He’d seen it before. Hadyn was in acute respiratory failure.
“No,” he growled to himself. He was not going to sit here and watch her die.
Scooting back, never taking his gaze from her, Rune shifted as fast as he could, his dragon right there with him in the urgency driving them both.
Then, as gently as possible, he scooped up her frail human body and took off. He knew where the house was that they’d taken the mates. He’d been there once before, or close enough, when he and Hall had helped Sera get away from the Alliance.
Heading in that direction, he sent out a call. “My human mate is dying. Is there a healer anywhere among you?”
“I am,” a voice called out.
Zeke again. Suddenly Rune was blazingly grateful he hadn’t killed him on that boat.
“Follow me.” Rune said. He paused and hovered long enough until the other black dragon was in the air and flying his way.
The few minutes it took to reach the cabin in the woods at the edge of the town were the longest fucking minutes of his life. Setting Hadyn down carefully, he shifted, then scooped her up and ran into the house right as the kid landed in the same clearing at the back of the house.
Inside, he found a bedroom and laid her on the mattress. She was so pale under the ash covering her face, her eyes pinched shut against the pain as she struggled with every breath to stay alive.
“Hold on, love. Help is coming.”
She managed a nod, then sucked in painfully. “Dragon…blood…” she forced from her lips.
“Yes, but don’t try to talk.”
A healer among their kind had a blood type that was a universal donor. Filling her veins with that might keep her alive. Except they didn’t have any of the medical equipment to do a transfusion. Which meant…
“I’m going to have to cut you,” he warned her.
Her hands curled into the bedspread, knuckles white as she writhed and tried to ride out the pain of simply trying to stay alive, her lips starting to turn blue.
Pulling out a knife, Rune blew the tiny bit of fire he’d regenerated over the blade to sterilize it. Not too hot, though. He didn’t want to cauterize the wound he was about to make. He needed her veins open.
Taking her hand, which was convulsively opening and closing with each inhale and exhale, her body unable to remain still, he held the knife above her wrist.
“Ready?”
She managed a blink and he sliced, deep, his heart shrinking at her gurgling gasp of pain. Bright crimson blood welled up from the wound spreading out across her clothes and the cream-colored bedspread.
The kid ran in at that second, fully human. Without a word, Rune handed the knife to the boy, who didn’t hesitate. He sliced his own wrist in the same fashion, grunting with it, then sat beside Hadyn and mashed his wrist to hers.
Rune moved to her other side and took her free hand, wincing as she bore down on her grip through another wave of anguish. He studied her face, waiting for any sign that this was working.
“You’re the only person I know who would need dragon blood twice in such a short time.” Please fucking work.
Her answering smile told him his attempt at levity missed the mark.
He sent the prayer to the gods and the fates. He’d had days with her, not even months, let alone years. Days weren’t enough. He needed her. She’d brought light into his life. She saw him, truly saw him, and her heart beat for him and his heart beat for her.
Hadyn’s breathing started to ease. Slowly. Until she wasn’t clenching in pain, an expression almost like peace easing over her features as her body relaxed into the bed. But her skin stayed pale, dark circles visibly forming around her eyes.
Rune stared at the boy whose own expression was this side of grim. Zeke pulled his wrist away and watched the slash on her wrist closely. Nothing. The wound continued to well with blood.
The boy lifted his head, black fire flashing in his gaze. “It’s not working fast enough,” he said. “She’s not in pain, but she’s dying.”
“Then give her more.”
The kid shook his head. “I need a better way to get the blood into her. Faster.”
Fuck. “Go.”
He’d hardly finished saying the word and the kid was out of the room, the slam of the door to the outside a signal that he’d used his extra speed to where he could shift. At the same time, Rune ripped two strips off the sheet, one he bound around her wrist, the other he used as a tourniquet higher up on her arm. She couldn’t lose more blood.
“He’s going to have to find…” Hadyn had to pause but at least she wasn’t rasping and gurgling anymore. “Find a hospital,” she got out.
He tucked a strand of hair out of her face leaving a white streak in the soot covering her. “I know.”
“We don’t have time.”
He frowned. “Does it hurt?”
“No, but…” She blinked, heavy and slow, as though she was having trouble staying awake. “I can feel myself…” Another long draw of air. “Fading.”
Rune had never been one to allow dread into his life, but in that instant, at the sound of that one hopeless word, sheer terror wrapped around his heart like barbed wire, piercing and setting him to bleeding internally.
“No,” he said. “He’ll get you more blood and…”
She lifted a shaky hand and put a finger to his lips. “I have…minutes…maybe.”
“Qara?” She’d given Hadyn blood before. Maybe she could slow things down long enough for the kid to get back.
“Too late.” Hadyn’s smile was all for him—brave for him, to help him through this.
No. His dragon lifted his head and screamed, the sound an agonizing reflection of everything raging inside Rune.
Hadyn, though, remained at peace, her lips pulling into the sweetest smile. “I want to be…your mate…in the…afterlife.”
What?
It took a minute to sort through the haze of his own pain and fury at the fates to hear her words. “What do you mean, love?”
“If I’m…going to die…by fire…” Another long, long breath, every word threadier than the last. “Let it…be…your…fire.”
Everything around Rune went still. His heart. Hers. The sounds of the house and outside. As though the world had stopped to listen for his answer.
“No.” His voice broke over the word.
“Please.” She was begging now, the need in her eyes stark.