He winced, and steam rose from his mouth.
She frowned. How much of the drug was in his system?
One of Yuri’s soldiers sprang free of the melee and ran toward her, gun out. She grabbed Kell’s green gun from his hip, paused, and squeezed off three shots. The soldier’s eyes widened, and he dropped face-first to the ground.
Kell groaned, and fire crackled on his arms. “Fuck.”
She sucked in air, trying to remember how she’d saved Bernie. Harnessing oxygen, pouring feeling into it, she filled her mouth with fire. Panic hitched her movements, but she pressed her mouth to Kell’s and blew.
His chest expanded, and he shuddered.
She did it again, feeling her fire surround the intruding fire in him and quench the burn.
He struggled and then slowly slid his hand around her shoulder. Then he turned to his side and coughed out fire, much as a drowning victim would water. “Holy fuck.” He shook his head.
She smacked him on the back, throwing more fire. “Kell?”
He groaned and stood. “Just a few darts won’t kill me.” He grinned and rolled to his feet, tugging her up to put her behind him. “Although your breath of fire just saved my liver.”
She coughed.
A body slammed into Kell, and they flew into the wall. Lex’s gun spiraled away to hit the floor. Kell brought both elbows down on a soldier’s shoulders, knocking the guy to the ground.
Lex swept the area, seeing Kell’s brothers and their allies finishing off the soldiers. Almost in slow motion, she turned toward the Mercedes, where her father stood, a gun in his hand, aimed at her.
Time truly stopped.
He smiled, his eyes narrowing in that long-ago look. With a snarl she remembered, he pulled the trigger.
Pain burst in her chest. The world quieted. Her eyes widened, and she dropped to the ground.
Chapter 36
“No!” Kellach twisted the neck of the human who’d tackled him and turned to Alexandra, catching her before she hit the ground.
Blood sprayed from her chest. Her eyes widened, her body went slack. She tried to say something, and blood bubbled from her mouth. Kell pivoted to catch the threat just as Adam knocked the gun from Parker Monzelle’s hand and punched him out with a hard hit to the temple. He passed out against the Mercedes and plunged to the ground.
Kell laid Alexandra on the cracked concrete, his heart thundering. “No, no, no,” he muttered, yanking open her shirt.
The amount of blood made him sway. Panic and fear clutched him hard.
Determination roared through him, animalistic in its nature.
Movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and he crouched over his mate to defend. Yuri, dart gun out, started firing. Kell ducked his head and leaped forward, past the point of reason. The scent of his mate’s blood filled his senses, darkening his soul.
He reached Yuri and took him all the way to the ground, yanking the gun away and shoving the barrel in Yuri’s mouth.
“No,” Adam yelled, running toward him.
But Kell was too far gone to listen. He pulled the trigger, shooting at least eight darts down Yuri’s throat. The gun emptied, and he flung it away.
Yuri grasped his neck, convulsing, his eyes widening.
Kell slowly stood and backed away.
Fire ripped open Yuri’s chest, spraying out with bloody flames. He screamed, the sound high-pitched and evil.
Kell turned and ran back to his mate as she gasped on the ground. “Stay with me, baby.” He yanked off his shirt to wipe her chest, to see the damage. Fury tried to take him, and he shoved down the fatalistic desperation. If she left him, he’d go with her. Only Alexandra. Always.
He wiped the blood away from the bullet hole—just above her heart but closer to her shoulder. He pulled her up, wincing at her cry of protest, to see the hole in her back. Through and through.
She reached for him, tears streaking down her face. “Love—”
He brushed her lips. “Love you, too.” His heart settled as his mind kicked into gear. “This is gonna hurt a little, baby.” Shoving her shirt from her shoulder, he forced oxygen into a fire ball and pressed his palm to her wound.
She shrieked, her body arching in shock.
He winced, his gut roiling. When he turned her, she fought him, but he held strong and cauterized the hole in her back. “’Twas a through and through. Have to stop the bleeding.”
Her body went limp, and she nodded, blinking rapidly. His little warrior.
Once the wounds were burned, he placed a palm over the burn and slowly, inextricably, drew the pain into his body. Relieving her.
She gasped, her eyes widening.
He smiled and pressed his lips against hers. “I love you, Alexandra.”
She kissed him back, her lips trembling. “I love you more.”
He grinned.
Sirens sounded in the distance, and he lifted his head to see his men, some bloody and bruised, all stiffening. The fight was definitely over. Yuri, Masterson, and a slew of their soldiers littered the ground in death.