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He disconnected the call. ‘Get dressed,’ he said urgently. ‘It’s your brother. He’s been attacked.’
‘Oh my God! What happened?’ I demanded as I started pulling on my clothes. Ben wasn’t the type to start a fight in a nightclub or something ridiculous like that.
‘A werewolf,’ he said grimly. ‘It entered your parents’ house while they were sleeping.’
My blood ran cold and my hands faltered on the buttons on my shirt. Esme took over, moving them while my brain stuttered.
As I grabbed the final defence potion from the bedside cabinet, I moved from panic to purpose. This was why Pollyanna had made me get the potion: it would save someone from near death, though most potions required the recipient to have a spark of magic for them to work and Ben didn’t have any, as far as I knew.
‘To the roof!’ Greg ordered.
We hauled ass to the roof and joined Jacob and Bastion, who were still guarding us all. Tristan was there too, talking quietly to the airborne guards.
‘Lucy’s brother has been attacked!’ Greg told them as we burst onto the flat surface. The night sky loomed over us.
Bastion instantly shifted into his winged griffin form. ‘Get on!’ he commanded through his sharp beak. ‘We can go faster than a car. I can manage two.’
I didn’t hesitate and launched onto his back. I lay low and flung my arms around him as best I could. Greg climbed on behind me, his hands settling on my hips. ‘Go!’ I shouted to Bastion.
‘I will carry you,’ Jacob suggested to Tristan.
‘Do it!’ Tristan agreed readily.
I blocked the men from my mind: everything in me was focused on my brother. He’d been attacked by a werewolf and it was all my fault. If he died…
The cold night air whistled past me but I barely felt it. My brain was locked on Ben, flooded with memories: us cosying up together by the fire or doing homework with my parents; him reading story books to me in our den. So many memories assailed me that a choking sob worked loose from my throat. He couldn’t die! I wouldn’t let him.
In what felt like both a minute and a century, we were landing on my parent’s lawn. There was no need to ask how Bastion knew the address; no doubt he’d watched young Jessica Sharp play at my house many times when she was growing up. As young teens, we’d taken turns living at each other’s houses and Bastion probably knew my home as well as he knew hers.
Three muscled men in black, carrying guns, were standing by the entrance. They were Brethren, like Greg; he must have posted guards over my family. I thanked all that was holy that he had. Without his forethought… I shuddered away from finishing the thought. Ben was going to be fine. He had to be.
As Greg and I slid off Bastion’s back, he shifted into human form and we ran into the house. Seeing a dead body in the hall, my breath caught – but it wasn’t Mum or Dad or Ben. It was a naked unknown male: it had to be my brother’s attacker. He’d shifted into human form after the brethren guards had come to save the day with their guns blazing.
I licked suddenly dry lips and stepped over the body, driven by the overwhelming need to find Ben. I had to see him, now. I was trembling as we reached the blood-scented lounge. Let him be all right.
Another man in black was in the lounge. He obviously had some medical knowledge and training because he had an emergency kit next to him and he was working on my brother.
My heart tore. Ben was in silk pyjama bottoms and his torso … it was just ripped flesh. I could see the claw marks on his skin and a sob tore from me before I could stop it. There was an oxygen mask over his mouth and he was hooked up to a blood bag and another bag of fluid. The stench of blood was thick in the air and the carpet beneath him was soaked with it. The brethren soldier was trying to bandage him but the wounds were so great…
He couldn’t survive this. My brain couldn’t take it in and my mind went curiously blank.
‘Lucy!’ Mum cried. ‘They won’t let us take him to the hospital!’ She pointed wildly to Pollyanna and the brethren soldier working to keep Ben alive. Pollyanna was at Ben’s side, stroking his head and murmuring to him even though he was unconscious.
‘A hospital can’t help him,’ I said, my heart breaking.
Pollyanna looked up, desperation in her eyes. ‘He was attacked by a werewolf but he isn’t shifting! He’s supposed to shift! I foresaw it! Why isn’t he shifting?’ she demanded.
‘A werewolf?’ Mum cried hysterically. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’
My dad stood silently, staring at my brother’s ruined body in horror.
‘Magic is real,’ I said dully. ‘Werewolves, vampires. It’s all real.’
I didn’t look at them to see the effect my words had; I didn’t have time for either of them right now. My focus had to be Ben – I had to be able to save him. I knelt next to him. Why isn’t he shifting? I demanded hysterically of Esme.
She sniffed at him. There is no wolf waiting for him, she reported, her sorrow for my loss almost swamping me. Not everyone ravaged by a werewolf could turn; some simply died.
I don’t accept that, I snarled back. If there was no werewolf for him, there had to be another solution.
