“I have an idea,” Marcus said in a rush.
Liam groaned. “It better be a fucking good one.”
Marcus grabbed my arm and forced me to sit on a huge boulder. I shoved him off of me. “This is a waste of time! We have to get to Avanow!”
“If you want to get to her, you’ll listen to me,” Marcus barked. “You’re the only one who’s got Nivita magic, which means you’re the only one who can get us all out of here. I’m going to take the ward out of you and put it into Ava’s mom. The magic can be used for any form of protection. I’ll transform the spell to protect her from the noxite. She’ll be able to heal you. You’re not getting to Ava with a broken leg, so let us do this and you can reach her faster. Got it?”
Hell, Marcus had never taken charge a day in his life. It caught me off guard. But I had no choice but to listen to him, because he was right. As long as my leg was broken and I had no magic, I wasn’t getting to Ava.
“This better fucking work,” I growled.
Marcus grabbed my hand, and I heard Sophia approach.
“Quickly,” she breathed.
Magic swirled within me, rising through my gut and out of my extremities. Something twisted in my stomach, and I doubled over and spewed bile across the ground. I heard Kallie gasp, though she tried to hide it.
When I came back up for air, I felt like I could breathe easier. My sense of balance returned, and I could feel the earth and air around me. Stone surrounded us at all angles, including overhead. If Kallie let her shield fall, we’d be crushed.
Finally, we could get fucking moving.
I started to get to my feet, but an ungodly pain shot up my leg, and I fell back onto the boulder.
Marcus caught me. “Slow down, Charlie. Sophia needs to heal you.”
Ancestors, Marcus. This wasn’t a fucking carnival. We didn’t have time toslow down. This was my wife’s fuckinglife.
“Don’t you get it?” I screamed. “Ava is on the other side of this rubble. If we don’t get to her soon—”
“We’ll find her,” Sophia assured me as she grabbed my leg. “I promise.”
She could promise whatever she wanted, but I knew she was lying through her teeth. She didn’t believe it herself. I could hear it in her voice.
“Hurry up,” I demanded.
Warmth filled my leg, and the pain slowly subsided. I winced as I felt my bones knitting back together. My skin stretched, but I didn’t let Sophia finish. The second I felt I could stand on two feet, I yanked away from her. Blood continued to trickle down my leg, but it meant nothing compared to Ava’s injuries. My bone ached, because I didn’t let Sophia heal it all the way, but I could walk. I’d take it.
I threw myself at the rocks and began moving them aside with my magic. Stone crushed, and dust rained down from overhead as I forced the rubble aside, creating a long tunnel in front of me. Kallie sighed in relief as I took over with my magic, keeping the stone in place so it wouldn’t crush us. She was finally able to drop her shield. Oberi whined, and I felt his worry for Ava through our bond.
“Sophia, get to Oberi,” I barked. She had to get that bullet out of him.
I heard Liam try to get up, but his wife yelled at him. “Liam, stop! I have to heal you, too.”
Kallie, Marcus, and I scrambled through the rubble as fast as we could. My heart raced, and I feared I’d never find her. She’d been standing on this side of the room. We had to be close—
I moved another pile of rubble out of the way. Kallie gasped, and Marcus began to gag. I knew instantly that we’d found her.
I dropped to my knees and crawled forward, until my fingers met Ava’s shoe. I ran my hands up her legs to feel for injuries. A warm, sticky liquid coated my palms. Blood seeped through my pants as I crawled closer to her. My hands touched her torso, and I began to weep when I felt the gooey sensation of her insides spilling from her abdomen.
Ancestors, she’d ripped herself apart…
“Ava!” I screamed in agony.
This couldn’t be real. I was misinterpreting what I felt. It was an illusion.Something.
Hell, this was my fault. I couldn’t do anything to fight back, and because of that, Ava had gotten hurt.
I pulled my wife’s head into my lap. “Ava, please.”
