Page 23 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

“I got you,” I murmured as I rushed over to her, ignoring the stinging in my eyes from the thick smoke around us. I wasn’t sure if that was my fault or the warlock’s, but I’d worry about where to pin the blame later. “I need you to take a deep breath because this is gonna sting, okay?”

The woman managed a very weak nod. If she said anything I didn’t hear it over the din of battle. I pulled a small bottle out of my apron pocket. When it became clear that patching up shifters would become a common occurrence in my life, I’d mixed an elixir I could use on the go. It wasn’t anything too special: distilled water, witch hazel, willow bark, vitamin E oil, calendula, aloe, and a little echinacea. I’d added tea tree oil to the first batch, but strangely, it had irritated Ricky’s skin instead of soothing it, and I didn’t want that to happen to anyone else.

The woman hissed as I poured half the bottle over her wound, but the graying flesh began to pink up within seconds. I found the rapid healing of shifters fascinating, but now was not the time to marvel at how her insides rearranged themselves and her skin stitched itself together. If we all lived through the battle, I’d give her some immune-boosting supplements to make sure she had no infections or contaminants inside her.

“Come on, let me help you out of here,” I said once her breathing wasn’t as shaky. “Esperanza can get you to safety once we’re outside.”

“Yeah,” she rasped, holding her arm up to me. I was impressed that she was even able to do that and quickly crouched next to her to drape it over my shoulders. “How are you still up?”

“Pardon?” I asked as I stood carefully so as not to jostle her.

“The gas,” she said simply.

Oh, right. That. A thick cloud of gas still surrounded us, and considering I’d inhaled a fair amount of it, I really shouldhave been snoring on the floor, like all the non-shifters in the ballroom.

“Maybe the smoke bombs I threw were duds,” I said, focusing on getting out. Thankfully, the bear shifter I had barely escaped from wasn’t anywhere to be seen. That did make me worry that we were going to run into him under even more inopportune circumstances, but there wasn’t much else I could do about it.

“Just one step at a time,” I murmured under my breath. It wasn’t exactly the quickest escape, but luckily she had a pretty small frame. She was several inches shorter than me and at least fifty pounds lighter.

Once I had her outside, I didn’t have to wait long before I heard a bird cry and Esperanza landed beside me.

“I’ve got her,” Esperanza said. “Chris already got a whole chunk of the prisoners out, but he went back in and said there were more.”

More? How many magical beings had the brothers taken?

“There were two of the brothers in there,” I murmured, not quite sure what else to say.

“Holy shit,two?Do you know which ones?”

I shook my head. Technically, the only brother whose name I knew was Chadwicke, and he was dead as a doornail.

“Get her to safety, I’m going back in.”

“Okay. But be safe, now. I kind of like you,” Esperanza said.

“Ah, the approval of a teenager. Exactly what I’ve always needed in my life.” I knew sarcasm was hit or miss with some people, but she grinned at me.

“Don’t take it for granted.”

We chuckled for a few seconds, then I was running back into danger. What was that, three times in one day? It looked like it was becoming a habit.

Leo would be upset with me, but it wasn’t like I was running directly into battle. Not at all. The closest I had gotten was the hallway next to it, and that was only because the werecat and Leo had brought it tome.

I doubted Leo would agree with my logic, but I couldn’t leave Chris all alone. He’d risked his life to go back and save more of the captives, so why shouldn’t I? The two of us were a lot more likely to survive together than on our own. Besides, with one brother down, the majority of the forces would be focused on protecting the other brother—and I hoped to God those efforts would be in vain. It was a huge stroke of luck that we had the opportunity to take down a pair of the warlocks instead of just one.

When I entered the kitchen again, it was somehow even more of a wreck than it had been. I slipped down the hallway to the door at the end that led to the prisoners downstairs.

When the door burst open, I screamed in surprise. A hulking, roaring man blocked my path, and my mind started firing on all cylinders. If he was standing in the doorway, then Chris and all the other prisoners were pretty much trapped downstairs somewhere.

I needed to get him away from the door.

But how? He had at least a foot on me, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was pushing four hundred pounds of muscle, because his fists were nearly the size of my head. Was he some sort of gorilla shifter in the middle of transforming? Did gorilla shifters even exist? I had no idea.

Doing the first thing that came to mind, I roared and charged at him. Apparently, the element of surprise added a whole bunch of bonus damage to my attack, because the giant man stumbled back into the staircase, and I managed to swing the door shut.

Normally, I would have locked the door and trusted that the behemoth would take the time to break it down,but unfortunately I’d sabotaged the lock. I glanced around frantically, trying to come up with an idea. My gaze landed on the heavy statue next to the door. I braced myself against it, then pushed with all the strength I could muster until the statue was in front of the door.

Normally, this would be an awful idea, as it would trap the prisoners and Chris with whatever that giant man was, but I had no doubt he would move my obstacle out of the way in no time. Hopefully, it would be give me enough time to get to the end of the hall.

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