Chapter 11 #2
"Bad enough. She has the blood curse and its spreading. She needs rest, but I don’t have the herbs to treat her properly."
"We're two days from home, but we’re carrying heavy loads and the other injured human. She was struggling yesterday. If we push, won’t she collapse before we get there?" He met my gaze directly. "Is that what you want?"
“If we don’t, she could die before we get there. Is that what you want?”
For a moment, tension crackled between us. Rivik was alpha, and I was challenging his judgment in front of the pack. But I was also healer, and in medical matters, my word carried weight.
He looked at Ellie again, and this time I saw what Jarak had been talking about. The way his gaze moved over her, the way his expression softened.
“I’ll let the others know. Get packed up, we can eat while moving.”
We set off, moving at a faster pace than yesterday.
The pack adjusted without complaint, but Ellie’s alpha and his mate didn’t seem happy with the new arrangement, even when Rivik tried to explain why.
The male wolf kept pace at the front with Rivik, his jaw set in a hard line, gesturing sharply at the terrain ahead and then back toward Ellie with obvious frustration.
His mate walked beside him, her expression tight and thin-lipped.
I didn't need to understand their words to read the body language.
He wanted to slow down and he wasn't happy about being overruled by a stronger alpha.
Rivik ignored his initial protestations.
He simply pointed forward, said something short and final, and kept walking.
The wolf’s shoulders went rigid, but he followed.
He had no choice. Out here, in our territory, with his pack broken and dependent on ours, the strange alpha's authority meant nothing.
I wondered if he knew that, or if he was still clinging to the illusion that he had any say in what happened next.
Aside from a few checks throughout the day on Dev, I stayed close to Ellie, helping over harder ground, ready to catch her if she stumbled. Which she did, more and more as the morning wore on.
The fever was climbing. I could see it in the glazed look in her eyes, the way she shivered despite the layers of fur we'd wrapped around her. Her injured leg dragged, and twice I saw her nearly go down, catching herself only through sheer stubborn will.
Torin took her pack without asking the first time we stopped for a brief rest, and Fen moved to her other side when we started off again, offering silent support. I could tell that even though she was human, they admired her endurance, as did I. But endurance had limits.
By the time we stopped to make camp that evening, the fever had her swaying on her feet like a sapling in a gale.
She'd stopped talking, stopped doing anything except putting one foot in front of the other with grim determination.
Her skin had taken on a waxy pallor beneath the flush of fever, and when I touched her arm to steady her over a patch of loose scree, the heat coming off her nearly made me flinch.
She stumbled again and I caught her, lifting up her into my arms as I had the day before.
She was burning. Even through her strange clothing, the heat rolling off her body was alarming.
Her eyes found mine, glassy and confused, and she said something in her language.
The words were slurred, running together, and I didn't think she knew where she was anymore.
"I've got you," I said quietly. "I've got you."
She tried to push away from me, tried to stand again maybe out of stubbornness, but I thought more from confusion. I tightened my grip and shook my head.
"No."
She knew that word now and she didn't have the strength to argue.
Her head dropped against my shoulder, her forehead pressing into the curve of my neck, and I felt the furnace-heat of her skin against mine.
Too hot. Far too hot. The blood curse was working faster than I'd hoped, feeding on her weakened state, on the exhaustion and the cold and the days of pushing through pain she should have been resting through.
I settled her on a thick pile of furs Miska laid out for her, near where Rivik was building the fire. He kept glancing over at her and I caught his eye and saw the same knowledge reflected there.
We were running out of time.
The strange alpha came up next to us, his mate at his side as always, and said something sharply to Ellie.
Even though I couldn't understand his words, the intent was clear enough.
He was giving her an order. His mate stood beside him with her arms crossed, watching Ellie with an expression that bordered on contempt.
Ellie responded to his authority with an instinctive obedience that made something dark and hot coil in my chest. She immediately struggled to sit up, but I pushed her back down.
The male didn't like that. He spoke again, louder this time, and reached toward Ellie's arm.
I intercepted his hand before it made contact, closing my fingers around his wrist with enough pressure to make my meaning clear.
Don't touch her.
His eyes widened, then narrowed. The wolf spirit behind his gaze was small and uncertain compared to the bear that rose in my chest. He yanked his wrist free and said something fast and angry, gesturing between himself and Ellie, then at the direction we'd been travelling.
His mate put a hand on his shoulder, murmuring something that sounded like a warning, but he shrugged her off.
I didn't need to understand his words. The tone was enough. He wanted Ellie up. Wanted her moving. Getting to the camp was more important to him than the woman lying on the furs with fever eating her alive.
I rose to my full height and stepped between them and Ellie.
The alpha's eyes widened slightly. He was tall for a wolf, lean and sharp-featured, but I had a full head of height on him and considerably more mass.
My bear spirit stirred beneath my skin, pressing forward, and I let just enough of it bleed into my posture to make the message clear.
I didn't need to speak his language. I didn't need words at all.
Back off.
He said something else, his voice climbing, and pointed past me at Ellie with an insistence that made my jaw clench.
His mate added something, her tone clipped and dismissive, and I caught the way Ellie flinched at the sound of it.
Even feverish, even barely conscious, whatever they were saying cut through to her.
The mate said something in their language and the alpha replied, and they went back and forth in a way that made my shoulders tense. Finally, the alpha turned back to me.
He said something that included Ellie's name, then gestured ahead, then made a pushing motion.
They want us to leave her behind.
The realization hit with cold clarity. Not openly, probably. Not in a way that would make them look cruel. Probably suggesting we move her somewhere "safe" and come back for her later.
"No." I made the word as clear and unmistakable as possible. "She stays. We protect."
His jaw tightened. He tried again, more insistent.
"No."
This time Rivik moved to stand beside me, blocking Ellie from the alpha’s view. He didn’t say a word, just stood there glaring down at the man who clearly had no compassion even for his own packmate.
The message was clear. This is our territory. Our rules. You don't get to make choices about who we protect.
The strange alpha held Rivik's gaze for a long, taut moment.
I watched him weigh the odds in his mind, the assessment of power, the slow and bitter recognition that he was outmatched in every way that mattered here.
His wolf spirit flickered, restless and resentful, but it didn't rise.
Couldn't rise. Not against Rivik's dominance and my bear combined.
His mate said something low and sharp, tugging at his arm.
He shook her off again, but the fight was draining out of his posture, his shoulders dropping by degrees.
One final burst of bitter, clipped words directed more at Ellie than at us, and then he turned and stalked away to the far side of camp, his mate falling into step beside him without a backward glance.
I watched them retreat, tension still coiled tight in my chest.
"They'll try again," I said to Rivik quietly.
"I know." His eyes tracked the humans with the same wariness I felt. "But she's under pack protection now. They touch her, they deal with me."
Something fierce and grateful surged through me. "Thank you."
He glanced at me, something complicated moving through his expression. "You care about her."
It wasn't a question.
"She's my charge," I said carefully. "It's my job to care."
"Daska."
I crouched back down beside her, pressing my palm to her forehead again. The heat hadn't broken. If anything, it was climbing.
"How much time does she have?" he asked, his voice pitched low enough that only I could hear.
"If the curse keeps spreading at this rate? Two days. Maybe three. After that..." I didn't finish. I didn't need to.
Rivik let out a breath. "We're two days out at normal pace. If we push, maybe one. We could carry her. You and I could take turns."
Jealousy sparked in me at the thought of her being in anyone’s arms except my own, especially his.
Despite ignoring Jarak’s observations, I’d had to admit after the day’s travel and he’d been right.
He’d been careful, subtle, but Rivik had positioned himself the entire journey so he could watch her. He wanted her too.
I shoved the feeling down. This wasn't about me.
This wasn't about whatever impossible claim my bear spirit wanted to stake on a strange human woman who might not even know what a mate bond was. This was about keeping her alive, and Rivik was right. I couldn’t carry her the whole way on my own. I needed his help.
"Fine," I said, my voice rougher than I intended.
I knelt behind her, shifting her body so she was half sitting half lying with her back against my chest and reached for the waterskin.
As I trickled water slowly into her mouth, I told myself this was the best way to make sure she swallowed it safely, and not at all a demonstration to my brother of who she was meant to belong to.
He watched for a moment, his jaw clenched, then turned away to help with setting up camp.
I set the waterskin down and gently dried her mouth.
She’d managed to take some, and that was a good sign.
I meant to lay her back down, but instead I wrapped my arms around her and held her burning body close to me.
She didn't stir, just hung limp and burning with fever.
Too light. Too fragile. Too close to slipping away.
Not going to happen. I'll keep you safe. Whatever it takes. You're not alone anymore.
Behind me, I felt Rivik's gaze searing into me. Watching. Assessing. Understanding exactly what this meant. But I couldn't think about that now. Couldn't think about pack hierarchy or impossible attractions or the way my heart raced whenever she was near.
All that mattered was the woman in my arms, and the fever that was trying to steal her away.
Hold on, I thought fiercely. Just hold on a little longer. Hold on, Ellie.