. It’s a mess,” Kage said. “There are several hybrids too—werewolves and vampires. And one mer who is grieving for his dying brother.”

Kit sighed. “Shit.”

“Susan is keeping Don alive but he’s fading. There’s too much wrong with his DNA. She can’t work miracles,” Kage said.

“Well then, why is she keeping him alive?” Connie asked.

“Don wanted to say something to Kit before he died,” Kage said.

Kit sighed again. “Shit.”

A heavy weight settled in Kit’s chest as he walked slowly toward Don, his legs feeling heavier with every step. The air was thick with the scent of blood and magic, a reminder of the battle that had just ceased.

As he approached, he saw Susan kneeling beside Don, her hands glowing faintly as she tried to prolong his life.

---