Page 78 of Tethered Souls
He twists out of the way of my blade, his black wings flapping. He darts over my head and out the door. Knowing the fight is over – a shapeshifter shrinking their mass that much is always a last resort, I rush over to Micha.
“Get Louise!” I snap as Khalid shifts back into his human form. Her pulse is weak, the fight having only taken a few seconds, maybe a minute, but it’s still there, and I work on shoving her organs and intestines, par her open stomach, back into her body. Then I gently remove the knife I stabbed her with and slide it away. Louise can fix her.She’ll be okay. She has to be.
When I sense my brother still with us, I turn my head to yell at him even though I know he won’t leave my side to save her. He won’t even leave to chase down Myers. But his phone is in his hand as he stands guard by the door, and a second later, Louise answers. “Yes?”
“Upstairs. Now. Bring Rudy and Maddox with you.”
“No,” I snap. “Not Rudy.” As much as I’m trying to fight it, I’m terrified Micha will die in my arms. If I can’t control my fears by the time Rudy gets here, his magic might make them come true. “Dayne,” I say, knowing she’ll want him here. “He can help Louise.”
Khalid relays the change, then hangs up before dialing a new number. Mother answers this time. “Don’t let Vinny leave,” he says.
“He’s already contained.”
“By who?”
“The twins.”
“And you didn’t use any magic?”
“Just my sixth sense.” That won’t use up her life-force. “I’m coming up with Louise.”
“No,” I bark, raising my voice so she can hear me through my brother’s phone. “Stay there in case Myers comes for his son.” Although a shapeshifter cannot grow mass, only ever able to shrink or stay the same, they can combine their innate ability with a spell that allows them to use mass from somewhere else. If Myers has a stash of meat somewhere – something I would not put past him, then he can regain a bigger form. “Get Stefaan to get everyone else out of here.”
He hangs up just as I sense people coming down the hall. I move Micha’s sash to cover her as Khalid moves out of the way for Louise, Dayne, and Maddox to enter.
“Micha!” Dayne rushes in, dropping to his knees across from me. I want to tell him to get away from what’s mine, but I’m the one who steps back. Louise needs the space. My hands are trembling as I stand, and I press them against my thighs so no one sees. Micha shouldn’t matter this much. I barely know her.
My eyes snap up from my little monster’s pale face as Louise steps in front of me. White light glows from both her hands as she reaches for my side. I grab both her wrists, my fingers biting. “Her first,” I growl. “I’ll survive until then.”
Shock flickers across her face, but then it’s gone, locked under her professional composure. Louise turns and kneels beside the ruptured stomach I left on the ground, thinking the leaking acid would cause more damage. Her white light wraps around the organ, patching it up and cleaning it of any harmful germs. She puts it back in Micha’s body, then moves her hands up, still inside the wound, patching the internal damage.
Dayne’s hands are over Micha’s chest, above her heart. His face is one of concentration, and I tune my senses to her pulse, praying it doesn’t stop in the time it takes these two to heal her.
My head grows dizzy, and I sag back against the wall. Khalid’s head snaps to me. “Louise,” he starts.
“No! Her first.”
Micha’s heartbeat stops. I feel it. Feel its absence. Feel its weight on my chest as it squeezes out every breath of air in my lungs.
I push up off the wall and stagger forward just as Dayne says, “Get out of her.”
Louise pulls her hands away, and a second later, Micha’s body jerks like she’s just been hit by a defibrillator. I stop, my heart in my throat as I strain to hear the beat of her pulse. He curses and jolts her again with his magic.
Wake up, Micha. That’s a fucking order.
But my little monster does like to defy me.
Dayne waits another second, then hits her again, the charge of his magic now strong enough to move her across the floor.
And there. There it is. The soft beat of her heart. I sag back against the wall, then all the way to the floor, my legs giving out for a different reason other than the hole in my side.
“Heal her,” Dayne tells Louise, and the white light of her hands flows over the wound in Micha’s side.
“She’ll need rest,” she eventually says as she rocks back on her heels. She takes Micha’s bloody hand in hers. “But she’ll be okay.”
I take a deep breath, my head dizzy, my throat raw with silent screams. My focus latches onto Micha’s face, waiting for her eyes to open. Louise moves over to me, blocking my line of sight. My pulse trips at the sound of her raspy voice calling Dayne’s name. Always calling his fucking name.
I don’t move my head to look at her though, instead lifting my shirt up for Louise. As much as I want to go to her, she wouldn’t want me right now. After a tragic event like that, all you ever want are the people you love.
