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“I’m okay.” She touched his face. “It probably looks worse than it feels. He didn’t drink anything. Aiden pulled him off me too fast.” She looked up at Aiden. “I guess we’re even?”

Her laugh sounded weak, but he understood it as an attempt to lighten the mood. Lukas seemed tense. She needed to defuse the situation so they could help the others.

Sounds at the edge of the forest stole their attention. They looked up as Blackthorn Security, decked out in black tactical clothing, filed out of the trees with weapons drawn.

One man made hand signals and barked orders so fast Aiden couldn’t understand. Bodies fanned around them, converging on the few remaining rogues and the reinforcements that arrived from the other side of the clearing.

Had security arrived later, their small group wouldn’t have survived the battle. Before, only a few outnumbered them, and it already proved difficult to hold the rogues off because students weren’t trained in combat, but their reinforcements tripled those numbers.

Where had James disappeared to?

A man crouched next to them, eyes scanning the surroundings as he spoke. “Is she okay? Do you need medical?”

“Yes,” Lukas said at the same time Blaire said, “No.”

The security guard looked between them.

“I’m fine. I got bit, but I’m good.”

The security guard waved over another man who carried a bag. “To be on the safe side, since you’re human, let him look you over.” He looked at Aiden and Charlotte, his eyes focusing on Aiden, nodding to the blood that saturated his shirt, coating his hands, arms, and face. “You injured?”

“No, this is his,” Aiden said, motioning to the rogue on the ground.

He lay on his back with his leather jacket open and a huge red stain coating the chest of his white T-shirt. If he hadn’t recovered by now, the likelihood of the shot penetrating his heart or lung was high.

“Once you’re cleared with the medic, I want you all to get to the administration building. We’ll meet on the ground floor for a debriefing.” With those last words, the man stood and moved to join the rest of security, who were rounding up the rogues who hadn’t fled at the sight of them.

“I need a medic!” Riley called out.

Aiden turned toward his sister, several yards away. He rushed toward her as she struggled to walk with Seth, who appeared on the brink of collapse. When he reached them, Riley collapsed to her knees, letting Seth fall into Aiden’s arms.

“What the hell happened?”

Riley looked up from her place on the ground as Charlotte came up to her side, kneeling as well. “He’d already taken a beating. A bat to his stomach and ribs. But this asshole tried to snap his neck, and when I got them separated, two more jumped on him while I was occupied. They bit him and tore into him and, and…” Riley started sobbing. “One of them had a knife!”

“What the fuck? Did he get stabbed?” He looked down at Seth, who hadn’t opened his eyes or said anything. Determining his injuries proved difficult because of the numerous tattoos adorning his arms and the blood soaking his torn T-shirt.

“Yes!” Riley screamed at him. She scrambled forward on her knees, jerking up Seth’s shirt. Next to his Korrena mark along his Adonis belt, a stab wound poured blood down over his jeans.

Charlotte gasped.

Aiden quickly moved Seth to the ground, putting pressure on the wound. They only needed to stabilize him until his preternatural healing took over.

The area wasn’t near a vital organ, but he didn’t know for sure. He wasn’t a medical major. He’d already changed majors twice. Considering what kept happening with his friends, maybe medicine would be worth switching to.

Lukas and Blaire approached with the medic from before and another woman who carried a similar bag.

“He’s been stabbed,” he told them. Riley couldn’t provide the information they needed fast enough. “Several bite wounds. He’s also taken several hits with a bat to his torso.”

Charlotte struggled to pull Riley away from Seth’s body, so Aiden helped pull his sister away as she fought against them, weeping and cursing.

“Wake up, Seth! You have to wake up! You can’t leave me!”

Blaire made a strangled noise, and Lukas pulled her into his arms as they moved away from the medics surrounding Seth.

Riley trembled in Aiden’s arms as he kept them tight around her, stroking the back of her head.

This year hadn’t been fair to her.