Page 89 of Freed

It only takes a few tentative flaps of my wings until I’m able to lift myself up above the cliff. I see my mates surrounding Blaze’s strange form, and when I see Chase, injured from a burn, my vision turns red.

“Stay back!” I yell through the bond as I open my mouth. Instinct has me spewing a stream of fire right at Blaze.

But then I realize Bain has lunged for him and is now directly in the line of my fire. I snap my mouth shut as I scream, “Bain, no!”

The flames consume them both, and I scream his name again.

“Bain!”

Fear like I’ve never felt tears through me. I’ve never felt this scared before. The closest was when Gage almost died, but even that isn’t like this, knowing that I’m the cause of Bain’s pain and probably death.

The fire dissipates, leaving a dazed Blaze with patchy fur and Bain… lying on the ground, looking completely unharmed.

My fire didn’t hurt him!

Of course not, he’s our mate.

My eyes widen in shock at the voice in my head. Is that my phoenix talking to me? My eyes move to Blaze, who’s shaking his head and coming out of his daze.

Finish that abomination, my phoenix insists.

I land in front of him, letting out a squawk of anger as my phoenix pulls back, knowing my human form is needed for this part.

Wearing my crossbody purse is probably the best decision I made all day; it has somehow stayed with me through each shift. And as I stand in front of Blaze on two legs, my hand quickly slips inside, finding the injector pen and flicking off the lid.

Seeing Bain ready to lunge at him once again, I yell through the bond, “Wait!”

I don’t want him to aim his fire at my mates. Seeing Chase’s burnt body tells me they aren’t immune from his flame. I’m not sure if I am, but better me than them.

I step closer to Blaze as my mates growl, but Blaze is clearly confused by the action, his strange bird head tilting to the side as he watches me. I have to get close enough to touch him, so I push my repulsion aside and do the one thing I’ve never done to him before.

I smile.

Then, clutching the pen tightly in one hand, I open my arms to the side and step forward, as if wanting to hug him. His head pulls back a little in shock, and I pray he doesn’t try to peck me with that giant beak.

I take another step forward, adrenaline pumping through my veins. This is it, almost there. Then I watch in fear as Blaze seems to take a deep inhale, and his mouth starts to open.

Is he going to burn me?

I barely even have time to ask myself that question before Blaze is tackled by my mates. Bain’s paw pushes Blaze’s head to the ground, aimed out over the cliff as he lets out a stream of fire, safely away from our pack.

Bain, Maddox, and Hunter are all holding him down.

Now, my phoenix hisses inside my head.

I step forward and drop to my knees as I jam the injector pen into Blaze’s neck. A pained squawk escapes him just as a strong arm bands around my waist, hoisting me off the ground and pulling me away.

I recognize the tattooed arm and cinnamon and brown sugar scent of Gage immediately, and sink into his embrace.

“I’ve got you, darling,” he whispers, wrapping both arms around me and kissing the side of my head. My hands grip his biceps as we watch Blaze writhe in pain.

My mates quickly get off him, backing up and watching with us as Blaze shifts back to his human form in a way that looks like pure agony.

When he’s finally shifted, he lies on the ground, naked, with burned patches of skin all over his body. They look painful, but somehow I’m unable to muster up any sympathy for the monster that enjoys seeing me tortured. Not only that, but most of it was his idea.

And apparently, he did it because he thought I was his mate.

A scowl covers my face as I watch him slowly sit up, lifting his hands as he stares at them in confusion. Then he turns to me, the confusion overrun with anger. “What have you done?!”