Nathan and Kadence sprinted out of the woods and stopped beside Joseph. Nathan pulled a stake free of the holster strapped to his side, and gripping it with both hands, he lifted the weapon. Ignoring the flames consuming Joseph’s spasming body, Nathan sank the stake through Joseph’s back and into his heart. When fire shot up around his wrists, Kadence used her shirt to help beat them out.
Ronan plucked Killean off the ground, draped him over his shoulder, and raced into the shadows of the woods with Simone following. When Ronan set Killean on the ground, she fell beside him and, uncaring of the fire searing her skin, beat at the flames.
When her hands and clothes proved not to be enough to douse the fire, she threw herself on top of Killean to smother the worst of the blaze. Ronan stripped out of his burnt shirt and used it to put out more of the flames while Simone continued to beat at them with her badly burnt hands.
Smoke and fire clogged her nose and throat while her skin blistered and peeled away. The inferno seared her lungs with every breath she took, but she ignored the pain of the flames eating through her clothes and searing her chest and legs as she worked to save Killean.
When Ronan smothered the last of the blaze, Simone bent her head and strands of her charred hair fell forward. Her scorched throat and nose made breathing difficult as tears pooled in her eyes while she gazed at Killean.
The only skin remaining on him was on his feet where his boots protected him more than his clothes, but the boots had eventually burned away too, and the flesh on his toes was blistered and raw. All his hair, including his eyebrows, was gone. His lips, or what remained of them, had burned away to reveal his fangs; his nose and ears were only small nubs.
“Killean,” she breathed and barely recognized her voice as emotion and smoke choked it.
His lips pulled back further, and she realized he was trying to smile though his golden eyes were dazed. His lashes and part of his lids were also gone, but the spark of recognition in his eyes eased some of her tension.
“You swore,” he said in a voice that belonged to a corpse rather than the man she loved.
Then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he went completely still.
Chapter Fifty
“Killean?”she gasped. She wanted to grab his cheeks and attempt to shake him awake, but she couldn’t get her fingers to do what she willed them to do. “Killean!”
“It’s okay, he’s alive,” Ronan said. “We have to get him inside.”
Simone tried to peel herself away from Killean before realizing some of their skin had melted and fused together. She still didn’t feel any pain, but she suspected that would come when she started healing.
“Easy,” Ronan said and knelt to help pull her free.
For a second, she feared she would pass out too, but she gritted her teeth and forced herself to stay awake while they were separated.
“You have to save him,” she croaked, and her head rolled on her neck when she tilted it back to look at Ronan.
Ronan rested a finger on top of a barely burnt patch of flesh on the back of her hand. “I will,” he vowed.
The crack of a branch behind Simone caused her to turn as Nathan and Kadence came forward. Nathan had his arm draped around his sister’s shoulders as she led him forward. The bolt Joseph fired into him had been removed from his chest, but judging by the amount of blood staining his shirt, he’d lost a lot of it before the hole started to close.
“Simone!” Kadence gasped before her gaze fell on Killean. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Yes,” Ronan said brusquely. “I have to get him inside, and he needs blood.”
“Simone?” Kadence whispered questioningly.
“I’m fine.” Simone coughed and then winced when the motion sent a rush of pain over her.
Her nerve endings were coming back to life, and she was feeling every one of them. Killean was so much worse than she was though. She went to grasp his arm but pulled her hand back. There was nowhere on him she dared to touch without fear of hurting him, but he was so far gone, he probably didn’t feel anything anymore.
Don’t leave me, she whispered to him and prayed he heard her.
Ronan slid his arms under Killean and lifted him off the ground. Unwilling to let him out of her sight, Simone staggered to her feet and nearly collapsed when agony radiated through her and her burnt flesh cracked.
“Simone!” Kadence cried.
Ronan shifted his hold on Killean to cup her elbow and steady her. “Declan, help her,” he commanded.
She hadn’t realized the others were there until Declan glided toward her. Bruises marred his face, blood splattered his clothes and skin, and gashes streaked his face and chest, but he seemed undaunted by any of it. Bloodied and battered, Saxon was propped against a tree while Lucien rested his hand on the trunk of another one. Logan and Asher leaned heavily against one another. Hunters and vampires stood around them; most were battered, and others carried some, but they were alive. Although, she had no idea how many were lost.
When many of them glanced nervously away from her, she looked down and realized the front of her clothes were gone. Only tattered remains adhered to her blackened flesh. Before, she would have been mortified over being exposed like this, even if she was so badly burnt she looked more like a charred chicken leg than a woman. Now all she cared about was getting Killean somewhere safe.
