Changed by Fire (Phoenix Rising #6) - Harper Wylde Page 0,175
up for healing us, so watch your backs. I saw Ryder wince beside me, though he sent a wave of agreement through the link.
We tugged the door open, the bright flood lights of the yard stinging my eyes for a moment as I tried to process the scene. Blood stained the matted snow. Bodies were stacked in a pile at the edge of the yard. Injured shifters lay on their backs in the hard packed dirt, receiving aid from others. A large group was gathered at the far edge, looking haggard and exhausted. Disgust, fear, and pain decorated their faces. My frantic gaze found Rini sobbing in her bears’ arms, and Molly helping her mother bandage Valleria’s freely bleeding arm.
Li Min had the children gathered far from the dead bodies with a few other females, soothing the children’s sobs and wails of fright. Several of the children bore wounds that appeared to have been hastily bandaged.
My Phoenix couldn’t see a threat, but there was obviously something going on. Damien froze in front of me, swaying madly, and it was only Theo’s hands that caught him. I rushed forward to help, the blaze in my palms extinguishing as an odd feeling rushed through my head, making me stagger in turn. It was as though glass shattered through my mind, and I realized after a breath it was coming from our mental link—Damien’s pain washing through me. The mental walls between us were nothing more than crumbled bricks on the ground, with each of my mates fully present in my mind while Damien was lost to whatever had his attention.
No. That one word was nothing but agony through our connection as I finally saw what had Damien’s attention. My breath stalled in my frozen lungs as the loose ring of shifters moved apart, creating a gap between their bodies that allowed me to see the devastating sight.
There, laying bloody and broken on the ground beyond, was a ragged, battle worn Gaspard.
“Grandpa!” The frantic cry fell from my lips, and I scrambled for him in desperation, hearing the same sorrowful sound echoed by Damien as he followed.
Crimson blood stained the snow and ice, the contrast as startling as the ivory bones that shouldn’t be visible. I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. My lungs burned as tears scalded the backs of my eyes, but I blinked them away. If I let them fall now, I’d never be able to see through the watery cascade.
We have Ryder. Ryder can heal him. The hopeful mantra was all I held onto as I ran to his side, nearly toppling over from the slick ice. I gagged when I got close, unable to prevent the innate bodily reaction.
“What the hell happened?” Theo whispered, stopping right beside me, his face sheet white before the leader in him rose to the surface and hardened his resolve. “Killian, go to the kids. Keep Emersyn away from this. Block it from them. Now.” The words snapped out like a whip, but I didn’t bother checking to see if Killian obeyed. I knelt beside Gaspard, heedless of the blood that lapped at my knees or the snow that chilled me to the bone. I was already freezing, all the warmth gone from my body. Not even my Phoenix could thaw the ice running through my veins.
A vague part of me recognized two of the healers from the infirmary as they stood by, their faces ashen as magic sparkled over their hands.
Nix, Gaspard rattled, using his mental voice. It was clear why he didn’t speak physically—I doubted he was able to. Ragged skin sat where his wings should have been in this half shifted form. They had been torn from his body, the same as his son’s had been, and in a gruesome display, Gaspard’s ribcage had been meticulously severed from his spine and splayed wide to resemble skeletal wings. As if that wasn’t enough to make bile rise in my throat, some sick, twisted fucker had pulled his lungs and heart directly through his maimed ribcage, exposing them to the air. I couldn’t believe he was even still breathing.
Ryder limped forward as fast as he could, his complexion shifting from gray to green as he reached out to Gaspard, blue light flickering weakly around his fingers. Don’t bother, child, Gaspard commanded feebly. Even at your full strength—his mental voice paused with every jagged, painfilled breath—you wouldn’t be able to heal this. Both of us don’t need to die today.