Page 65 of A Rogue by Any Other Name (The Rules of Scoundrels 1)

They exchanged glances, and then Soren glared down at me. "Fine, but you're not fucking dying here, Calder."

"You don't get to tell me what to do anymore, Soren," I told him with a grin. A cough racked my body, sending blood spraying over my face. Shit. That wasn't a good sign. "Go." I tried to shift, but there was too much damage.

Atlas was breathing hard, shaking his head, and I swore there were tears in the dumb brute's eyes. He hugged my head to his chest, then loped away to rejoin the fight. I looked up at Soren. The look on his face would be heartbreaking if I wasn't already halfway gone.

"Fuck," he muttered, raking a hand through his hair. I realized now he had my head in his lap, cradling me close. "Don't fucking leave, Cal," he pleaded. "We'll go. We'll win, but I need to know you'll be here when I get back."

He didn't bother to ask me to shift. I’d already tried and couldn't. There was too much pain. Too much damage. I didn't have the energy.

"I'll take care of him."

Who was that? Calix? No, it didn’t sound like him. I didn't have the strength to look over. It didn't matter who it was at this point. If it was Arune, it would all end faster. Not that I would expect one of my best friends to leave me with that cunt in my last minutes of life. He wasn’t that much of a dick.

Soren's scent washed over me as he tightened his grip in a hug around my head. Then he was gone. I stared up at the night sky. The eclipse was over. Arune was here. Reese was dead. Presumably so was Lyas. What did any of it matter anymore?

"Hold on a little longer."

"Can't," I croaked.

A hand rested on my chest and light and peace filled me. I sucked in a shuddering breath at the sensation. My exposed heart double timed, as though it was happy enough to keep pumping my blood all over the sand.

"You can. Just a few...more...minutes."

I rolled my head and blinked as I saw a woman sitting with me. It wasn't Calix. Unless he'd grown breasts when I wasn't looking. "Who're you?" I blinked at the translucent wings that fluttered in the moonlight. Now that the eclipse was over, it was bright out. With our night vision, it may as well have been mid-day instead of midnight.

The woman smiled down at me, using her free hand to tuck her hair behind a pointed ear. "A friend."

"You healing me?"

"You're beyond my abilities, but if you can wait-" Something slapped me in the face as my eyes drifted shut. I snapped them open only to find her glaring down at me. "I said wait!"

"Demanding Pixie," I muttered.

"I'm a sprite," she said with a huff.

I opened my mouth to tell her it was the same thing, when everything went still. It took me a moment to realize I wasn't dead, but that all the fighting had stopped. Turning my head, my mouth dropped open as I watched a man rise up out of the ocean, carrying two limp forms over his shoulders. One was a skeleton.

"Squall," my companion called out.

He took one look and detoured over to us. He laid the bodies he carried next to me and my heart wrenched when I realized one was Reese. "Take a breath."

There wasn't time to comply. He put a hand over my chest, water sluicing into my body through my wound. My mouth opened on a silent scream as water poured out through my lips. I was drowning from the inside. Within seconds my lungs were aching, my body was thrashing, and a small part of me wished I'd died before this asshole drowned me.

It felt like hours, though it could only have been a few seconds, before he pulled back, leaving me gasping for air. It took me several breaths to realize I was no longer dying. I patted at my chest, finding the bone and muscle back underneath my skin where it belonged. The pain was gone. Along with the numbness. "What was that?" I gasped.

"I healed you."

I sat up, staring at him. "Do me a favor?" One blond brow arched as he waited for my request. "Don't ever fucking do that again. I'd rather die than be healed by you."

His chuckle was low and deep. "Okay. Whatever you say."

"Calder!"

Atlas and Soren were back at my side, but Atlas was cradling Reese's lifeless body to his chest. His head was bent over her, grief pouring off him in waves.

"Can you heal her?" I asked, looking over at the man the sprite had called Squall. No. Not a man. A God.

"I can't heal the dead," Squall replied. "But I can help you with another problem." He stood, anger blazing in his eyes. "Arune!"