When he tried to stand, his legs buckled, dropping him back on the floor. He kept trying anyway, struggling for air like a landed fish. Hell, the boy was so thin, she could see his ribcage jerk with each heartbeat. The bastards had almost killed him.
"Kid. Quit. You'll give yourself a heart attack."
"I won't stay here," he gritted out. Shoving his fingers into the wire, he pulled himself a foot toward her. His determination was appalling, yet awe-inspiring. "Even if Dwayne doesn't do it, I'm dead anyway."
"What the hell does that mean? No, don't tell me. Just shut up." She grabbed his arms and dragged him out, wincing at how the wire floor abraded his fragile skin. With awkward maneuvering, she got him into a fireman's carry. Skinny, yes, but he weighed a ton as she straightened. Pain stabbed into her knee and her head pounded hard enough to blow her skull apart. The kid didn't move. Had she killed him? No, as the ringing in her ears died down, she heard him wheeze for air. He sounded like hell. But hey, she wouldn't want to die in a cage either. The stairs were a nightmare, even when she risked an arm to lean on the rail to keep her knee from buckling. "For someone so skinny, you sure are heavy."
"Sorry. And here I've been trying to lose weight for you."
She grinned. 'Wise-ass baby'—reminded her of herself, cracking jokes when scared spitless. She glanced at the back door, then limped out the front.
Her knee wouldn't put up with this abuse long. The streetlights were coming on, circles of light spilling onto the dark, wet street. The drizzling autumn rain felt wonderful as it washed the sweat from her face.
'Now what? Steal a car?' But there wasn't a vehicle on the street in this damned ritzy neighborhood. All locked away in their fancy two-car garages. "Time to call the cops," she said, half to herself. Landon jerked, almost knocking himself off her shoulders. "Don't do that!" She rebalanced him, biting down the groan when his hip dug into her ripped-up shoulder.
"I can't go to a hospital," Landon said frantically. "Not me—I can't. I shift if I'm hurt. I'm such a loser," he whispered, the self-disgust pulling sympathy from her.
Yeah, she'd felt that way as a kid, always doing something stupid, like when she used her left hand to pass food to an Iranian minister. Father had turned purple.
"Please, Kassi. No cops, no doctors."
"You're awfully fussy," she muttered. She picked a direction and started to walk. Jesus, they were screwed. But she was free. And hey, she'd experienced lots of situations, as Smith liked to call them. Trapped in a house about to be blown up, caught snooping by her Iraqi neighbor… "Hang in there, kid." Squeezed the emaciated leg hanging over her shoulder. Worry bit into her guts as she realized his body had gone truly limp. He needed a hospital and to hell with his shifter paranoia crap. She'd bust him out later if she had to.
She headed straight for the nearest house. With no hands free, she kicked the door in lieu of ringing a doorbell. Politeness was over-rated anyway.
An outside light flipped on, and a man's face appeared in the small viewing window. "Who is it?"
"We were attacked," she returned. "Call an ambulance. Fast. This boy needs help."
After a long minute, the door swung open. "I don't think a robber would be bleeding so enthusiastically," the white-haired man said in a dry voice. "Let's get you out of the rain." Legs shaking with exhaustion, she staggered after the man, and the room's warmth wrapped around her like a cocoon. "Sit down, child." He waited until Kas dropped onto the sofa, then laid the kid down next to her and draped a blanket over his lower half.
As he disappeared, Kas slid her legs under Landon's shoulders so she could hold him. "Hey, kid."
His eyes blinked open, the unfocused gaze slowly clearing. He stared around the living room. "We got out," he whispered.
"Yeah." Kas couldn't manage more; her throat had tightened to the point of choking. Even awake, he looked bad. Really bad. "We're safe here. He's a nice old man."
"A human? Kassi—promise you won't tell him—tell anyone—about me. Or about shifters. Ever." He clutched her hand, the veins in his neck stood out as he tried to sit up.
"Okay, fine, I promise. No one would believe me anyway."
"Thanks. That's good. This is good." His voice was so soft she had to lean down to hear him. "I really, really wanted to die free—not in a cage."
"I'd rather you lived, damn it," she gritted out as she brushed the drenched hair out of his face.
"I wish." His eyes were very green as he looked up at her. "My body pretty much shut down yesterday. It's a shifter thing; metal's bad for us, and that cage…" His mouth twisted in remembered pain.
"The docs will start IV's, give you blood, fluid, food—you'll be fine."
"No. But it's okay. I knew it was gonna happen." Regret filled his eyes, and he blinked back tears. "My grandfather—he'll be all alone now. He doesn't have anybody but me."
"Live for him," she urged. So many people had died in her arms, she couldn't face another. Not this boy—he wasn't old enough to die. Her chest felt raw and open.
"Not an option." His lips were blue, the color of death. "You got nobody either?"
She shook her head. "No." A couple friends on the other side of the planet. And Smith—could a spymaster be considered family?
"Now you will." He gasped in a breath. "Go to my grandpa, Kassi. In Cold Creek. Tell him what happened to me. Promise?"
"Promise. I'll bring him to you in the hospital." Yeah, she'd find the old man wherever he was. "But you will be there, you hear me?"
His forehead wrinkled. "How does it go?"
"What?"
He rubbed the scrapes on his shoulder. His fingers came away blood streaked. "Fire in blood." Raising his hand, he wiped his tear-streaked cheek. "Water."
"Landon?"
He pursed his lips, puffed on his wet, bloody fingers. "Air."
"What are you doing? Landon?" He didn't seem to hear her. 'Delusional?' She'd seen it before with blood loss.
He touched her filthy face and smiled at the dirt. "Earth."
"Honey, I want you to rest," she urged. 'Please don't do this to me—live!' For a second, his face blurred into her teammate, gasping her life away, and Kas's arms tightened. 'Oh, please, not again.' "Just concentrate on breathing and—"
"And finally, my spirit—that's the gift. I remembered it," he told her, pride in his young, young voice. "C'mere." He lifted his arm for a hug.
She leaned forward and winced as his dirty fingers dug into her mangled, bleeding shoulder. A second later, he slid his arm down for a true hug and pulled her close.
"Tell Grandpa I gifted you…and you're my gift," he breathed in her ear. Her arms closed around him.
"Dammit, you'll tell him, Landon. You'll tell him." But only silence answered her. Gone. He was gone. Kas slumped back on the couch. Her cheeks were wet. Even as she scrubbed her face with her hands, she felt more tears spill from her eyes. What was wrong with her? She never cried. People died. All the fucking time. She hadn't even known this kid. Tears ran down her cheeks, falling like little explosions of her grief onto Landon's empty face.
Footsteps heralded the return of the old man. "I've got—" The rest of his sentence was cut short by the wailing of multiple sirens, approaching rapidly. "I'll go wave them in."
Kas could see the emergency vehicle lights through the thin front window drapes. She slipped out from under Landon's body, hesitated long enough to touch his cheek in farewell. His skin was already cooling.
She took a shaky breath and moved away. At the window, she pushed open a crack in the drapes. Ambulance in front and a cop car across the street. What would law enforcement do with her story?
Uncertainty churned inside her. Were Dwayne's police buddies out there? Paramedics jumped out of the ambulance and were met by the old man. Over at the police car, a uniformed cop was talking with someone.
The lights, still flashing, illuminated his grim face and that of…Dwayne. As the kidnapper talked, the cop nodded and turned toward the house, hand on his pistol. 'Oookay. That answered that.' A minute later, as Kas eased over the back fence, she heard Dwayne yell, "Where's the girl?" The thwarted anger in his voice awarded her a moment of pleasure before she landed painfully on the other side of the fence.