Mended

47

Kaiden's POV

I found him.

My brother's blood stained my fingers red as I tried to find all the places he was bleeding from. I paid no attention to the way my hands shook as I held him, my eyes burning from either the smoke or the tightness wrapping around my throat. I didn't know.

I found him.

The words replayed in a loop inside of my head, a dull ringing in my ears as I tuned out the world around me. My eyes never strayed from my little brother's chest as I watched it rise and fall.

It was too slow, but it didn't matter.

I found him.

The pieces were all jumbled around, and I hardly remembered much of what had happened when the explosion had blasted through the arena. All I knew was that I'd seen Sophia give the signal and I'd known that I needed to get to my brother.

I needed to get to Ethan.

I remembered how dark it had gotten. I remembered the crushing pressure. The shock wave. The heat. I remembered the piercing silence afterwards as I'd struggled to stay on my feet. I remembered the screams.

I remembered thinking I wasn't going to leave until I'd found him.

And I had.

It didn't matter that he was covered in so much blood I could hardly see his skin. It didn't matter that he was hardly breathing just as long as his chest was moving.

Just barely.

Ethan's eyes had closed and I knew he couldn't hear me, but just in case he could...

"I won't let anything happen to you," I murmured, my voice thick with emotion. "I promise."

He didn't react. His eyes didn't open.

The only indication that he was still alive was the faint flutter of his pulse underneath my fingers. I kept them pressed against his throat, refusing to move them as people surrounded me. Somewhere nearby, sirens blared. Help was arriving—police, ambulances, fire trucks. Chaos and utter ruination surrounded me in the form of bodies, rubble and terror.

I heard the flames being distinguished, but I was still burning. I could hardly fucking breathe.

A hand clamped down on my shoulder. I recognized the firm grip, but I didn't look away from Ethan's chest.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale—

"Kaiden." Elijah's voice was right by my ear. I heard the command in his tone, but I didn't look.

I couldn't look away. Not even as Alastair arrived with medics right behind him. Not even as Elijah threw orders at them, demanding that they be careful as they started for Ethan.

"Kai."

"What?" I gritted out,

"You need to get out of here."

I pretended like he hadn't spoken, my eyes watching every move the paramedics made as they prepared to transfer Ethan. Alastair assisted them.

The burning in my chest spread until I felt the flames wrapping around my throat. My vision blurred as I choked on the sensation, letting out a strangled cough.

"Kaiden!" Elijah snapped, but he didn't wait for me to look at him. He grabbed my arm and forced me to face him as he knelt on the ground beside me. His eyes were hard as he searched my face, but I saw a hint of panic simmering in the dark grey hues. "You're having trouble breathing because of the smoke," he gritted out. "Get out of here."