Phantom Fae by Terry Spear

world, his breathing shallow, his eyes shut tight. It didn't look good.
    "We can't," Elorian said.
    Ena frowned at him. "Well obviously some of you can."
    "Let me put it this way, if some can, that's a new one on me. I would be surprised, though given his injuries, I wouldn't think he could hold his mage-conjured dragon form. I would think he'd turn back into a fae."
    "Are the mages who are different fae have different abilities maybe?"
    "Some, yes. But as I've said, I've never heard of a mage having the ability to shapeshift into other creatures."
    "I'm afraid we can't do anything for him," a healer said. "We are sorry."
    '"What?" Ena couldn't believe what she was hearing. They had to make this right. The healers had to fix Brett.
    "We don't have the tools to dig out the bolts without causing further damage to the muscles, tissues, and nerves surrounding the injuries. Certainly not as weak as he is. He's lost a lot of blood and will lose a great deal more if we were to manage to pull the bolts out. We fear we'll kill him when we try to save him."
    Ena looked at Alton, her heart beating as her mind swirled with turmoil. She wasn't leaving Brett to perish like this without trying something.
    "We could take him to the dragon fae kingdom. They have a healer there who might be able to remove the bolts. She has worked on our kind before," Alton said.
    Carrying him there meant Brett would lose more blood.
    "We face being incarcerated or killed by Prince Grotto's men—which would include them killing Brett," Ena said, still holding Brett's head on her lap and caressing him.
    "So what other alternative is there? Letting him die isn't an option."
    She couldn't believe Alton's change of heart concerning Brett. That he would risk his own life to take him back to their kingdom in the middle of a war? "Unless we take him to the human world."
    "Are you serious? They don't have dragons in their world."
    "They would give him blood," she said, "if he would shift."
    "He's fae like us."
    "Their blood works fine on us. Any type." Ena looked at how pale Brett was. "I don't know, Alton."
    "I think you already do. We need the healer who healed me before. She will be discreet. We just have to find a way to sneak him there."
    Alton was right, but she was certain Prince Grotto would know this, too. "They will be watching her, I would think, just in case one of us is wounded and goes to see her."
    "Then we'll have to create a diversion."
    "I'll be a diversion," Freya said.
    Ena had forgotten the phantom fae raven girl was still there.
    Freya shrugged. "I will be a raven always if Brett doesn't help me. If he dies, then where will I be? I'm supposed to be helping Prince Grotto and his minions. So no one will suspect that I am not on their side."
    "All right. We must move him at once," Ena said.
    "I will continue to learn a way to unfreeze Zane, but then if Freya is gone…," Elorian said.
    "Just hold him until we return," Ena said.
    "Will you need our help?" one of the burly men asked.
    "No. The fewer who go, the less likely we'll get caught. It's bad enough that dragons are so noticeable. Maybe he will turn back into his fae form before that and it will be easier to move him." Or not. She could just see how disastrous this could be.
    "I will help to carry him while you fly ahead and make sure the way is clear," her brother said, startling and shocking her. She turned to see him looking over her shoulder. How long had he been there?
    Halloran hadn't wanted to fight the dragon fae because they were relations of a sort. So he had stayed behind even when her suitors had gone ahead and joined in on the fight. Some of it was to protect her. Some of it was just because men liked to fight, she suspected.
    She was glad he wanted to help. But like with Alton's offer, she was just as surprised to hear her brother's proposal.
    She didn't want to seem ungrateful, but she wasn't entirely sure she trusted his motives.
    "One of the hawk fae came and told me that the