With more effort than I thought it should take, I moved my good hand and wrapped it around Rhys’ ankle. It was the only part of him I could reach as he crouched over me, but I was satisfied, because the charm was working for both of us now. Rhys’ shivering stopped, and he looked down at my face.
I licked my dry-as-the-Sahara lips. “I didn’t want you to be cold,” I whispered weakly.
He chuckled darkly. “Stars, I love you, you little brat. Stop getting hurt! You won’t have to worry about me finding a mate because I’ll be dead of a heart attack!”
I smiled and closed my eyes. He was such a drama queen.
I could hear howling as the wolves closed in on someone, then growling and fighting. Then what sounded like angry howling. Was that a thing? Suddenly, Draven was outside the bubble.
“Draven,” I whispered. Rhys’ head whipped around, verifying it was Draven, then he let him in by dropping the barrier, and reformed it quickly once Draven was inside.
“How did you know to come?” Rhys murmured.
“I felt her.”
My blinks seemed to be getting longer. It was hard for me to keep my eyes open, but I really really tried because I wanted to see Draven’s face. He took over, putting pressure on the wound so Rhys could focus on making his barrier as impenetrable as possible.
Rhys shifted so that his back was to us, still in a crouch, and held up both hands to push more power into his starlight barrier. It glowed with deep silver-white magic and pulsed like a quasar.
Draven pulled me into his lap, still keeping pressure on my shoulder, and I scoffed at myself for being a diva when I’d just mentally accused Rhys of the same thing. Weren’t people shot at all the time in movies, and most of them seemed to still be able to run down the bad guys and drive themselves to the hospital afterwards. What was wrong with me?
And then I looked down at my white coat again, and my eyes widened.
Oh.
Yeah, I was bleeding to death.
Draven was swearing and growling as he put more pressure on the wound, but I was still losing it too fast. Maybe the bullet had nicked an artery? Didn’t that happen sometimes? Wasn’tanyonearound here a doctor?
It wasn’t until Draven said, “Shh, just rest,” that I realized I’d been whispering all my thoughts aloud in one long continuous stream. He turned to Rhys. “Why is she losing blood so fast?” he demanded, his voice taut with fear.
Rhys shook his head in frustration. “Idon’tknow!”
I licked my lips again. Seriously, my mouth was so lacking in moisture, I was contemplating licking the snow. It would feel cool and soothing on my tongue and down my burning throat. “The heat charm,” I said, my brain fighting to think clearly.
Rhys spun, realizing I was still keeping both of us warm with the heat charm that was between his ankle and my hand. Draven took it from me and put it in Rhys’ pocket.
“She needs the cold. A lower body temperature will reduce her blood flow.”
Rhys nodded, focusing on the shield again. We could still hear shouts from the direction of the forest, but they were growing fainter as the guards and whoever had shot at us went deeper in.
Draven started packing snow around me while speaking to someone in a low growl on his cell phone. “She needs a life-flight. I’mlosingher. Get someone out herenow!”He let the phone fall from his ear as he tried to offer comfort.
“Just a little longer,” he promised. I was shivering so hard it was making my teeth rattle. I whimpered, having a sudden sympathy for people that worked every day in arctic temperatures.
Mesmer finally came to stand next to the shield and nodded at Rhys, who dropped it. “We chased him, Lord Draven. But he threw himself off a cliff rather than be captured. We verified that he’s dead. He’s a known associate of the vampire Alessandro.”
Draven swore in every language he knew. There were quite a few languages in there that I blinked at. One of them had sounded like Klingon.
Draven handed me to Mesmer, who cuddled me in his arms like I was a baby foal. “Fly her to the hospital,” he choked out. “Get her there fast. She’s fading.”
I protested weakly. I wanted Draven and Rhys with me!
“I’ll come as quickly as I can,” he promised, leaning over me so that I could see the promise in his eyes. “And Rhys will come as well.”
I nodded as Mesmer’s wings shot out and lifted us off the ground, heading with all speed toward the midtown hospital. As we passed over a sleepy hamlet of nice houses, I lost all sense, and blacked out again.
I remembered flashes after that.
