Page 78 of Winter Unleashed

We stopped a few feet away from the entrance to the house. I took a step closer, but Belial took my hand to stop me. When I looked up at him all he did was wink at me before turning back to Celeste.

As I turned my gaze back to the fairy, I noticed the mist had retreated to only cover the cabin. I didn’t know what it meant, but I had a feeling her power was waning. When my eyes landed on Celeste, I saw her staring at Belial with as much hate as I felt toward her.

“Celeste, if you hurt one hair on Liam’s head, I’ll tear the flesh from your bones,” I said in a voice I didn’t recognize.

The wriggling in my gut grew stronger, but a weak groan distracted me. I turned to Isaac and gasped in horror at the state of his back. Ribs and spine shown through the gore. Chunks of bone were missing in some places, and blood poured from him. There was no way he would survive. No way.

But he had to.

Ciara ran to Isaac and fell to the ground beside him. Her cries mixed with mine as we both begged him to live. When I could no longer detect his energy, I turned on Astrid even though the tendril of mist had her pinned to the wall beside Celeste.

“How is there nothing you can do? How can you just let her get away with this?” I fisted my hands at my sides as the feeling in my stomach became unbearable. It was hard to ignore, but I did my best. There was no time for an upset stomach. “You have to do something. He can’t die! You need to save him.”

Belial wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me against him. He cradled me against his hard, warm body. His suit did little to hide his strength under it and all it did was piss me off more. Here he, a fucking demon, stood healthy and whole while my best friend lie near death on the filthy ground.

“NO!” I fought against Belial’s hold on me. I fought to be free of him, to go to Isaac. “I need to help him. She won’t help him, I have to. He can’t die. He just can’t. It can’t happen. You’re a liar,” I screamed at Astrid. “You lied to me! You could have helped him, you just won’t because you fucking fairies won’t interfere with the lives of shifters. You created us and left us to die.”

I collapsed against the demon as absolute anguish fell over me like a curtain. “You lied to me.” It came out lower than a whisper.

I had no strength to even talk. The sorrow took over and everything became darker, less meaningful. My best friend, my caretaker, my former lover was gone, and he’d taken a piece of my heart with him.

Chapter Twenty

Belial kept me in his arms, rubbing my back to soothe me, but it didn’t work. Celeste had Liam, and Isaac was dead, and I could do nothing about it. I should have been screaming or tearing my way out of Belial’s hold, but I was too numb. My head rested limply against his shoulder as I stared at the ground.

“Vinura, what’s with all this drama?” he asked after another moment. He held me tenderly, but his tone revealed how much my emotions annoyed him.

I shifted to glare up at him through the stupid helmet. When I realized he was still clean and handsome and unharmed, an overwhelming desire to kill him struck me. He must have seen it in my face because he dropped his hold on me and took a step back.

“Whoa there, Vinura. What’s gotten into you? I’m trying to help you.” He followed my eyes as they involuntarily moved to Isaac’s body. “Oh? That? I can fix that.” He dismissively waved his hand at Isaac’s body.

“What? You can?” I was suddenly alert again. “You can bring him back?”

Ciara lifted her head to look at the demon. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. He’s not dead. Though he’s mighty close to it,” Belial said with a smile. I concentrated harder on Isaac and sure enough, he had a little glimmer of energy left. “I’ll need to take him with me, but I assure you I’ll have him right as rain in a week or so.” He pursed his lips and looked at Isaac again. “Maybe two or three.”

“I want to go with you,” Ciara said without hesitation.

It surprised me she hadn’t put up a fight about Belial taking her mate away. Then again, she knew Belial better than I did, but I knew they had a sordid past. I also knew I’d go with the demon in a heartbeat if it were Liam lying on the ground and I was given the chance to save him.

“Aw, Ciara,” he whispered, “as beautiful as ever.”

“Don’t start, Lyle,” she said. “Just do whatever you have to do to save him.”

He nodded but turned back to me. “My lovely Vinura, is this what you want? You want me to save your friend?”

I wasn’t sure why he was asking the question, but the answer was a no-brainer. “Hell yes, that’s what I want.”

Without another word, he disappeared, taking Isaac and Ciara with him. In a blink, he was back, popping up right beside me.

I flinched and held my fists up in a defensive stance. “What the fuck? I’ve spent my life fighting off surprise attacks, do you really think it’s smart to pop up like that?”

“My apologies,” he said with a bow.

I rolled my eyes and let my arms fall to my sides. “Enough with the formal bullshit. I thought you were helping Isaac?”

“I have placed him under a deep sleep spell. It’s like a coma in humans, only it’s magically induced not chemically. He will remain stable until I get back to finish with him.”