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"Yeah," I said softly. "That's what I'm afraid of."
I shielded my eyes with my hand. Knox approached Yard and spoke too quietly for me to hear.
Yard nodded and waved Conor over. All three talked quickly, while Kayley and Zeph scowled on.
Kayley finally strutted over to them and had a few curt words with them. Whatever she said didn't seem to sway them at all. They listened politely, then shook their heads and waved at the balloon, which was almost in range.
Any minute now, that son of a bitch was going to start firing on us. If Bain wasn't lying so still, we could get airborne and leave it far behind. We could outfly it.
A cough jerked me out of my thoughts. I hadn't seen Zeph approach, but he stood in front of me now, cradling one arm with the other.
"Knox said you healed Bain." He nodded toward the wolf shifter. "He said you were tired, but I thought maybe…"
"You're hoping I have enough energy to fix your arm?" I asked. It was obviously an effort for him to swallow his pride and come over to ask. I wasn't in the mood to give him a hard time about it.
"I won't guarantee anything, but I can try." Healing bones was a lot less work than throwing around balloons and staunching blood flow. They felt like they wanted to be forced back together.
"You'll have to come down here though," I added. "I can't get up right now."
Zeph dropped into an immediate crouch and turned so his broken arm was facing me. He'd done this before or he was good at following orders.
Either way, I took a small amount of power from him and quickly knitted his bone back together.
When I was finished, I rubbed a hand over my face. “It will be tender for a while, but it's the best I can do for now."
He flexed his arm and nodded. "Good enough."
Without a word of thanks, he rose and walked back to where Yard and Conor were stripping and shifting.
"You're welcome," I muttered. What an asshole. I should have let him suffer. Only, I would never do that, not to an ally.
Maybe.
Yard and Conor in dragon form was a striking sight. One not ruined in the least by Kayley and Zeph, who clearly didn't support whatever plan they and Knox hatched.
My heart climbed into my mouth when Knox vaulted onto Yard's back and hung on while he jumped into the sky.
"What are you doing?" I asked them softly. I was going to be pissed if they risked themselves because I was too tired to do what needed to be done.
I snorted softly. It wasn't that long ago I insisted I wouldn't let myself be used as a weapon, not by Dex and not by Helene. Here I was, annoyed Icouldn'tbe a weapon.
This was different though, I reasoned. This was defence, not offence. And my life was at stake, as well as those I cared about. I wasn't just being aimed and told where to fire.
Still, people died because of me. Sure, I hadn't asked to be attacked, but if all they wanted was me dead, it might avoid a lot of bloodshed.
Fucked if they were getting that though. I had no intention of dying anytime soon.
I held my breath as the guys approached the balloon. They flew erratically, swerving and ducking so those on board couldn't get a fix on them with their cannon.
They shot a couple of balls, regardless, and hit nothing but trees. As weapons went, this was like something out of the dark ages. A helicopter with a gun or two could blow them out of the sky without getting close. The cannon was clunky; they needed to be close enough to use it, and it took time to refill.
"Wait a minute." I sat up and stared.
"Viva?" Bain groaned. "What's going on?"
"I need to warn them," I said. "And you need to rest."
I reached out a hand to stop him from getting up. "I said rest."
