Bloodfire (Blood Destiny 1) - Helen Harper Page 0,72
are terrified of them. They get caught in them, or something, and can’t move. I’m a bit hazy on all the details to be honest, dude, but just get some blackberries and you’ll have it screaming like a girl for its mummy.”
“Wow, that’s so helpful, Alex, thanks. This beach is clearly teeming with blackberry bushes all over the place. If only I had thought of attacking it with one.”
“Alright, dude, alright, no need to get snarky. Anyway, it’s interesting that you mention dragons cos I’m sure that ispolins’ nemeses are dragons.”
Why did it keep coming back to dragons? “Well, next time then I’ll look for a fucking dragon hiding in a fucking blackberry bush.”
There was a feline growl next to me and I turned to watch Staines painfully shifting into human form. He clicked his jaws a few times to aid their transformation back into human form before speaking. “This is not helping. We have our people to aid.”
I suddenly remembered Lucy and her bird-brained colleague. I turned round and scanned the beach. The guy was still lying crumpled where the Cyclops – sorry, ispolin – had thrown him. I didn’t think he’d moved an inch since then, which wasn’t a good sign. One of the wolves was now beside him, just sitting there, ears flat. Lucy, meanwhile, was limping up the now semi-destroyed beach, which looked as if someone had dug potholes all around it. At least the tide would take care of that side of things in a few hours’ time. Checking that the other wolf, Anton and Staines were remaining beside the portal, I jogged down to meet her.
She was holding her arm awkwardly and it was clearly broken. A gash on the side of her head trickled blood and she was half bent over, clearly in a lot of pain. When I reached her, she all but collapsed into my arms, deathly pale. My fingers twitched again with heat. How the hell did we let this happen? I tried to push aside thoughts of rage at the monster’s very painful destruction and picked her up in a fireman’s lift, slinging her over my shoulder. It might not be very dignified, but at the moment it was the best I could offer.
Back at the side of the portal, I laid her gently down on the sand. Alex came over from the guy’s body and shook his head at me slightly, then bent to check over Lucy. My body shivered with ire. I might not have liked the werecougar, I might even have wanted to punch his lights out, but he didn’t deserve to die. I turned to look at the portal. Staines, however, reading my thoughts, gave me a warning glance and for now I acquiesced and crouched down to join Alex. Staines pulled out a mobile phone from his pocket and began tapping furiously at the keypad.
“I think she’s ruptured her appendix,” Alex said, gently poking at her stomach.
She moaned softly, and I winced in phantom pain for her.
“We need to get her back to the keep and call in a proper doctor. Even with her regeneration ability, she needs serious medical attention.”
We had Julia, who was good for herbal treatments, and a few other pack members such as Larch who were fairly skilled in first aid and basic medicine, but I doubted that they had enough experience to help her properly. One of the drawbacks of being in a pack where serious injuries were so few and far between.
“There’s a guy in Somerset,” I said. “We can call their alpha and get him here with a couple of hours.”
Staines snapped his phone shut. “There’s no need. The Lord Alpha is on his way as we speak, with our doctor in tow. We look after our own.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, I was tempted to stick my tongue out at him. Whoopdedoo. Their own special doctor, because normal pack ones couldn’t be trusted, and their stupid lord were coming. We were all saved, after all, I thought sarcastically.
“I’ll take her back then,” I said instead, reaching over to pick her body back up again. The wolf beside the Brethren’s corpse had shifted and was already scooping him up for the sad walk back.
“No,” ordered Staines. “Anton, take her to the keep. Be very careful with her.”
Anton shot me a smug glance that was blocked from Staines’ view by Alex. My teeth clenched. “I am perfectly capable of helping carry her.”