Page 83 of Fractured Mates
Well, that would do it.
I don’t know how Sophie knows, but I know her sister needs her right now. Considering my mate missed out on being there for Jules for too many years already, I force myself to let her go.
Sophie gets to her feet, a little unsteady, but she doesn’t have to walk far to get to her sister. She bends down and holds the young girl, talking softly into her ear.
“Let them help him, Jules,” she says. “You’re safe now and he will be, too.”
“I thought he was like… I told him I hated him…but I was just…” None of her sentences finish as she lets Sophie pull her back from River’s body.
When his chest is exposed, there’s a bullet wound there. I didn’t hear a second shot and have no idea who pulled the trigger, but I’m sure as hell going to find out.
“It didn’t go all the way through,” Maciah says after bending down to quickly inspect the injury. “Call Andie now.”
Amersyn has her phone to her ear before he’s even finished speaking and steps away.
My gaze flicks to the man with light reddish hair. His eyes are narrowed on my mate, and I move to stand between them, a rumble in my chest. “Is there a problem?”
He blinks but doesn’t answer. However, Maciah does while remaining at River’s side.
“Kyler, this is Lykem. The dragon you must have seen when we arrived,” my boss explains. “His mate is the one who alerted us to the kidnapped supernaturals, and he was looking forward to some time alone with Astor.”
Supernaturals? Meaning not just wolves were taken? This is news to me, but not what I’m focusing on right now. While I don’t appreciate the dragon’s aggression toward my mate, I can sympathize. But only slightly.
“I understand,” I say to Lykem, “but my mate was also wronged by him. His death couldn’t be avoided.”
“Right.” His lips barely move as his chest expands. “I’m going to see what I can find outside.”
Once the dragon shifter is headed down the stairs, I move toward Jules and Sophie. The former seems to have finally stopped crying, so I decide to figure out if there’s something I can do other than stand here.
Sophie might be healing by the second, but that doesn’t mean the fury I’d been consumed with when she nearly died doesn’t still need a release.
“Did you see who shot him?” I ask Jules as gently as I can.
The young shifter nods against her sister’s shoulder, and then her eyes flick toward the stairwell. “He’s somewhere down there.”
Well, not likely any longer, but maybe there’ll be a blood trail to follow if River hurt him first.
I stand, giving Sophie another onceover. I’ll be right back.
Find that son of a bitch and bring him to me.
That nearly has me smiling, even though there’s not a chance in hell of that happening. He’s mine if I find him.
There are large areas of smeared blood down the first set of stairs that I head down, and when I turn the corner to go down the second set, there’s a body. A man with his heart ripped from his chest. Maybe all that blood covering Jules’s hands isn’t just from River…
If so, even after having spent more than a decade apart, these two sisters are more alike than either of them probably realizes.
River’s going to have his work cut out for him just like I am.
By the time I’m back upstairs, the pink-haired witch named Andie that I’ve met on occasion before is kneeling over River, likely having quickly teleported in. She already has her glowing palms pressing over the wound as she closes her eyes.
Those gathered around are all quiet, watching her work until she pulls a hand back, revealing a bullet. “There’s damage I still need to fix, but the fact that this came out whole is a good sign.”
River starts to groan, which has Jules trying to leap for him, but Sophie stops her at the same time Andie presses a thumb over his forehead and he falls still again.
Her sympathetic face turns toward Jules. “He needs to stay calm for me to finish, but I’m going to save him. I promise. He means the world to us as well.”
Jules’s face falls in defeat, but there’s also relief there as Sophie gathers her back into her arms.