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He smiles like I’ve given him the world.
I break away from our intense moment to scan the others. Blaze is leaning on Aksel and now Griffyn, bloody but conscious. Thank God.
I break away from Felix to go check on Blaze. He doesn’t comment as I look him over.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
His perpetual frown doesn’t change, but he does give me a nod.
“Don’t take it personally. His pride is hurt that he got knocked out,” Griffyn says.
Blaze uses the hand wrapped around Griffyn’s shoulder to smack him in the back of the head.
“Don’t be an idiot,” Aksel says, “So, you think you saw Ryan here?”
He sounds condescending when he says it. Like he doesn’t believe me, or I must be crazy. Which makes no sense since we were here specifically because we got a tip that Ryan would be.
“I did see Ryan. Obviously, he was here, probably setting this trap for all of us. We knew it was going to be one, and I would say uncontrollable fighting and a bomb qualify.”
Aksel nods, looking the room over. “And he just disappeared into thin air?”
“Don’t gaslight her. We all know he could have used a transport charm once he was clear of all the people. The guy who cast the spell causing everyone to fight was paid to do it by someone who perfectly matches Ryan’s description,” Felix says, voice firm.
Duh. That must be what happened.
Aksel gives a soft hum under his breath.
Blaze barely moves, but I see him gritting his teeth in an almost unnoticeable way. He’s still in pain. He may be conscious, but he is not completely healed.
“We should get back,” I say.
When Aksel’s eyes shoot over to me in disbelief, I subtly shrug in Blaze’s direction. I’m sure if Blaze realized this was about him, he would shut it down.
Aksel must see what I see because he nods. “You’re right. We are done here.”
We find the same guy at the front transporting the last of the people out of here. Apparently, everyone cleared out while we were chasing after Ryan.
I’m surprised the transporter stayed to do his job after everything that’s happened, but maybe he’s used to chaos like this.
We hop into his next group and end up on the streets again. The car is up the street.I’m dying to make Blaze wait for us to pull the car around, but I know that’ll only make him angry. He doesn’t want to seem weak, and we aren’t out of the woods yet.
Thankfully, we make it to the car without an incident. It’s an uneventful drive home. It’s hard to tell how Blaze is doing since he’s always quiet.
As soon as we arrive back at the apartment, I pull Blaze over to the couch and lay him down on it.
“You need to rest,” I tell him.
I run to wet a washcloth, bringing it back to him. I dab at the blood covering him, trying to clean him up without hurting him.
He just stares at me as I work. He’s not closing his eyes as I asked, but he’s not putting up a fight either.
I can hear the other three debriefing about their night, but I keep my focus on Blaze. He needs me. The rest can wait.
“You know I’ll heal, right?” Blaze’s voice is raspy.
“Yes, but this will help speed it along. Plus, you won’t look so terrible when I’m done. You look like a murder scene. It’s really for me and my eyes, so do it for me.”
He doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t stop me. I take it as a win.
