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Elle realized what was happening before I did. “No!” we shouted in tandem, tumbling down the path so quickly I barely felt the stones slicing into my left foot’s instep.
At the bottom, I hurled myself atop my sister to protect her while Elle hung upon Gunner’s non-dominant hand as if preventing him from throwing a grenade. Only when I saw the blood welling up between her fingers did I realize what was going on.
Gunner wasn’t trying to harm Kira. He was trying to help her. And his cousin was intent upon preventing the alpha from carrying out his humanitarian task.
“Mai?” Kira’s reedy voice was nearly inaudible. And yet, the evidence that she’d regained consciousness still stopped the scuffle in its tracks.
“How are you feeling?” I demanded, rising so I could press my wrist against her forehead. The guys had rigged a canopy out of tent canvas and arching sticks, so the rain shouldn’t have soaked her the way it had me. And yet, Kira’s skin was cold and clammy, as if she’d run hard in the winter cold then chilled down without bothering to towel off.
“I’m...” Whatever lie Kira had intended to tell me was cut short as she began to cough. Deep, racking quakes shook her body for so long I could hardly bear it. And when she finally spluttered into silence, Elle released her cousin’s hand.
“I still think it’s a bad idea,” my mentor whispered, as if we weren’t all shifters and able to hear her as easily as if she’d spoken at full volume.
Only, we weren’t all shifters. Or at least, Kira didn’t appear to have caught the murmur. Instead, my sister nestled into my side the way she had as a toddler, wrapping both of her arms around my naked waist. “I don’t feel so good, Mai,” she murmured. Then her eyes closed as she drifted back into sleep.
I stroked her hair gently, even though, to all appearances, Kira was no longer conscious enough to feel the soothing gesture. And as I petted her, I couldn’t help wondering when the strands in question had stopped being smooth and glossy. Had Kira been fading for months without me noticing, or was the Master only now sucking out her magic the way he had mine when I stumbled into that illusory tree?
Feeling the brittleness of my sister’s body, I was more than willing to accept Gunner’s offered strength no matter what the consequences. Elle, on the other hand, continued to harbor second thoughts.
“If you do this, there’s a good chance whoever has the other star ball will be able to manipulate you,” Elle argued in a hushed whisper. “And you know you’re the shepherd of this clan.”
“I’m not the pack leader. My brother is.” Gunner spoke the words not as if he really meant them, but as if he’d said them so many times before that they came out by rote. And yet, the whole time, his gaze never left mine. The decision, he was telling me, was in no one’s hands but my own.
I swallowed, weighing two bad outcomes. I’d sworn to uphold the Atwood pack...but my deeper allegiance lay with my sister. And even though desperation never led to smart choices, no other solution came to mind.
Meanwhile, Kira turned fitfully, her breath catching in a moan that jabbed at my stomach. Her vitality was slipping away so quickly, I wasn’t sure there’d be anything left if I went off to hunt the Master a second time. No, we needed to solve this now...or at least delay Kira’s deepening malaise.
So, even though I knew I’d regret it later, I met Gunner’s gaze directly. Then I dipped my chin into a nod.
***
ELLE DIDN’T STAY TO watch the bloodletting. Instead, she muttered something about gathering up our pack mates then picked her way back up the slope nearly as quickly as she’d run down.
Which left me and Gunner to get blood out of his wrist into my unconscious sister, a task that wasn’t nearly as easy as it had initially appeared. In the end, I was forced to suck up the liquid and dribble it between Kira’s lips mouthful by mouthful, Gunner holding the child’s lax body upright and rubbing at her throat to prompt her swallow reflex.
But the transfer, though slow and messy, worked admirably. A pink flush returned to Kira’s cheeks within seconds. And as a bonus, the bits of blood that seeped into my own system rekindled my magic as well.
I only realized how pale Kira had grown, in fact, once her lips were no longer purple. And this time she curled into my lap like a sleeping child rather than like an invalid ready to collapse for good.
Gunner’s blood wasn’t a permanent solution, but at least we’d bought a pocket of breathing room. And I used a few of those precious moments to share information—and suppositions—with the alpha who had so willingly risked himself to give my sister a new lease on life.
“I don’t want the culprit to be Ransom,” I concluded at the end of a rough rundown of the morning’s happenings. “But I think he really might be it.”
Because Gunner’s brother was a slimeball. Mama’s hints led me directly to the male time after time. And, not only that, the elder brother had a supreme motive to delve into kitsune blood magic—he needed a dominance boost if he hoped to truly rule the Atwood pack.
Beside me, Gunner sighed and let his neck bend until his forehead rested on one upraised kneecap. “I don’t want it to be Ransom either,” he said after a moment. “But I wouldn’t be entirely surprised.”
And then, finally, he told me the story of Ransom’s mistake.