Five.
Three.
Jaci didn’t blink again. Didn’t speak. Didn’t think.
She just dove.
Chapter Seventeen
Blood. The taste of it, the scent. It flooded Gabriel’s senses, shocking him back to consciousness.
Awareness barreled into his mind with the force of a planetary collision, splitting his skull and wringing the breath from his lungs.
He sucked in a deep gulp of air, the pain in his head slowly fading, shapes and colors coming into sharp focus.
Jacinda stood in front of Charlotte, eyes wide, breath shallow, blouse soaked in blood. It took him a beat to notice the stake protruding from her mid-section. Another beat to find his own bloody fingers wrapped around the end of it as if he’d been the one to…
Fucking hell.
Memories flashed through his mind, a horror movie on high speed.
Viansa. The innocent fox shifter he’d drained. His near-attack on Charlotte, thwarted by Jacinda.
“Jacinda,” he breathed, shock and anguish squeezing his heat.
“You’re… back.” She forced smile, faint and bloody, then swayed. He caught her before she fell, scooping her into his arms.
“Holy fuck!” Charlotte gasped, awakening along with all the others, her eyes wide as she took in the gory sight.
“Call Colin and Isabelle,” he barked. “Tell them to meet me in my office at once. Tell Colin to bring his medical bag.”
“I… Right. On it.” Blinking away the momentary confusion, Charlotte whipped out her phone, and Gabriel blurred Jacinda up to his office.
As carefully as he could manage, he laid her on the desk, shoving everything else to the floor. Guilt and terror gnawed through his chest, devouring the last of his shock. The thudding of his heart was so wild and erratic, he thought it might explode.
“What have I done?” he whispered. “Bloody hell, Jacinda. I’m so sorry.” He tried to examine the wound, but he couldn’t see anything past the blood, and he didn’t dare remove the stake. For all he knew, that hunk of wood was the only thing holding her together.
“Viansa,” she choked out, voice wet and strangled. She lifted a trembling hand to Gabriel’s face, her blue eyes dimming, her mouth turning soft and sad. “Her fault. Not… yours.”
“Shh. Don’t talk. Colin’s on his way.” Gabriel looked over his shoulder through the open door, but there was no sign of his brother or the elder witch. No sign of help.
Where the fuck are they?
He backed away, intending to check the hallway for any sign of them, but Jacinda grabbed his arm and drew him close.
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t leave me.”
He forced a smile, smoothing the blood-soaked hair away from her face, trying to hide the tremor in his hands. “Never.”
“Promise?”
“I’m right here, little moonflower.”
“Tired.”
“I know, love. But you need to stay with me. Keep me company.”
She smiled, her eyes glazed, lids heavy. Every breath she drew became shallower than the last.
