I felt the deepest parts of my heart clench at the idea of her out there alone while we idiots cowered and crouched in her old hole. But the clearer parts of my brain acknowledged that Taryk was right. I’d watched how Kiema pushed and demanded her independence. It had killed Ransom and Saint, but they’d let her do it. Because that’s what she’d needed.
I bit back the mouthful of hateful words I wanted to spew at my brother. He was right. I needed to get Scarlet off her pedestal. That only put her at a higher, more dangerous vantage point for the people who wanted to harm her.
I nodded, pushed away from Taryk. I couldn’t watch as my mate put herself in danger, but I could be ready to end these fuckers as soon as my mate gave the signal.
“Guys,” Xander said in a whisper, even over the implant.
Taryk and I turned to face him.
His face was pale and sweaty as dark red bloomed over his left side. “I think I’m in trouble.” He stumbled to the side. I was at his side before he came to a full stop.
“Kiema!” I screamed through the implant. I knew she wasn’t on our frequency, but Ransom and Saint were with her. They’d get the message to her as soon as it registered with them.
No answer came. Not from any of them.
“Come, little Princess. Show yourself and we’ll make sure your death is dignified,” one of the males said.
Pressing my hands over his wound, I had Taryk rip my shirt off and give it to me. “We need to get this blood stopped.”
“I can smell your blood, shifter,” one of the females said.
I looked up to the top of the wall that provided one section of the barrier to our hideout. There she stood, outlined in the rays of filtered sunshine.
She’d hurt my brother while trying to take my mate. She was going to die.
Even as I gathered myself to launch at her, she tumbled off the top of the wall like she’d been slammed into with a wrecking ball.
“Taryk, go check on Cherry.” I looked at him, wide eyes. I couldn’t leave Xander. Not if these fuckbites could smell his blood. He would be absolutely defenseless.
Bunching my ripped shirt into a big ball, I covered it with one hand. With my other, I laid it against Xander’s chest. “Junior, I know you’re in there, buddy. Xander’s in a bad way. Can you come out and help us?”
A wash of magic floated through my skin as Junior materialized behind me. “Keep watch, yeah?”
Junior dipped his head before turning back to the door. His weight anchored on his back legs, he looked ready to spring at anyone who approached. I wasn’t really sure what good a spirit tiger would do to another magical being, but I was willing to accept whatever I could get.
“Asher.”
I looked around. The room was empty except for Xander and Junior.
“Scarlet?” I whispered back.
“Look up.”
I did. Up near the roofline was Atlas, Lukas, Ransom, Saint, and Kiema. Off a little ways was Oliver. He wasn’t standing on the edge of the exterior wall though. He was floating in the air.
“What the fuck happened?” Ransom said through our mental link.
I almost gasped out in sobs. I swallowed them back. “I don’t know. The Wardens turned against us. One of them caught Xan with a spear or something. Atlas, Kiema, he’s fading fast. Hurry.”
The sob I’d suppressed pushed up the back of my throat again. I forced it down, making my chest feel like it was about to explode.
Oliver grabbed Atlas and Kiema by the arms and floated them down to my side.
“If he was struck by one of the weapons, then there might be nothing you can do. Their poison is quite potent,” Oliver said.
“Fuck that,” Atlas said, pushing the other man out of the way.
“Seconded.” Kiema nudged me out of her way as she splayed her hands against Xander’s arm.
“I need this shirt off of him. Now. I need to see the wound,” Atlas said.
I pulled the compress bandage away and ripped through the thin material with one long bear claw. Careful to keep the sharp point away from my brother’s skin.
Atlas looked up at me with startled eyes. “When did you—”
“I’ll tell you later. Right now, just fix Xan, Atty.” I swallowed, knew my heart was in my eyes. “Please. I can’t lose him.”
“You won’t, Ash baby. You won’t,” Kiema said as she patted one hand down my arm. She moved both of her hands to my brother’s now bare chest. She closed her eyes and her body went still as a statue.
“You’ll have more to protect, Junior. Your Sacred went for a spirit walk,” I whispered to the elemental tiger.
He made a chuffing sound and curled himself around Kiema’s body without taking his eyes off the opening in the doorway.
“Where is Scarlet? Taryk?” Atlas asked as he cleaned Xander’s wound. His eyes were focused on the task under his hands, but I knew his brain needed more information to work with.
I gave him the short rundown.
“Thank fuck she’s not mine. Either of them,” he said with a sad smile. “Our family will be fine, Asher. I swear to you.” He held my golden-brown gaze with his bright green one.
I nodded. “They have to be.”
He nodded, understanding.
A shriek filled the old warehouse. I would recognize that sound anywhere. Cherry had made it. I didn’t know what to do. Go and potentially hurt her more by not helping her or Taryk? Stay and live with the regret if I could have helped? What about leaving Xander?
Before I had a chance to make a decision, Scarlet appeared.
“He’s mine, too, Asher,” Scarlet said as she walked through the doorway.
She was covered in blood, her bright white hair drenched in crimson, it splashed from her cheekbones onto her chest.
I pulled her down and into my arms. “Thank fuck, baby.”
Kiema shook herself awake. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. I mean, I can see what’s wrong, but I can’t fix it.” She looked shattered as she turned to me. Her normally tan skin was almost ghostly pale.
Scarlet reached out, entwined their fingers. “Use mine. Take whatever you need.”
“Mine, too.” I wrapped my palm around their small connected fist. “You can even have my bear.”
“And my deer.”
“And my panther,” Taryk said as he added his hand to the pile.
“And my wolf.” Atlas’ hand added another shaking weight.
“And mine,” Ransom said as he dropped to the floor beside us.
“And my life, I submit,” Ten/Saint said.
Oliver was standing over Kiema’s shoulder, a dark sad smile on his face. He shook his head when he saw me looking at him.
I clenched my eyes tightly closed. I wasn’t losing my brother. Not like this.
“I’ll save him,” Kiema said. Steel laced her tone as I felt the magic rise through the small room. Soon it was howling through the old building, whistling through the broken windows and cracked doors.
With a shudder, she disentangled her and Scarlet’s fingers. All of our palms rested on the back of her hand. She laid her palm against Xander’s chest. With a jerk, her head tipped back and her neck muscles distended as a piercing scream shrieked through the wind.
Xander’s body jerked.