The Arena novel Chapter 70

Kenna has been inconsolable. I’m not much better. We’ve gone out every day, flying as long as Kenna can before resting at night. There’s no sign of her. Through the bond, I have moments where I can feel her for a short period of time. That is usually followed by pain and anger before the tether to the bond weakens, and I lose it again.

It’s making me crazy. I know Troy is hurting her. I know she and my son are at risk, but I can’t find her. The only thing keeping me sane is that I know she’s alive.

I would never have guessed that I’d appreciate Avani and his help, but he’s been great. He helps to calm Kenna when she starts to get out of control and he is there, quietly letting us grieve, helping us to search every day.

It’s later than usual this morning when we get up. We were out late last night trying to find Tana, thinking we’d seen something. Ishir had given us some intel that we had followed up on, but it wasn’t Tana. It did look like an old laboratory, maybe a place they used to use for experimenting on shifters, or perhaps a place where they had created that bizarre army that Troy had used to attack my pack. But it’s empty now. Tana’s scent wasn’t anywhere in the building.

We’re going over our plan for today’s flight pattern when both Avani and Kenna’s heads snap up in the same direction.

“MOMMA!” Kenna screams, and before I can move, she shifts above me, nearly crushing me.

She starts to take off without me. “Kenna, wait!” I shout, and she lowers her wing for me. I run up, and I’m barely seated when she takes off. Avani is ahead of us, traveling in the direction they had been looking. I don’t know what they heard, I couldn’t hear it, but if they think they know where Tana is, I’m going, too.

We’ve only been flying for about 20 minutes when we hear it. This time, I hear it as well, the dragon’s call. I feel Kenna push herself harder, trying to reach her mother. When we get closer, I see the blue scales of Kaylani on one side of a large river. On the other, there is a large group of hunters and more of the mutant army.

“You get to Tana; I’ll take care of them,” Avani roars before turning to attack the group.

As Kenna glides down to land, we both smell it. Blood. So much blood. And then I hear it, the sound of a baby. My son.

When we get closer, I can see Tana laying on Kaylani’s back, my son between her legs crying pitifully, the blood coming from my mate’s body is bright red against Kaylani’s sapphire scales. Kaylani is laying perfectly still so she doesn’t knock them off her back. I know something is terribly wrong. Tana wouldn’t be laying still with our son crying if she was conscious. She is bleeding out, and I can only hope we’ve gotten here in time to save her.

I leap off Kenna’s back as she starts to shift, rushing to Kaylani. “Thank you, Kaylani,” I say as I rush up her wing to my mate and son. What I see makes my stomach churn. My mate’s stomach is full of punctures and bruises. Blood is still seeping from between her legs, but she made sure to protect our son before she passed out.

When I look at my precious boy, my anger and hatred for Troy flares. My son’s body is covered with the same punctures and bruises that I see on Tana’s stomach. I immediately pick him up, purring to him, trying to quiet him.

As Kenna rushes up Kaylani’s back, I can hear the battle on the other side of the river. I don’t have time to look to see if Avani needs help or if he is winning this battle. My mate and son need me now.

“Kenna, take your brother, I’ll get Tana.” I hand my son to Kenna as she rushes to get off Kaylani’s back. Carefully, I lift Tana in my arms, her body limp as I run off Kaylani’s back.

Kaylani shifts and rushes over to me. “She’s lost a lot of blood. I pulled her out of the river, and she delivered your son on my back while I was getting her to safety. This was as far as I dared to carry them.

“You did great. Can you help Kenna heal my son? They’ve been doing experiments on both of them. He’s covered in puncture wounds and bruises.”

“Papa! NO! I can’t. What if I hurt him? I’ll heal Momma, you heal my brother,” Kenna says, and I can hear the panic in her voice.

I look at Kaylani. “I don’t know how to heal. I’ve only ever done it with Tana’s help,” I tell her, my own panic seeping into my voice. I can’t lose my son.

“I can help you, but it’s your fire, her fire, that he needs to heal him.”

She looks panicked for a moment before reaching her hands out, holding my son against her.

I rush over to Tana. “How is it going?” I ask, noticing that Tana’s skin is still pale, and her bruises are still prevalent on her stomach.

“I got the bleeding stopped, but it took a lot of energy, Papa. I don’t know if I have enough to heal the rest of her.”

“I’ve got her, Kenna. You rest and keep an eye on how Avani is doing. Don’t let anyone sneak up on us.”

I lay my hands on Tana’s stomach, letting my fear and concern for her come forward. I feel the fire rushing into my hands, feel it pumping into her body. Now, when things are desperate, I finally understand how to pull Tana’s fire, my fire. I need to feel the emotion of fire. Hot, powerful, strong. That’s how I draw on it.

Once I understand how to pull it, it’s easy. I push my healing fire into Tana, pumping fire into her body, watching as her bruises begin to fade back to her normal skin color and her punctures heal over. As I watch, her skin tone begins changing from the sallow color it was to pink.

When her eyes open and I see those beautiful emerald-green eyes, I nearly weep with joy. But now that my son and mate are safe, I have something else I need to do. I need to find Troy.

I lean in and kiss Tana quickly, leaning my forehead against hers. “Kenna is here, and so is Kaylani. I have to help Avani and find Troy. I’ll be back. Our son is safe and alive. He needs his Momma,” I tell her before sitting back.

I see her eyes searching for our son, and I call Kaylani over. “Can you help her? Our son needs to nurse, and I need to go kill the hunters responsible for hurting my mate and son,” I say in a furious growl.