The Last Warrior (Shifters Unbound #13) - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,104

he slid to the ground, all life going out of him.

“That’s it for me,” he whispered. “I love you, Rhianne. Always, my mate.”

He lay still and ceased to breathe, his heart under Rhianne’s frantic hands fluttering to a halt.

“Please try,” Rhianne begged.

She clung to Ben’s hand as he lay on Liam’s big bed, where Tiger had carried him once the battle was over. Tiger had laid him down, pulled a sheet over Ben’s bare body, and then pointed at Zander.

“Heal him,” Tiger ordered.

“Not that simple, big guy.” Zander, who’d resumed his human shape, beads clicking in his hair, touched Ben’s lifeless face, his dark eyes filled with compassion. “I can’t reach him beyond a certain point. I’m sorry, Rhianne.”

Everyone in this room was grieving, Rhianne realized past the haze of pain that filmed her vision. Tiger, Zander, Jaycee and Dimitri, the Shifters who’d arrived from North Carolina, and a few from Las Vegas and New Orleans.

Shifters filled Liam’s house and spilled out around it, all of them now in human form, including Rhianne, she having thrown on sweats Carly had handed her, Carly’s eyes filled with tears.

Tiger had allowed only a few besides Rhianne and the healers into the bedroom, and those denied camped out in the hall and on the stairs.

These were all Ben’s friends. From the Shifter leaders who relied on him, to the women who found him a trusted confidant and supporter, to the men who called him friend and drinking buddy, to the cubs who admired and trusted him.

Everyone loved Ben. The man who’d believed himself alone had touched hundreds of lives, and now they surrounded him to mourn.

“Please try,” Rhianne begged Zander once more.

Zander’s expression told Rhianne it was far too late. Andrea had put her hands on Ben outside, where he’d lain in the circle of trees, but said she could find nothing inside him that connected. Rhianne wasn’t certain what she meant by that, but the look in Andrea’s eyes had filled her with anguish.

Zander now laid his hands on Ben’s chest and closed his eyes. His mate, Rae, holding her Guardian’s Sword, put her fingertips on Zander’s shoulder.

Binding with him, Rhianne saw, their magic stirring her own. Rae’s Sword of the Guardian rang softly as its magic passed through Rae and into Zander.

Zander began to chant words in a Fae-like language. The Shifters in the room whispered along, except Connor, who only stared numbly at Ben. Tiger-girl stood next to Connor, subdued, her hand in his.

For a long time the chant went on. A soft breeze came through the open window, and with it the sweet sound of wind chimes.

Rhianne’s thoughts flashed back to the haunted house. Ben was its caretaker. If he was moved there, would its magic help?

A long journey. Rhianne’s heart sank. Could she fly him? she wondered. Did she have the strength to make it five hundred miles without dropping him or damaging him even more?

Zander’s chanting trailed off, and he opened his eyes. “I’m sorry. He’s already gone. I can’t reach him.”

Rae met Rhianne’s gaze. “Do you want me to do it, Rhianne? Or Sean?”

“Do what?” Rhianne asked, her voice barely working.

Connor coughed to clear his throat. “She means send him to dust with her sword. I don’t know if that works on goblins.”

“He’s of Faerie,” Rae said gently. “It should.”

“No.” Rhianne laid her head on Ben’s chest, willing his heart to beat. It remained still, Ben’s skin cool. “Please don’t,” she begged Rae. “Not yet.”

“The touch of a mate,” Tiger rumbled.

No one explained what he meant. Zander said quietly, “Not sure that will work either.”

Rhianne shut them out. She caressed Ben’s tattooed arms, thinking of how powerfully they’d held her. He’d given her everything—a place to stay and a shoulder to cry on, showed her new and exciting things, taught her not to fear the beast inside her, taught her how to fall in love.

“I love you, Ben.” Rhianne whispered his real name, the syllables flowing from her tongue as though they belonged there.

Millie’s voice wafted through the door. “Yes, you do need to let me in, young man.” Dylan’s growl answered her. At any other time, Rhianne might be amused at Dylan’s reaction to being called a young man, but now she could feel nothing.

Rhianne lifted herself from Ben but kept her hand on his arm. “Tiger, let her come.”

Without a word, Tiger crossed the room and opened the door. Millie, carrying her handbag, marched in. Her sons peered worriedly around the doorframe, their way