82

Von wagged a finger at her. “Now, now, don’t get upset. There will be other opportunities to gain expulsion gems and send someone home to safety. Unfortunately, none of those will be useful for Wyatt. Once refused, no other gem can be used on him, and the current gem is now useless.”

Fuck. I glanced back at the injured alphas. Mika was coughing up blood as the fae healer ran her hands across his body. J.D. and Tate were nearly catatonic from having been possessed. Why hadn’t Kira sent one of them home? That would have been the smartest thing to do.

Kira looked as upset as I felt. She took a step toward Von. “Wait a minute. That wasn’t part of the deal. You never told me there were stipulations to using the gem.”

Ignoring her, Von swept a hand in front of the hovering camera in front of him. It, along with the others, flew back toward the mansion. My bracelet went from green to white. He’d shut off the recording.

“All right, everyone,” Von said. “Best to get you all healed and cleaned up. I want everyone to look their best. The eleventh…er…I suppose now the ninth contestant will be here soon. Chop-chop, let’s get moving, people.” He turned and walked back into the mansion.

The other alphas wandered toward the house. Most of them looked exhausted or traumatized by the fight in the swamp. The healers had carried Mika and Tate off on floating gurneys. The last ones left were Abel, J.D., and Leif. J.D. still looked pretty rough. I’d had to fight him tooth and nail to expel the ghost from him. He was leaning on Leif as they walked to the mansion, but they detoured and came straight for me. Kira looked like she wanted to rip into me, but she’d have to wait until we were alone.

Abel walked up to Kira and put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, I’m sorry about Nathaniel.”

Kira grimaced. “Yeah. It sucks.”

“Take it easy, okay?”

“Will do. Thanks.” When Abel departed, she looked relieved.

“Hey, Wyatt,” J.D. said as he and Leif limped over to me. “I wanted to thank you for what you did for me.”

“No problem, man. You’d have done the same for me,” I said.

J.D. chuckled. “I’d like to think so, but…I don’t know. Thanks again.”

“Yes, thank you,” Leif chimed in. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did. It was amazing. Thank you.”

Leif sounded even more appreciative than J.D., which was strange. I couldn’t remember doing anything much to help him. I’d spent most of the fight trying to help Tate and J.D. I nodded at them as they hobbled off to the medical wing of the mansion.

With the cameras off and all the others gone, Kira no longer had to keep up the facade. She slammed her palms on my chest, sending me lurching back a few feet.

“You idiot. What the hell are you thinking?”

“Me?” I barked. “What about you? What are you thinking?”

Kira jammed her fists onto her hips. “I was thinking that I was doing you a fucking favor. I was trying to get you off this stupid island in one piece, but no, you had to go and screw everything up.”

“I never asked for that. The only reason I’m here is to keep you safe. How can I do that if I’m hundreds of miles away on the mainland?”

Kira let a lungful of air explode out in a sigh of frustration. “I can’t believe you.” She started muttering under her breath, but I could hear every word. “Bossy, overbearing, macho bullshit. What do I do now?”

“What we do now is stick with the plan. My bossy, macho ass is staying, and I’m going to make sure you get back to the Eastern Wilds safe and sound. If you don’t make it off Bloodstone, I’ll never be able to live with myself.”

Looking at me with an irate desperation, she said, “It’s not your burden to sacrifice yourself for me.”

“I’ve never seen it as a burden,” I snapped. “Stop trying to think you’re weak because I want to help you. You aren’t weak. You never were, and you never will be. If you were weak, you couldn’t have handled that tiger shifter or the ghosts and monsters we took on. I’ve known you long enough to know what you’re capable of. But even the strongest people need help sometimes. It’s not a sign of weakness, so please stop making it seem that way. Get over the fact that I’m here to stay.”

Some of the heat in her face faded as I spoke, and she rubbed a hand over her face. She looked exhausted. Kira had done more fighting than most of the guys. I should have realized how tired she was. It had been a tough fight, and I didn’t like thinking how close we’d all come to ending up like Nathaniel. I hadn’t liked the guy, but psychotic ghosts were capable of horrifying things. No one deserved the fate that had befallen him. Kira probably blamed herself for his death. That, more than likely, added to her exhaustion.

I reached forward and gently touched her chin. Instead of pulling away, Kira allowed me to tilt her head back. Her eyes were rimmed with red, and I knew I was right. She was taking all the blame for the deaths of Ryan and Nathaniel on her shoulders. In all the time I’d known her, she’d made it obvious that nothing ate at her more than failure. Whether it was warranted or not, she was always hard on herself.

“Stop it,” I murmured. “It’s not your fault. I was there, too. I could have tried to save them as well.”

Kira rolled her eyes. “No one could have saved Ryan. We weren’t anywhere near him.”

“Okay, fine, but I was right there with Nathaniel. I should have helped. If you want to beat someone up about it, do it to me, not yourself. I won’t even fight you on it because I don’t want you feeling like they died because of you. They knew the risks when they signed up.”