The SEALs glanced at each other.
“Hooyah, sir, my momma wears leather pants,” Sully put in.
“Glad to know you’ve got our six, Admiral,” Dallas added. “But why the order?”
Byrne’s gaze hardened. “Mage against Mage, this damn business of Elemental and Arcane. Once we all were the same, working together. Like SEALs. When that dies, everything else is shot to hell. Might as well pack it in.”
“You tested us, to see if we’d forsake Shay to save our own careers,” Dakota realized.
“Worked, too. Unless you don’t give a damn and just wanted a joyride.”
“Not with Dakota driving, sir. He makes Stephen’s driving look like NASCAR,” Renegade put in.
The Admiral grinned and then sobered as he glanced down at Kelly. “One of our people,” he murmured, kneeling down and squeezing her hand. “How she’s holding up?”
Shay struggled to check his emotions. “She’s dying, sir.”
“You have to let her go, son.”
As Byrne reached for her neck, obviously to feel for a pulse, Shay snarled and cradled her tight against his chest.
“Don’t touch her.”
“Let her go, son,” Byrne said gently. “I know you care. I’d never try to presume I know what you’re going through. But if you love her, you have to release her spirit.”
Rage clawed to the surface. “No. I’m not letting it go, not letting her go, and if you think I’m going to step back and let this happen...”
He drew in a trembling breath. “Go to hell. I’m not leaving her. Not like last time. Maybe if I had stuck around long enough to listen to her, all this never would have happened.”
Maybe if he had, Kelly would be walking and talking and laughing, instead of lying so deadly still, her face pale gray, fighting for every exhale and inhale.
He stroked her damp hair. “Fight, sweetheart. Keep fighting. Don’t you dare give up. You have to keep going.”
The other SEALs shuffled around, looking stricken. Renegade dug a boot heel into the dirt. Shay leaned down, brushing away a damp tendril of hair from her ashen cheek. “Kelly Denning, listen to me. You sacrificed a personal life to save hundreds of Mage children. If you want to save more, you’re going to hold on and fight, because I won’t be accountable for what’ll happen to me.”
He leaned close, loaning her strength from his rage and his grief. “Fight, dammit. You’re not a quitter. You never give up, never surrender. So don’t give up now.”
Her breathing grew so shallow Shay could barely hear it. As he laid her back down, Shay felt the powerful vibrancy of her life fade. He glanced at Byrne, an ancient, powerful Mage, with secret depths of knowledge.
“Help me, but dammit, don’t tell me to let her die.”
Compassion flared in the admiral’s eyes. “She needs your strength, Shay. Your powers.”
Fear snaked through him. His powers? He’d been drained and depleted. How the hell could he give anything?
“I have nothing left. Both of us gave all to destroy the Dark Lord.”
An inscrutable look crossed the Mage’s face. “You have more than you know. Your magick, your essence as a Mage, may heal her. If you surrender all your powers to her through a White Light ritual, she’s got a fighting chance.”
Shay stared at Kelly. “Tell me what to do.”
If he drained his powers, he’d become as helpless as a human. Lose everything.
“Being a SEAL means everything to you, Shay.” Renegade looked stricken.
“Not everything.” He laid a hand on her pale forehead. Kelly had given him his life back. He’d been dead for years without her.
“Let’s do it,” he said roughly.
Byrne gave an approving nod. “Take the triskele and put it around your neck. Then place your hands on her temples and focus all your magick.”
It seemed to take too long, as blood oozed out of Kelly, her breathing growing more and more shallow. A faint white light glowed from the silver triskele.
Shay closed his eyes, listening to the words Byrne instructed him to use. He began the ancient chant, raising his face to the sun’s warm caress.
“Spirit of Air, transform me. Spirit of Fire, fill me with your energy. Spirit of Water, flow through me. Spirit of Earth, ground me with your knowledge. I call you forth to drain my essence of Mage. Pour your healing spirit into this woman I share my breath with, my body with, my life with. Take all from me, for I am yours and I willingly surrender myself so that she may live.”
Strength leeched from his limbs. Shay felt his heart slow, felt something reach inside him and yank. A great whoosh fled his body, a burst of golden air spiraling out of the triskele, spinning into the air and then slamming into Kelly’s body.
Exhausted, he sank back on his haunches. Pink returned to Kelly’s cheeks, flushing her body with a rosy glow.
Shay flexed his hands. Nothing. Not even a weak flicker. Then he saw that Kelly’s chest rose and fell with life. He pressed his cold lips against her warm mouth, feeling her breath escape. She turned her head, those wide blue eyes opening.
“Hey,” she said weakly.
Emotion clogged his throat. Too overcome to speak, he kissed her.
“Trying CPR again, Shaymore? Or just needing an excuse to kiss me?”
“I never need an excuse to kiss you,” he whispered.
Overwhelmed with gratitude, he sat back. As he struggled to his feet, his legs gave way. Shay collapsed. Hellfire, he was so weak. Deeply ashamed, he shook off Dakota’s offer of help.
Byrne watched him. “Is it worth it, son?”
Shay nodded roughly.
The admiral’s expression shifted. He laid a hand on Kelly’s forearm as she closed her eyes with a sigh. “Kiss her again.”
Shay stared. “Now?”
“Need a reason? You’re a Mage, like me.”
The old fox actually grinned. Something was fishy. But Shay bent down, touched his lips to Kelly’s...felt electricity stirring in the air...
POW!
Energy snapped, crackled and shot from Kelly into him. Hellfire, it felt like lightning zinging through his veins. Shay’s lips locked to Kelly’s as the energy flowed through them, in them, around them. Finally, the white light faded.
Dizziness overcame him as Shay sat back, guts on fire as if someone poured a fifth of good Kentucky bourbon down his throat.
“Easy son. Takes a minute,” the admiral told him.
Slowly, Kelly sat up, her hair standing comically on end. “What, ah, was that?”
“Standard bonding ritual. Sharing of powers. Shay gave you all his powers to heal, so I siphoned them back from you into him. You’re equal now. And if you don’t invite me to the wedding, I’ll be mighty pissed off. More than if you don’t name your firstborn son after me.”
They exchanged glances, color tinting Kelly’s healthy cheeks.
“Of course you do need a secondary channeling source, such as a pendant, or an old geezer Mage who’s been around longer than dirt.”
Byrne winked at the stunned SEALs. “Haven’t done that in years. Gives the ticker a good thrill, and other parts, too. Remind me to get a bottle of champagne for the wife tonight. Hell, it’s not even a Saturday.”
“Admiral,” Shay said, too choked with emotion to speak.
“You’re a good operator, Chief Petty Officer Shaymore. Too good to lose. I’m not giving up one of my SEALs just because a nasty-ass bitch went on a power trip. Your CO agrees. I promised I’d look after his team while he’s
