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“How dare you touch what’s mine!” he yelled, reaching deep within himself to unlock even more power.
Isa laughed, the sound sharp and mocking. “It’s too late. He’s already been tainted. I’m all over him, brother. I took your precious toy and I broke it and made it—”
Odin shot that new wave forward, pushing against that barrier of ice with all his might, a flicker of triumph blooming in his chest when he melted through it with ease.
Isa only had enough time to make a sound of alarm before his protection was gone and the fire was on him, gnawing at his skin, causing it to burn and blister and peel. He’d thrown his arms up as a last-ditch attempt and Odin watched them burn, the screams so loud they drowned out all other sounds in the room.
Until Hunter coughed.
Odin had made sure the flames didn’t touch him, but there was nothing he could do about the smoke currently filling the small space.
Isa was still backed into a corner with Odin blocking the exits, so Odin gave one last shove and then spun around, running to Hunter. He dropped the walls of fire as he did, hoping to stop the smoke production to prevent it from choking his Huntsman further.
And almost puked when he finally allowed himself to look, the yawning mix of horror and grief opening within him like a void, sucking the feeling of satisfaction he’d gotten from finally beating Isa in a heartbeat.
Odin burned through the ropes quickly, catching Hunter before he could drop, careful where he touched—not that there was any spot left undamaged.
The Huntsman was covered in cuts and bruises, angry-looking welts, and smears of dried blood. An open wound on his thigh was still bleeding out, not at a dangerous level, though Odin feared if they didn’t hurry and get it treated it would become infected.
He let out a strangled cry, one completely foreign to him, and was so distracted by the broken man in his arms he almost sent a fireball sailing at Vetle’s head when the underboss came running into the room.
The look Vetle made when he saw Hunter’s state only made Odin feel more afraid.
“Deal with Frost,” Odin ordered, arranging Hunter in his arms as best he could so he could carry him out of there.
Vetle frowned. “Where is he?”
“What?” Odin twisted on his heels and swore when he saw the corner where he’d last seen Isa empty.
Following his line of sight, Vetle rushed over to the massive cutout in the wall that acted as a window, leaning out over it to glance down both sides of the street. He cursed and sprung back, already halfway to the exit before he called over his shoulder, “Crazy asshole jumped!”
“Don’t let him escape,” Odin ordered. If not for the Huntsman, he’d go after Isa himself, but…Getting to a doctor immediately was more important. Besides, he’d burnt Isa pretty badly. With injuries like that, he couldn’t be moving very fast. It was already a miracle he’d survived the three-story jump from this floor—the only reason Odin hadn’t even considered the window a threat in his haste to get to Hunter.
The smaller man was unconscious in his arms but he found himself whispering to him anyway, saying ridiculous cliché things like he shouldn’t worry and he was safe now. He made his way through the abandoned stone building he’d tracked Hunter to and outside to the front where he’d left the car running.
The building was surrounded by Snow Brumal with the twins somewhere amongst them. Without bothering to wait and deliver more orders, Odin laid Hunter out on the back seat and then rounded the car to the front. He shoved the driver out of the way, ignoring the man’s sputtering protests, and slid in himself.
The nearest hospital was at least a thirty-minute drive from where they were, no doubt done on purpose by Isa.
Odin made it in fifteen.
* * *
His head was groggy and his body felt like it was about to collapse, but Odin forced himself to remain strong, standing at Hunter’s bedside at the hospital. He’d expended too much energy by blowing through his power, but in the moment he’d completely lost control and had simply reacted to the scene before him.
His only regret was that Isa had gotten away.
They were still searching for him, but a rat always had a hidden hole to crawl into, and he wasn’t overly confident that they’d find him any time soon. Isa would be forced to lay low, however. Odin had burned a good portion of his body, after all. Not even a Shout would be able to handle that kind of damage.
His recovery time wouldn’t be quick or easy.
“Do everything you can for him,” Odin said to the doctor standing at the foot of the bed. He’d gotten a private room and had placed more security on the hospital than ever before. Even Jita, his Counselor, hadn’t gotten the same level of treatment.
At the reminder that this was the second of his people that Isa had put in the I.C.U., Odin clenched his hands around the metal rail at the side of the bed. Jita was bad enough, but this…The fact that he’d laid hands on Hunter was worse than a death sentence. Suddenly, he was no longer as upset that he hadn’t managed to kill Isa.
He deserved far worse.
“We’re keeping him under right now,” the doctor, Cher, told him, adjusting her glasses as she scanned over his medical chart. “He’s in pretty bad shape, but with the advancements in technology available today, we should have him up and walking out of here on his own two feet before the month's end.”
