I knew what he was thinking. That they couldn’t come in without getting stuck. That once they burst through the door, more paramedics would follow, not realizing it was a trap. Everyone would find out about the house. The police, the fire department, the whole damn town would know. More people’s lives would be ruined. And our little bubble would burst. The worst thing was, despite any medicine they brought in, they still might not be able to save Felix.

I didn’t fucking care. We had to try. All I cared about in this world were the four people surrounding me, three of them inside with me, and one of them looking in. I would do whatever it took to protect them, even if that was at the detriment of other people. I needed them. “Call. The. Fucking. Ambulance!”

“Okay,” Luther whispered. He looked over my shoulder, towards the window. “Do it.”

I pushed Luther out of the way, taking over the chest compressions. I knew enough about CPR to know what to do, listening for his breathing before I pushed air in myself. I counted my pumps on his chest, my entire world shrinking down to the man in front of me, and everything I could do to keep him alive. Outside, I could hear Brynn on the phone with emergency services, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying.

Thirty pushes on his chest. Listen for breathing. Two breaths in. Feel for a pulse. Repeat. Luther was talking to someone, probably reassuring Theo. He was probably freaking out again, but I couldn’t deal with him right now. He’d be fine. Felix needed me.

Pushing. Listening. Breathing. Feeling. Repeating. I had no idea how long I could keep going for. My arms were tiring, but I couldn’t ask Luther to do any more than he already had. In the distance, I could make out sirens. I had no idea what I would do when they got here, but I had to get to that point before I worried about it.

Knees dropped next to me, and I stole a look to see Theo pushing me out of the way. “Let me take over. Your arms are shaking.”

I nodded, not seeing any signs of panic in his face. We could do this. We could keep him alive as a team, all of us together. I got to my feet, my arms still trembling. Brynn was still on the phone, and the ambulance was pulling up into the driveway. Hopefully we weren’t too late. His lifeforce was connected to the house, right? Maybe that was worth more than we were giving it credit for.

Luther put his hand on my shoulder. “Are you sure about this?”