26. Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
B ennett shifted in time to catch Lucas as he fell. He lifted Lucas’ unconscious body to him and held him close. Lucas’ head lolled around for a few seconds and then finally settled on Bennett’s shoulder.
“Let’s go! There’s too many of them,” Ramsey said, after he shifted. They all made their way to the tree line, disappearing into the thick forest. They were a few yards away when Ramsey stopped them. “Vaughan, take Sage and this other one to the plane.”
Vaughan led Jules and Sage north.
Sage turned back to Bennett and Lucas. His brows drew together. “He saved our lives.”
Whatever had happened at the vampire’s mansion had obviously built a connection between Lucas and Sage.
“Let me know how I can help him.” Sage turned and followed Vaughan through the woods. He had a dark stain on the back of his jeans, which made Bennett cringe. Fuck, Lucas hadn’t been kidding when he said Sage had needed help.
As much as he hated the fact that Lucas had drained all of his energy, even Bennett saw why fixing Sage had been so important. The poor guy would have bled to death.
Someone put a hand on his shoulder, and he pulled away, growling at whomever wanted to take his mate from him. The threat to his mate brought the dragon to the surface. Bennett fully admitted that he had already been primitive in his thinking about most things, especially when it came to Lucas.
“Hey now, brother. I’m just checking on how you’re doing. How is he?” Gabriel said.
“He’s not doing well. I can feel him slipping away. I need to get him to Mom.”
“Ramsey, we have to go.” Gabriel yelled over to Ramsey. He reached out to touch Lucas, moving in closer, as if to make sure Lucas was still alive. Bennett raised his eyebrows at Gabriel. “What?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Hey, I like the little guy. He’s feisty and I think he’s good for you. I’m concerned, too.” Gabriel ran a hand over Lucas’ hair as if he was a sleeping child. He inhaled, leaning over Bennett’s shoulder. “Son of a bitch.”
“What?”
“Lucas has been with my mate.” Gabriel looked pissed off. He huffed out a sigh and glared at Bennett. “It’s got to be the human. The one the vampires snagged back there. Fuck, this is not something I want--”
Gabriel sniffed the air right before he turned, shifting in midair. He growled and stood in front of Bennett, protecting him. Bennett didn’t know what set Gabriel off until a vampire with long dark hair and a sword strapped to his hip came around a clump of trees.
The vampire held his hands up as if surrendering but quickly dropped them when another smaller guy came at them with a gun. The dark-haired vampire pulled his sword and swung it around so quickly Bennett had a difficult time tracking the movements.
The sword’s tip drew blood as it pressed into the smaller vampire’s neck. “Submit, Edward.”
“I’ll never submit to you.” The smaller guy showed his teeth.
“Not me, you idiot. Him.” He pointed to Ramsey.
“He’s a shifter.” The way he said it, with a sneer, said a lot about him.
“Nicolono isn’t a leader. He’s strong, but selfish, like a child. I’m taking my chances with the shifters. And you should too if you want to live past next week.” The dark-haired vampire was smart. Maybe too smart, but Bennett decided to let Ramsey handle him.
Edward flashed his teeth at the other vampire and the guy didn’t even hesitate as he pushed the sword through. Edward’s eyes widened right before he gurgled. When he was done, he pulled the sword out and sheathed it.
He turned and held up his hands again. “My name is Angel. Nicolono handled the whole situation with the witch with pointless violence. I want to help you get out of here.”
“I know your leader is keeping at least one shifter. I can smell a dragon,” Ramsey said.
Bennett could tell Ramsey didn’t trust Angel.
“That way. There’s a hidden basement area in the stables. He’s been down there for a long time, even before I came.”
“Why haven’t you released him? ”
“I’ve tried, but he blows fire at me every time I get close. He couldn’t shift. Thanks to Nicolono’s wife. That might have changed since your witch arrived, though. He erased all the damage Silvia did. She’s a mean bitch and Nicolono let her have her way until it became inconvenient for him.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Just a few years.” For a paranormal a few years could equate to fifty.
“I trusted Nicolono at first, but he lost that trust along the way. I’ll show you where the dragon is.
Maybe he’ll calm down for shifters. I’ll help you get the human out of there too.
They’ll kill him if we don’t.” Angel led them around the side of the house.
Bennett heard Gabriel growl and completely understood. Even though Gabriel didn’t want a mate his instinct would be to keep him safe.
“Ramsey, I have to get Lucas to Mom. He’s bad, man.” Bennett held Lucas even closer, rubbing his cheek in Lucas’ hair. He felt Lucas take a deep breath and then sigh. It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.
Ramsey looked from Angel to Gabriel and then back again. “Don’t fuck with us or I’ll kill you.”
Instead of answering, Angel bared his neck to Ramsey in a sign of submission. The fact that a vampire was submitting to a shifter was unheard of and Angel did it, without reservation.
“I grew up around shifters. I have no problem calling you Alpha.”
Ramsey nodded and then turned to Bennett. “Go to the plane. Tell Vaughan to take off.”
Bennett shifted and took off through the treetops.
Bennett could feel Lucas slipping a little bit more with each second that went by. “No, baby.” Bennett kissed Lucas’ cheek. He sat with him on his lap on the plane. “I love you, baby. Please, don’t leave me.”
“When he was in the cell, he seemed to get stronger when he was taking Silvia’s power. I noticed he sort of glowed when he did that. Well, I noticed it after he fixed my leg. Couldn’t focus on much through that pain.” Sage wrung his hands together.
Bennett reached up and felt the mating mark on his neck. He remembered the teeth Lucas had gotten when they’d bonded and wondered how he’d done that. And Lucas’ senses had become a lot more intense after they’d mated.
Bennett shifted his teeth and pierced his wrist, bringing the wound up to Lucas’ mouth. “Can’t hurt, right?”
“Whatever brings him back or at least sustains him enough until we can get him to Estelle,” Sage said, surprising Bennett. He admitted he didn’t know the snake shifter very well, but he had a feeling Sage would be hanging out at his house a lot.
It seemed Lucas had gained a new best friend.
You have to be okay. Do you hear me?
“Who’s Estelle?” Jules asked. Vaughan had given the poor guy clothes. They were too big, making him appear younger than he already seemed.
“How old are you?”
“Nineteen.”
Fuck, he was young. “Estelle’s my mother. She’s a witch.”
“Like Lucas?”
“No one is like Lucas,” Sage said.
Lucas was unique.
Bennett pulled his wrist away from Lucas’ mouth when he felt him get a little bit stronger. It would buy them time at least. Bennett licked his wrist to close the wound. Lucas sighed again and moved closer to Bennett .
“We’ll land in five minutes.” Vaughan’s voice came over the loudspeaker.
No one said anything else until the plane landed. When they touched down, Jules whispered, “I don’t want to go back home.”
“You’ll stay with my mom for a while, Jules. She’ll take care of you until you get back on your feet,” Bennett said to him.
After the engines shut down, Vaughan came to the front of the plane. “He wasn’t even strapped in, Bennett. Good thing I didn’t crash. Jeez.”
Bennett would have flipped him off, but he was too concerned with getting out and to his mother. The worry ate at him until panic set in, making his chest tight. Bennett was the first out of the door when Vaughan opened it. Bennett shifted and took off immediately.
He made it to his mother’s house in minutes. He landed on the lawn and shifted back just as Ladon opened the door.
“Where’s Mom?”
“Waiting for you in the bedroom.” Ladon drew his brows together. “Is he going to be okay?”
“I hope so, little brother,” Bennett said as he brought Lucas into the house.
“Me too. I hope, when I find my mate, he loves me half as much as you love him,” Ladon said, following him.
“What’s not to love,” Bennett said.
“I know, right? He would have to be crazy not to.”
Bennett smiled at his brother’s attitude. It seemed Lucas’ intervening had restored his brother’s confidence. Or maybe it was his little brother trying to make him smile. Either way, it made Bennett feel a little better about not contributing to Ladon’s abandonment issues.
“Next week sometime, come by the house. We’ll take the boat out, just you and me,” Bennett said .
“Awesome.”
Bennett carried Lucas through the house to the only bedroom on the main floor. He knew it was where his mom would want him to bring Lucas. When he got there, she had stuff on the dresser.
“Did you give him some of your blood?” she asked, mixing something, not looking at him.
Ladon stood in the doorway, watching silently. Bennett nodded, indicating that Ladon could come into the room.
“Yes.”
“Good. That’s the first step in the spell. Now, lay him on the bed.”
Ladon took Lucas’ hand when it was within reach. Bennett sat behind Lucas, holding him on his lap, still not able to let him go.
“Spell?”
“Yes. I have to find a way to channel through him. Steal his power in a sense and use it to heal him. This spell will help me do that, along with your connection with him.” She turned then and brought the worst-smelling stuff in the known universe over to the bed.
“By the gods, Mother. That’s nasty,” Ladon said and held a hand under his nose to try to block the smell.
“Shush. I need to concentrate. I’m not as strong as Lucas. I can’t just do this on a whim,” Mom said sternly, but Bennett saw the smile playing at her lips.
“He could struggle against this. He might not understand what’s going on. And, Bennett, this will be painful for him.”
He nodded, understanding immediately that she was telling him to keep his shit together. He just hoped he could. He honestly wasn’t sure.
“Ready?”
“Just do it, Mom.”
“Here we go then. ”
She closed her eyes and started chanting something, holding the bad-smelling concoction up, as if offering it to the gods.
The stuff started turning colors as if her words alone were turning it from a liquid to a gas, and it swirled around and above the bowl.
When she opened her eyes, the colorful gas arrowed right into Lucas’ chest. Lucas lifted off the bed involuntarily and then fell back down against Bennett’s chest as if he’d never actually left.
His mother started sweating at about the same time Lucas’ eyes opened and he screamed. Bennett held him close and whispered, “I’m here, baby. Right here. I love you.” He met his mother’s gaze. “Make it stop.”
“It’s up to him now. He’s turned it around on me and is using my energy. By the gods, he’s really strong.”
Lucas sat up.
Bennet felt Lucas trying to get inside his mind as if it was an involuntary response to all the pain, wanting to be close to Bennett through their link.
His dragon purred when he saw Lucas, and Bennett felt like a passenger in his own head.
Lucas seemed to want to get close to the dragon for some reason and Bennett wasn’t protesting even a little.
Lucas let out a ball of light and gave it to Bennett’s dragon.
Bennett took it, not fully understanding what to do with it when he had it.
Lucas pointed to himself and the dragon pushed the light to Lucas’ chest. Lucas smiled at him and left his mind. He fell against Bennett once more, his eyes closing immediately, as if he’d never woken to begin with.
Bennett let out a sigh of relief when he felt Lucas there, alive but sleeping.
His mother sighed in relief. “It’s done. Very unsettling to have someone that strong use my energy like he did.”
“He wouldn’t have hurt you. ”
“I know that, son.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“We all love him, Bennett. He’s a good mate.” She patted him on the leg and left the room.
“Is he going to be okay?” Ladon asked.
“Yeah, I think so. He’s a lot stronger now. I think he just needs to sleep.”
“So he just fixed himself?”
Bennett shrugged, not sure what the hell happened. He was oblivious to everything but the silent conversation his dragon and Lucas had a second ago.
“You’re staying for a while?”
“Yeah. ‘Till I know for sure he’s one hundred percent okay. Why?”
Ladon shrugged. “Just wondered.”
“You want to come home with us when we go?”
“Yeah. Kinda.”
“You can come stay whenever you want, you know that, right? Hell, you can even move your shit in. Mom probably won’t mind, and I know Lucas would love having you around.” Bennett smiled at him. “I love you, little brother. You know that.”
“I know. I love you too. But I don’t want to leave Mom alone here.”
“She won’t be. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s getting another son. This time he’s human, though.”
Ladon’s eyes got big. “Oh my God, how is he going to survive all of us? The poor guy.” Ladon grinned. “At least I won’t be the youngest anymore.”
“No, you still will be. He’s nineteen years old. His name is Jules. He’s kinda broken right now. Needs a lot of support and people around him who care. I figured he stumbled into the right family. ”
Ladon smiled. “Yeah. He sure did. Maybe it would be better if I stayed here. Just for now. Still think I’ll come by more often, though.”
“You don’t need an invitation, Ladon. Ever.”
Ladon nodded much the same as was Bennett’s habit. He stood. “I’ll let you sleep. You look like shit.”
Bennett chuckled. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure.”
Ladon got to the doorway and then turned. “I’m glad your mate is okay.”