BreathHealer Book II: BreathHealer, #2

By Dezi Golden

Family secrets are revealed.

 

With betrayal and deception, can love really persevere? Will it win?

 

Kai wonders if a life of honor, respect, loyalty, and love can be lived in Olman, New Mexico.

 

BreathHealer Book II is the continuation of Kaileigh Palemana's unforgettable story and her quest to live what her training has taught her. What he has taught her.

 

With her young niece now burdened, Kai feels even more responsible. There's always the fear of being personally exposed but, going forth needing to protect the family now creates a whole new level of trepidation.

 

And…he's is still by her side.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dezi Golden
• Release date: Jun 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9780615862699

Dezi Golden

Dezi Golden is an American author who resides in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Her unique growth in treating wellness and intimacy coaching clients combined with personal experiences paves the way for her intriguing novels. To learn more or receive your autographed copy contact Dezi at [e-mail].

Book preview

BreathHealer

Book II

TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued from Book I

Book Two

61. Freak

62. Needed

63. Missing

64. Away

65. Holiday

66. Forever

67. Dizzy

68. Milos

69. Memories

70. Exploration

71. Back

72. Seizures

73. Discharged

74. Pamper

75. Right

76. Bond

77. Poison

78. Erratic

79. Irate

80. Life

81. Coma

82. Whisper

83. Go

84. No Words

85. Mother

86. No Sell #3

87. Worry

88. Home

89. Grief

90. Envelope

91. Snapped

92. Got You

93. Regret

94. Lineage

95. Taker

96. Living

97. Sin

98. Ellie

99. Return

100. Face

101. Stain

102. Slow

103. Green Stuff

104. Museum

105. Plans

106. No!

107. Move

108. Grind

109. Defy

110. Meetings

111. Vegas

112. Green

113. Gone

114. Flashing

115. Ever After

61. Freak

I LUNGE TOWARD ELI, he soars toward Master G!  In unison we all fall to the ground, me on the bottom.  We land hard on the desert ground.  I'm not strong enough, nor big enough to take the weight of both of them.  I twist to squirm out from under them.  I am scared!  Almost immediately, I feel a shearing pain in my upper right chest.  I know it's the gunshot wound.  I hear it still ringing through my head.  I sense Master G’s gunshot wound already.  It's different than I thought.  Something is not right.  It's like two wounds vibrating in my chest!  It must be a large caliber bullet or maybe I am feeling the entrance and exit wound from his body.  I must be quick!

Sir! Sir! Are you hit?  Eli’s voice is frantic and gruff.  He is cradling Master G in his arms. 

Yes! Let me go son.  We need to move to the cars, keep your heads down!  We need to get to my car for cover!  Master G points, with his good arm, in the direction of his vehicle.  We react in the same moment and begin treacherous belly crawls to the parked vehicle.  We will have to get our Harleys later.  Right now we all need to escape this horror before another gunshot follows.  Someone did bring a weapon to this battle, but from the sounds of it they are very far away!  My body trembles with fear as I crawl.  Someone fired a shot from the darkness and it pierced into my teacher!  I inhale dust and drag my body along the ground with my arms.  Liger Dunes used to be my place of fun, now it's the place I feel the deepest of fear experienced ...twice.

I can hear the cries of the crowd, everyone scurries in fear.  The panic in the air is incredible.  Deana!  Steve, Will, Kenin, Nasty and Duo!  I look around.  Bodies scramble and crawl in every direction.  Everyone is trying to escape the terror!  I scan the area and follow Eli.  He attempts to move Master G and pull me at the same time.  The pain in my chest feels like a knife cutting deeper and deeper with each move.  Ouch!  I ignore it.  It's only this severe because Master G is so near to me.  The pain is usually not this strong but then again, this is my first sensed gunshot wound.  Ouch ouch.  This is bad.

We are getting closer.  I look over.  To the left of the ridge, I can see Master Lee limping in a hunched position to the black suburban, his arm flailing about with that broken collar bone.  I think how lucky he is to be alive and how come he wasn't shot? 

He does not attempt to help his son, Neeko who lay on the ground near the large vehicle, entangled in his crutches.  Sadly, he calls out to his father, his arm outstretched.  His mouth is moving but I can't make out what he is saying.  He doesn't get a response.  In fact, his father waves Neeko away from the vehicle as it begins to pull away.  Unbelievable!  He is leaving his only son on the ground! 

I look forward for Eli again; he is pushing Master G and reaching to pull me.  His eyes are lowering and he frowns with concentration.  Kenin appears suddenly, moving swiftly in our direction.  Master G takes notice and motions for him to go toward his own vehicle.  When he halts Master G whispers, I'm fine...get your group to safety NOW Kenin!  Eli turns and nods to make sure Kenin follows instruction. Kenin is obviously angered but turns and does as commanded.

Everything seems to be moving in slow motion.  Except for my heart!  It's beating almost out of my chest and igniting a burning pain inside of my lung!  Ouch again.  I see Master G has an exit wound to the back of his shoulder!  His shirt is obscurely ripped and the blood pool is increasing around the area.  My burning is intensifying; I feel weakness on my side.  Damn!  He might be going into shock.  This part of my birthgift is a huge downfall.  Feeling the injuries of others is a great distraction for me.  There is no warning.  Most of the time the pain is bearable, this time though, I don't understand, it's almost overtaking me!  Maybe I could heal Master G in the car.  Vision him before he knows it and get that damn bullet out!  But wait, he knows he has been shot....there is no way I can heal him without him knowing.  Oh my gosh!

The desert ground is all over us.  The whole place smells of soil and exhaust.  We're almost to the car, scraping our bodies prone to the ground.  Car doors slam, engines roar, then sirens.  I hear sirens in the distance.  It will take them forever to find us!  There is no time, we've got to go!  Master G has to get to a hospital.

Kaileigh!  Deana screeches.  I snap my head toward her and I see her arm outstretched for me.  She is terrified!  Oh, what did I get her into?  I stop but then see, Steve has her in his arms against Will’s old truck.  Will is climbing from his knees into the driver side.  Steve waves us on and I realize he's got her.  He is strong despite his paralysis.  She turns and helps him up into the truck.  She looks at me and throws his crutches high into the air one by one; they land in the bed of the truck.  She barely takes her eyes from me as she jumps in and slams the door.  I wave her on.  She has to trust me and go.

Go! I wave them on.  She looks at me horrified.  I haven’t seen that look since she learned of dad’s drowning.  I look away.  She will be fine Kai.  The bonfire still blazes, illuminating the mass chaos.  I still can't believe this is happening.

I turn back toward Eli.  He looks and reaches for me again.  Something in his eyes is off.  Master G reaches the car first.  Yes! We are almost to cover.  With his head still ducked he reaches to open the back door.  He tries to crawl into the car with his good arm; his other is tucked with the bullet hole. 

Eli gets to him and pushes Master G’s back and legs to assist him up and into the back seat.  Eli slams the door to protect his master.  I go right to the left and open the driver-side door for Eli.  I can see headlights everywhere.  Cars and trucks are peeling wheels as the panic-stricken crowd tries to all exit Liger Dunes at once. 

Eli turns and slides down against the side of the car, his chest heaving up and down.  His eyes are hazed and then I see it!  He winces in pain. Oh!  My heart feels as if it had been penetrated.  His arm is tucked and he tries to use the other to move his body but he cannot.  Eli collapses against the car and slides to the ground sideways.

Eli!  Oh my gosh Eli! I see his eyes as he tries to look at me.  He is blinking slowly.  My chest burns violently and now I know why!  Eli had been shot too?! 

Oh baby, oh my...

Kai- He reaches for me, barely able to whisper.  His lungs fighting for air...  Panic runs through me.  I push the burning aside and reach to touch him.  I see the blood then.  It's soaking his shirt.  He's trying to breath.  I can hear the gurgling coming from his lung!  The bullet had gone through Master G’s right shoulder but is lodged into Eli’s lung!  Damn it!  He hadn't said a word.  Again he is selfless in getting us to safety, but now, this kind of injury is taking him down fast.  My hands are shaking.  I have to help him!  I have to do this here.  We didn't have the cover I was hoping for but if I try to move him he could drown.  No!

With everything I can muster, I upright him to slow the blood into his lung.  I push him against the car.  I can tell he has a sucking chest wound because the wound starts to make noises.  The sirens were getting closer and closer.  I had to work quickly.  Eli continues to blink slowly.  He reaches for me with his strong arm but it falls.

Kai....I love you baby...  Eli looks at me with only dim lighting from the bonfire illuminating his eyes.  I can see the man I love, more than life itself, slipping into unconsciousness.  I want to cry out in anguish!  This cuts my heart so bad.  He looks at me one last time and raises his left hand to my face, again it falls to the earth and he is out.

No!  Eli!  Quickly, I straddle him and rip his shirt open.  The whole is small but deadly.  Using the lapels, I lift him up higher against the car.  He is so heavy.  I find the strength and place him upright.  I inhale to my core and move my breath into the tiny bubbling hole, the size of a nickel, in Eli’s upper right lung.  Moving my healing breath into him, I exhale long, long, long.  Again, I inhale then breathe long as the tears roll down my face.  Please, please!  How can something so small take down such a massive, beautiful creature?  Please come back Eli!

I force my breath further into his lung.  I can hear the bullet retracting and moving toward me but he is not breathing yet.  He just stopped.  The sound of his flesh crackles as the sealing begins pushing the bullet inch by inch.  Blood trickles from the corner of his mouth.  I want to sob so badly! 

I can see his skin moving now.  The bullet mounds up towards the opening.  I look into his precious face.  I love him so much.  I don't care if another bullet busts my skull open; I have to get him to breathe!  I move my hand up to catch the slug when it appears.  I exhale on the wound again, but I can't take my eyes off of him.  Please!  It surfaces through its original opening, first poking, poking, and then sliding out and down his shirt.  I let the horrid little piece of metal roll to the ground.  I don't want our prints on it.  I looked at the bullet shining in the dirt and at that moment, I hate it with everything I have inside.  I expel one last breath to complete the healing.  Eli’s lung sealed, than his muscles, and the skin followed without a mark, but he still was not breathing.  How can I make you breathe!  The last of the blood trickles down his bare chest and onto his shirt, making an even larger stain.  I stare at him, the seconds passing like minutes.  Breathe Eli, breathe.  What am I going to do?  I can heal his wounds but I can't make him breathe.  If I had visioned him it might be easier, but he fell into unconsciousness.  At least I think it was unconsciousness. 

Eli please! I shout and shake him.  He starts to slide again.  Eli.

The last of the cars have left the dunes.  No one can see me.  No one is here.  I look into his lifeless face and wait.  My heart is breaking.  It pounds in my ears.  I need to know he is okay.  Please!  I cup my hands on either side of his face.

"Breathe my love....please."  Tears scorch my face.  I look at him.  What will I do without you?  I couldn't bear the thought.

Suddenly, as if he'd heard me, Eli’s chest rises!  His mouth opens to inhale a glorious breath of air.  I sigh and choke back my emotions.  Relief washes over me as I watch his body rise and fall with life.  I try to control myself but I cannot.  A sob escapes me and I cover my mouth.  Eli’s eyes open abruptly at my sound.  He focuses on me.  He recognizes me and smiles.  His eyes scan his surrounding and he sees I am sitting on him.  He looks at the blood on his shirt then at me again.  He raises his arms and grabs my waist.  He knows.  He remembers.

Thank you.  He looks into me and reaches to wipe my tears.

I love you.  My voice cracks.  I thought I might have a complete breakdown.  I was still so scared he had slipped away.

I love you more.  He is quiet but firm.  He hears the sirens wail.  We have to get out of here.

I nod and begin to move to get off of him.  I see it then.  As I look up, I see that very same look.  The freak look.  I hate this.  Master G directs his gaze down toward me through the back window.  Oh no, he had seen it all!  He looks at Eli and then back at me then knocks hard on the side door.

We have to go!  Master G rushes us.  His gaze is more than I can handle.  I have to avert my eyes away. 

The bullet is in the dirt.  I kick it back to the area where Master G was first shot.  There is no way to explain Eli’s blood on it but I can't think of that now.  I hope the Olmanson Police Department doesn't have a huge forensics lab somewhere in town where they could test it.  Squeezing my eyes and the thought away, I leave it and climb into the car.  Eli follows.  As I sink into the passenger seat and find the seatbelt, I still feel pain in my shoulder.  I realize I am still sensing Master G's wound....and his eyes at the back of my head.  Now my secret is out to another person...I had no choice though, I could not let Eli die!  I would not.

A few minutes down the road he finally breaks our silence.  I keep my eyes on the road.  I watch the lines racing by as Eli speeds to the hospital.

What, my dear, did you just do to Eli?  Master G speaks softly, yet I cringe with each syllable.  It must've looked so eerie to him.  Eli answers.

Sir, Kai was just assisting me.  The uh...the bullet that went through your shoulder ended up in my lung.  It was an emergency; my lung was filling up with blood.  We have to get you looked at, I am taking you to the emergency room now.  Eli looks in the rearview mirror at Master G and then to me.  He is trying to downplay his injury...and my gift.  I turn to the backseat.  His eyes read confusion, perspiration and dirt drip down his temples. 

I had to save him...he was drowning in his own blood.  The words stopped short, although I said them softly.  How could I explain myself?  I look back out the window.  How the hell was I going to explain this to him? 

Eli tries to sum it up, Sir, Kai has a special gift.  We'll discuss it another time.  Eli pushes down on the gas and accelerates.  The sirens and emergency lights on the EMS vehicles blare as they fly by us to head to the dunes.  I look over at Eli.  He grabs my trembling hand.

62.  Needed

I AWAKE TO THE SOUND of the hospital coffee machine brewing artificial chemicals into a paper cup.  A male hospital employee, dressed in bright green scrubs, looks over at me and mouthed an I’m sorry before claiming his cup and strolling off down the hallway.  My cell phone chimes with a text message from Deana again.  I squint to focus at the screen.  I quickly reassure her again that we are all fine and just waiting for Master G to be released.  It's taking longer than expected.  The doctors sewed his shoulder up quicker than Detective Kappre's interview.  Gunshot crimes are high priority, especially when the victim is conscious. 

I put my phone back in my jeans and sat upright.  Looking around, I realize I am the only one in the waiting area.  Eli is no longer near me.  My heart aches.

I'm here babe. Eli half whispers.  He is standing in the doorway, holding a divine-smelling cup of coffee from somewhere other than the vending machine. How wonderful.

I turn to put my boot on and smile at him leaning against the door jam.  He knows what I need.  He walks towards me.  The dried blood on his shirt is a dreadful reminder of all we had been through the night before.  He looks worn but in no way like someone who had been so near to death. 

Hey.  I wrap my arms around him and he tenderly accepts me, kissing my temple.  I sigh in relief.  What an atrocious night.  I almost lost everything...I almost lost him.

I look up at him and before I say it he says, He is fine.  All stitched up, no major damage.  He will have to take it easy for awhile, but he will be fine.  Detective Kappre is bending his ear right now.

I'm happy to know Master G is fine.  My stomach feels sick at the thought of his knowing about my gift though.  He saw the whole thing.  I wonder if he thinks the same way about me as he had before.  I want to be his student not someone he stares at because I can freakishly breathe on others and heal their wounds. 

Kai, he asked me about...well, you know.  I watch him.  He is confused.  Kind of the way I was when you healed Jet that first night at the dunes.

I interrupt, I know Eli.  But you were... dying and I just couldn’t bare it.  I had to risk it.  You were drowning...I uh...I...  Thoughts of my father flash in my mind and I squeeze my eyes tight shutting them out.

Shh, it’s okay Kai.  Eli hugs me to his chest.  The thought of loosing Eli is more than I can take.  I never wanted to see him like that again.  Ever!

I’m sorry I just...

"No, no, no.  You are not going to feel bad about this.  You saved my life Kai.  You saved me and I am grateful to you.  Eli whispers into my hair.  I love you so much.  There is no need to apologize.  Please, do not apologize for your abilities anymore.  You are amazing.  I love you."

I feel better.  He just has a way with me.

He went on, I explained it to him.  Master G has many questions but mostly he wants you to know that he thinks you are more special than he originally thought.  He laughed at how things made more sense now, with your training and how fast you have advanced.  He said he was going nuts trying to figure out how you went from white belt level to advanced rank so quickly. Eli chuckles.

I could feel my body slacken and a smile creep to my lips.  I feel better knowing Eli talked with him and explained things. 

Eli continues, "Kai, I know you feel out of place when it comes to your gift.  Please understand though, to those that love and care about you, you are absolutely alluring and very much needed baby."  His eyes soften and I feel my familiar warmth for him.

Thank you. My voice cracks a bit.  I am completely exhausted with all of this.

He interrupts, You can save people Kai.  You heal pain.  His eyes widen and he moves his head in front of me to catch my gaze.  You have nothing to feel bad about.  His lips touch mine and everything is alright.

63. Missing

MASTER G MOVES SLOWLY off of emergency room bed number three.  I wonder if he hurt more from the bullet going through his shoulder or from the fierce fight he had with Master Lee.  There is no way to forget that fight.  It was fierce and only overshadowed slightly by the whole gunshot fiasco.  Either way, it's apparent he is in pain by how slow he moves. Master G never verbally complains.  In all the months I've trained with him, he has not once mentioned aches or pains in his body.  He is a mild mannered person...as is Eli.  Then again, there was that moment when he was pushed to the edge with Master Lee.  That slight moment when everyone held their breath wondering if he would kill Joon.  He chose as expected.  I wonder if most people would.

Eli assists Master G with all of the proper discharging paperwork then out of the doors and to the parking lot.  I look down at the bandages and paperwork in my hands.  I'm saddened at how such a great evening had ended so badly.  Liger Dunes used to be my sanctuary, my haven.  It's turning into a place of calamity and horror.  First Tylieghr Crystalbrine’s death...now a shooting.  How would parents ever let their kids go back there? 

I pick up my footing to catch up to them.  Eli helps Master G into the front seat of his very dusty BMW.  Any car leaving the dunes last night most likely looks the same way.  I thought back to the screams I'd heard, the fear.  All the people...  I wonder