His fingers twitched on the ground, butotherwise, he didn’t respond to her or the blood she gave him. Thered and black that had taken over Kyle’s skin seeped acrossIsabelle’s face as she gazed at her mate. Lucy pitied anyone whotried to hurt him again.
David, Nathan, and Maggie joined Lucy in thedoorway while Vicky remained at Isabelle’s side, rubbing hersister’s back. At the door to the stairwell, Mollie poked her headinside before sliding into the hallway.
“Go back!” Mike hissed. “Stay out there incase everything falls apart. You can warn the others if thathappens.”
Mollie winced at his words and froze in thehallway. When someone shot around the corner, she retreated to thehallway and poked her head around the corner. Her eyes narrowed onMike.
“You had better stay alive, or I’ll kick yourass,” she vowed.
“As soon as this is over, I’ll be happy tosee you try,” Mike replied with a grin that didn’t reach his blueeyes.
“Oh, I will,” Mollie vowed.
Lucy hoped Mollie got the chance, but to getout of this mess, they were going to have to move. And once theyleft these rooms, it would be open season on them again.
***
Kyle arrived at his dad’s side at the sametime Ethan did. As bullets pummeled the ground and walls aroundthem, they each seized an arm and ran with their father to hidebehind the shelter of another glass cage. The Savage inside theprison glowered at them, but Kyle didn’t pay it any attention.
Resting his hand on his dad’s shoulder, herolled him over and bit back a groan at the bullet hole in thecenter of his chest. It looked to be off-center of the heart, butit was difficult to tell with all the blood soaking his shirt. Hischest still rose and fell with his shallow breaths, but the woundlooked so close to the heart that Kyle wasn’t sure how it couldhave missed.
Ethan jerked the shirt up as more gunfireerupted. His blood wasn’t coming out slowly because the hole washealing; no, the flow had eased because he’d already pumped outmost of his blood.
“Shit,” he whispered.
“We have to get him to Mom. Her blood willhelp him the most.”
Kyle inspected the hole. “Is the bulletthrough his heart?”
“I can’t tell, but I think it might have hitan artery. He’d be dead if it were a direct hit.”
“Can he survive that?”
Ethan didn’t respond, and Kyle suspected itwas because he was as uncertain about the answer as him. Kyle bitinto his wrist and placed it against his dad’s mouth as Ethanyanked off his shirt and used it to wipe the blood off their dad’schest.
When the shots died down again, Cassidy andDante sprinted through the doorway and ran toward Kyle and Ethan.Brian, Aida, and Julian had made their way toward the guards nearthe elevator while Willow and Declan were closing in on the ones bythe other stairwell.
Searching the cages, Kyle finally spottedMelanie in the center of the room. Her hands pressed against theglass as she gazed at him. The hope in her eyes was almost too muchto bear. He had to get to her.
“We have to get him out of here,” Ethan saidto Cassidy and Dante when they joined them.
“Is he okay?” Cassidy demanded. “Did theyshoot him in the heart?”
“It’s too close to know for sure,” Ethansaid, “but we have to get him to Mom. Her blood will help him morethan ours.”
Another burst of gunfire alerted him that hismom had entered the room. She zigzagged in and out of the cages asthe guard’s tracked her movements. Ethan rose to run to her, butundeterred by the gunfire, she arrived at their side a couple ofseconds later.
She fell to the ground beside her mate with amournful cry that shredded Kyle’s heart. She lifted his dad’s headand settled it in her lap. Kyle pulled his wrist away from hisfather’s mouth as his mom tenderly stroked his face.
Her hand trembled as she lifted her wrist toher mouth, but she didn’t cry, and she radiated strength anddetermination as she bit into it. She brought her wrist to hismouth and lowered her forehead to his as she gave him herblood.
“Some of the guards are trying to close in onus,” Ethan said.
“We’ll split up and go in differentdirections to draw them away,” Kyle said before kneeling at hismom’s side. “Stay with Dad. We’ll keep them away from you.”
With her free hand, she gripped his wrist.“Be careful. We can’t lose any of you.”
Kyle squeezed her hand. “You won’t.”
