Page 193 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘Step away from the Boss. Now.’

‘You take one more step, I will put you on the floor.’

‘You can fucking shoot me after.’

‘DROP IT!’

‘Riley needs my blood.’

‘Riley needs surgery,’ Noah snaps.

‘He’s dying! They both are!’

‘On your knees, freak! Hands behind your head!’

‘Look at Kade! Look at what’s happening to him!’

‘Lachlan, move away from my patient.’

‘No.’

‘Last warning.’

‘He’s trying to say something, listen to him!’

‘Get on the fucking ground!’

‘Everybody shut up!’

Kade hears Riley’s voice, so weak but there. ‘Stand… down.’

‘Sir?’

‘Stand down.’

‘I’m giving you my blood, Harker,’ Lachlan tells him tightly. ‘I don’t know what it’ll do, but I can’t do nothing.’

‘Riley,’ Noah says intently, voice lowered. ‘We don’t know how your body will respond to foreign antigens.’

‘Doesn’t matter. It’s for Kade. Do it, Tanner.’

Kade is drowning in rainbows and dancing on strings that stretch, gold and living, between worlds. Dancing. He misses it so much.

He’ll dance more when he wakes.

Won’t waste his time.

Life is short.

It’s so… fucking… short.

Someone else comes inside.

‘Lachlan, what are you—?’

‘Get the fuck out, Jolene. This doesn’t concern you.’

‘You can’t give him your blood!’