The water poured out, yet the pipes had heated, making the water boil as it streamed out.
“She is in the tub,” Brax choked as I clutched the side and pulled myself up.
Gazing into the blood-filled water was Reika, her skin blistered, bright red, and she was not breathing. She boiled herself alive. Diving my hands into the bathtub, I ripped her out of the bubbling water.
It was that hot I groaned and fought the urge to pull my arms out. We pulled Reika out, water sloshing over the sides of the tub, and my back melted against the clawfoot tub as I leaned against it.
Moving her to the floor, I placed my hands on her chest and started compressions. We grew weaker, the smoke becoming too much, and not even Brax could heal us fast enough. I punched the center of her chest with one last breath before collapsing over her body.
My body tingled as life started to leave me when I felt her heave a breath from under me.
Her body convulsed, and she rolled underneath me. “You fool!” she gasped and sputtered before collapsing.
“Get out!” Brax ordered, the words slurred, but the command was our final one as he forced what little strength we had left into forcing our aura over her. I welcomed death with open arms, unable to move as the fumes ravaged my lungs, praying some miracle could get her out. I couldn’t live without her, but please let her live without me. My kids could live without a father, but they needed her; she needed to live for them.
“Nothing like a barbeque. However, a cooked wolf isn’t a delicacy I want to try. Your ass would be tough like jerky,” came a voice.
My mind was unclear about whose voice it was, yet the smell of burned almonds could be tasted on my tongue when I wheezed out my last breath. The smell and taste were somehow oddly familiar to me.
Chapter seventy-eight
Tyson
I watched in horror as the house burned around them, my brother and sister-in-law trapped inside. We should have stopped him from entering. Now, two lives would be lost. The fields around full of dead grass made me nervous; the old barns would go up if they caught fire along with the surrounding forest.
Ace placed Lucy in the car, but now we had another issue to contend with; the fire was growing out of control and threatening the neighboring forest surrounding it. A tree was next to the kitchen burning already, embers being picked up in the wind and blown into the treeline. Ace growled while pacing as he stared at our childhood home burning, clutching his hair.
“What is taking him so long?” Ace growled, worried for Ryker, who had not yet come out of the burning house.
“Where is Ryker?” came Aamon’s voice behind me, and I jumped. I stared at him in shock, and Aamon clutched my arms, looking me dead in the face.
“Where is your brother?”
“Trying to save Reika,” I told him, pointing to the house. Aamon looked at the burning building. He muttered something too low to hear before misting, vanishing into thin air. Sirens sounded in the distance, and all I could do was stare. Reika’s screams of agony died out after what felt like hours ago.
“Watch out!” someone screamed before the old oak tree beside the house fell. Warriors rushed to put out the blaze.
“We need to put it out before the forest goes up,” Ace yelled, and I saw Melana rush past us, a bucket of water in her hands. I had completely forgotten about her with all the chaos.
Ace growled, also spotting her before he stormed toward her, a terrifying growl escaping him as he grabbed her.
“You did this! You had to have known!” he snarled. Her face changed color, turning purple as he squeezed her throat, crushing her windpipe when yells could be heard.
“Get the pack doctor!” Ace and I looked up, and his hands unwound from around Melana’s throat, and she gasped, rubbing her neck.
“Ryker?” I gasped before taking off, running toward Aamon, who was performing CPR on him.
Another warrior was working on Reika, who looked like she was boiled alive. Her skin melted off in parts when she suddenly stopped breathing. Ace pushes the man out of the way, his hands going to her chest.
“She needs blood! Get blood!” I told those crowding around them before biting into my wrist. I kneeled beside Reika, holding my wrist above her mouth while Ace pumped her chest, and I fed her my blood.
“Come on, buddy,” Aamon told Ryker before breathing into his mouth and pumping his chest again.
“Where is the pack doctor?” Aamon snarled, and the wolves surrounding him stepped back, his demonic eyes glaring at them.
“On his way, he should be here soon,” someone in the crowd yelled out. The sirens were getting closer, and I bit my wrist again, prying the wound open, trying to heal Reika while Aamon tried to save my brother. Ace’s hands were working just as fast.
“The forest, the forest!” someone called out.