Chris was in over his damn head.

When he’d followed his friends out of the barn, leaving Kash bound in iron that was clearly harming him physically, he’d told them he didn’t want anyone to die. They’d been condescending to him, promising it was simply a threat and no one was going to die. But a knot in his gut told him that at the very least they planned to kill Kash, or simply let whatever the hell the iron was doing finish the job.

They’d made vague promises of reuniting the alpha family and how things would be all right once Bella was back in Rhone, but Chris was beginning to believe that nothing was going to be all right.

He’d parted ways with the males in town, then stole back to the barn.

He knew the smart thing to do was to go to his dad and confess what he’d done and ask for help, but he was more worried about Kash. The iron shackles seemed to be poisoning him.

The plan was to get Kash free, then take him to his dad’s for help. His dad could call the pack healer to the house and help Kash.

He didn’t relish telling his dad what he’d done in the name of trying to keep the family together against his willful sister’s shenanigans, but he’d take whatever punishment his dad wanted to mete out.

After ensuring the coast was clear, Chris pulled one of the rotted boards loose in the back of the barn and wiggled inside. He didn’t want to mess with the lock on the front doors in case anyone happened by.

Hustling to the access panel cut into the floor, Chris hefted it open and peered down into the cellar. It was dark but light filtered through the old floorboards and he could see Kash lying on the dirt.

“Kash?”

The male didn’t stir.

Shit.

Chris climbed down the rickety wooden ladder and rushed over to him. He rolled him to his back and pressed his fingers to his neck, finding his heartbeat slow but there.

Kash’s eyes opened.

“Chris?” he rasped.

“Yeah, I want to get you to my dad’s for healing. I’m sorry about…this.” He lifted Kash’s wrists and looked at the shackles. There were pins holding them closed, so he pressed his thumb to first one and then the other, working them free. Then he pulled the shackles from Kash’s wrists and tossed them aside. Kash’s wrists were raw and bleeding, and thick black lines snaked up his arms.

Kash wheezed and then groaned.

“Come on, I don’t know if someone will come back, let’s get you to a healer.”

Kash was bigger than him, but Chris was no slouch in the muscle department, so he pushed Kash to a seated position, then helped him get to his feet.

“Bella,” Kash whispered, his lips cracked and bleeding.

“She’s on the way, but as soon as I get you to my dad’s I’ll tell him what’s going on and we can call her and tell her to meet us there instead.”

“No,” Kash said. “Dangerous.”

“It’ll be fine at my dad’s, I promise.”

Kash gathered enough strength to get up the ladder, but Chris had to lend him some strength to get up onto the wood floor. When he’d climbed up himself, he helped Kash to his feet once more. “You look awful, by the way,” Chris said.

Kash chuckled and then coughed. “Thanks.”

“Well, well, isn’t this cozy?”

Chris’s head snapped up.

Shit.

* * *

Kash didn’t know why Chris changed his mind and decided to free him from the iron shackles, but he was damn glad for it. Of course the iron wasn’t going to leave his body on its own, it would have to be removed through a chelation process by a trained fae healer. But just having the iron off his skin had given him a little boost of strength. He tested his power and didn’t have any, or access to his wings, but at least he wasn’t currently dying, just sick as hell.

He tried to explain to Chris that it was too dangerous for Bella to come to Rhone because he didn’t trust the males with him, when those very males showed up in the barn just as they were getting free.

Kash straightened as much as he could, his whole body riddled with iron poisoning and his strength deteriorating by the second.

“Well, well, isn’t this cozy?” the male who seemed to be the ringleader of the group asked as he and three others walked through the barn’s doors.

“I’m taking him to my dad’s,” Chris said. His voice wavered just slightly with fear, but he squared his shoulders and let out a low growl of warning.

“You’re not taking him anywhere,” the leader said.

“This isn’t right, Carver. I just wanted Bella back home with the family, I didn’t want anyone to die.”

The males exchanged quiet looks with each other, and Kash immediately saw the change in their demeanor. They went from seemingly calm to furious in an instant. Two of the males lunged at Chris.

Kash stepped in front of Chris and met the males head on, sending one off-balance and tumbling to the floor. He gave Chris a shove backward to avoid him getting gored by the other male’s claws.

Kash found himself on the wood floor, the wind knocked out of him and stars lighting his vision.

Wind rushed around him as he was hefted into the air and then dropped down into the cellar. His head hit the ground and every bone in his body felt like it came out of joint with the hit. He didn’t even have the energy to groan.

“We need to lock him up again?” one of the males asked, his voice tinny and distant, which Kash suspected had more to do with him traipsing off into the afterlife than anything else.

“Nah, the iron did the trick, he’s done for,” another said.

There was a struggle and then someone—he suspected it was Chris—landed next to him. Kash had just enough strength to open his eyes and see the ladder being lifted out of the cellar.

“What you don’t understand, Chris,” Carver said darkly, “is that you’re just a pawn. You always were. The pack can’t move on with anyone from your family still alive, and that includes your mom, your sister, and your grandfather. The entire family line has to die and then I’ll take over and lead the pack the way it should be led without the albatross of your dad’s incompetence tainting everything.”

“No,” Chris said. He sat up with a groan and grabbed his head. “I thought you were trying to help me.”

“You helped me just fine,” Carver said with a laugh. “You were so desperate and pathetic, it was easy to make you think we wanted to be friends. We’ll come for you when it’s time for you to die.”

One of the other males lifted the cellar door and smiled at them, his eyes amber with his wolf. “Enjoy the last hours of your lives, gentlemen. I’d say it was a pleasure but it’ll only be a pleasure when your family line is wiped out and we can take over the pack.”

The door slammed down, making dust rain down on them.

Kash couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. Everything hurt. He was weak and dying. All he could think about was Bella.

Stay away, love. Please.

“Why did you put yourself between me and those guys?” Chris asked.

“You’re Bella’s brother and that makes you family, whether you see me that way or not. She’d want me to help you, it was the right thing to do.”

“I started all of this,” he said. “I just wanted…I wanted them on my side. I had myself convinced they were my friends even though I knew deep down they weren’t. They used me, and now my family will die.”

“Don’t lose hope,” Kash said, his voice petering out at the end until he was barely whispering.

“What hope is there in here?” Chris asked. “No one knows we’re here but the four guys who want to kill us. Bella is most definitely on her way here and my parents and grandpa will be caught off guard when Carver and his friends come for them. Shit. Fuck!”

Kash inhaled enough to be able to speak clearly. “Your dad might not know what’s going on, but I know in my heart that Bella is on the way here with my dad and pack. I keep warning her away through our connection as mates, but I know she’s not listening to me.”

He was proud of her, actually. But also hated it. He didn’t want her to get hurt, and he was in no position to help her or even help himself. He’d envisioned himself as her protector, and he was failing miserably.

“You think they’ll find us?”

“I hope so. I just met your sister, I don’t want to end things so soon. But if I have to die so she can be safe, then that’s the way fate has arranged it.”

“I’m sorry, Kash. I’m sorry for everything. I should never have interfered in your mating and I should have supported Bella. If we get out of here, I’ll stand up for both of you. Assuming that iron poisoning doesn’t take you out first.”

“Thanks,” he said wryly.

Although he tried to hold onto his consciousness, he felt it slip through his fingers, his body going limp and his eyes refusing to open. Darkness engulfed him.

His last thought was of Bella.

Be careful.