Chapter Thirteen #2
“Giving me orders, rabbit? When this night is over, I may boil you in a stew after all.” Rowan clutched his dagger and faced the area where Akito stood. “You and I are both needed here to help hold off these bastards.”
A pressure clamped down on my sternum.
Reign deflected another spell. “Decide quickly. We’re nearly out of time.”
Maddox took hold of my chin and brushed our lips together. “Stay safe, sweetheart. I won’t rest until I find my way back to you.”
“But—”
“You’re the fastest of us,” he told Lake. “Take Evan and run.”
“Wait!” I whimpered. “There has to be another way.”
“Go now!” Maddox raised his shield and looked toward Baden and the others just as a green light illuminated the forest. The spells were growing in frequency.
Lake picked me up and sprinted toward the nearest cluster of trees.
“We can’t leave them,” I exclaimed, feeling like my chest was breaking apart. “Please, Lake! Go back.”
He whined low in his throat but kept running. Something wet landed on my cheek. It was just as hard for him.
Over his shoulder, I saw the men we loved.
They stood together, steeling themselves against the oncoming attack.
Callum readied his sword, standing beside Maddox, while Rowan crouched with his blade.
Briar stood against the tree and took a deep breath before his gaze found mine, a dagger clutched in his hand.
Flashes lit up the forest. Draven and Reign repelled the spells. Stryder clashed with Callum before summoning a fiery ball of energy. Maddox swung at him, forcing him to lose concentration.
The air then stirred, sparked, as though swarming with electrical currents.
Lake sprinted faster.
“Pup!” Rowan shouted, panic filling his voice.
A bright red light appeared behind us, chasing us through the trees. It then slammed into Lake’s back. He grunted under his breath and stumbled but quickly recovered his footing.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine.” He cradled me more to his chest. “Keep your head down.”
Maybe the spell hadn’t fully hit him.
After a while, the noise of the fighting faded, leaving only the faint rustle of leaves and the light thud of his feet on the earth as we moved through the woods. The cool night air whipped at my tearstained cheeks. I didn’t know where we were headed. Lake just ran as fast and far as he could.
The forest eventually opened up, allowing moonlight to reach us. Beyond the treetops, a starry sky twinkled with thin, wispy clouds scattered throughout. Were the others all right? Were they still fighting?
Lake’s pace slowed, and his breaths came out rough.
“You’ve been running for a while,” I said. “Let’s take a break.”
“No.” He staggered forward a few more steps. “It’s not… safe yet.”
But after another step, he stumbled and went down hard. He kept his arms secured around me and turned his body before we hit the ground, taking the brunt of the fall.
I wiggled free and faced him, worry clawing at my throat. “What’s wrong?”
His eyes fluttered open and closed, and he tried to say something before his voice quieted, drifting off.
“Lake?” I gently shook him.
He didn’t respond. Barely even breathed.
That’s when I saw the blood. His entire back was covered in it.
The spell hadn’t missed him at all. He’d just been so determined to get me to safety that he’d ignored the pain of it.
A lot of pain by the looks of it. Careful not to hurt him, I examined his back, gently lifting the tattered pieces of his tunic.
Gashes covered his skin. Like a thin whip had struck him over and over again.
A small cry tore from my lips, and I took off the cloak Rowan had given me and covered Lake with it.
Think, Evan. Apply pressure to the wound? It wasn’t gushing, at least, but definitely still bleeding. I pressed against the cloak, taking deep, calming breaths. It wasn’t the time to panic. My wolf needed me.
But what the hell was I supposed to do? We were alone somewhere deep in the forest, and he’d lost a lot of blood. Lupin said I’d been born with some rare power. So why couldn’t I help Lake? Why did I feel so helpless?
A glow appeared to the left, red and eerily familiar. A patch of red flowers had sprouted upward, glimmering within the dark shadows. No… not just any flower.
Red spider lilies.
Fear struck the center of my chest. They were an omen of death, right? That’s what the stories claimed. Not long after I’d seen them last time, Stryder had attacked me, and I had almost died. Seeing them now, with my wolf wounded, didn’t bode well.
“You can’t have him, you evil little things,” I said, protectively wrapping my arms around Lake. “I’m not above kicking a flower if I have to.”
“Should you ever find yourself lost, look to the lilies.”
Wait. Could this be what Lupin had been referring to? A hint to help when I needed it most? He’d said it after learning what I planned to wear to the ball: an ivory suit. Was that why he’d asked me about my clothes? The suit told him which future my path would lead me down.
“Ev… an?” Lake’s eyes fluttered open.
“Hey, handsome.” I caressed his cheek. His skin was colder than usual and clammy. My wolf was normally so warm. A fissure opened in my chest. Demi-wolves healed faster than humans, but they weren’t immortal. He could still bleed out. “Don’t worry. I’m going to find help.”
And I was taking him with me, one way or another.
Mindful of his slashed back, I slipped an arm around him and used every bit of strength I had to lift him off the ground. I dropped back to my knees.
“Leave me,” he rasped. “I’m too… heavy.”
“No.” I gritted my teeth and tried again.
As Lake softly whimpered, his back a bloody mess, I found a strength within myself I hadn’t known I possessed. I wasn’t able to fully lift and carry him, but I managed to get him on his feet and support his weight, inching my way toward the glowing red lilies.
“Love… you.” He turned his face into my neck.
Tears burned in my eyes. “I love you most.”
With those tears also burned a determination that wouldn’t be snuffed out. When I reached the patch of flowers, they wilted, their glow withering away with the fallen petals.
Another patch then popped up, farther away.
“Curious and curiouser.”
Alice had followed a white rabbit with a pocket watch. I followed red lilies. Where they led? I had no idea. But I was putting my trust in them—in Lupin.
The pattern continued, wilting as I reached them before another patch appeared, guiding me through the darkness.
I walked for what felt like hours. Every muscle in my body screamed at me.
Lake outweighed me by a good thirty to forty pounds, most of that being rock-hard muscle.
My aching body didn’t matter though. Saving him was all I cared about.
The forest gradually opened up even more, the dense foliage and branches thinning and revealing more of the moon and a sky of glittering stars. We had to have been close to the mountains by now. One rose in the distance, peeking above a gap in the treetops.
The path ended.
As I reached the next cluster of flowers, the glow diminished, leaving nothing but the silvery shimmer of moonlight bleeding through the trees. My legs finally gave out. I collapsed, acting as a cushion for Lake, much like he’d done for me earlier.
I couldn’t move. I’d pushed my body way beyond its limit.
“Please,” I said to any god that may be listening. My eyes closed, exhaustion closing in around me. “Help him.”
A whine filled the air before a cold nose touched my cheek. The pad of paws danced around us, and something tugged on my shirt. I recognized the playful little yips.
“Oreo?” I cracked open my eyes.
He stood in front of me, his black ears straight up. The white patch of fur on his chest stood out in the surrounding night. He lunged forward and nudged Lake’s arm before biting the sleeve of his tunic.
“He’s hurt,” I said, feeling myself slipping deeper into exhaustion. There was a wet crackle in my lungs. “I need to…”
My head dropped back to the ground, and I lost the battle to keep my eyes open. Oreo emitted a grumbling bark before biting at my sleeve and pulling. A howl filled the air. Deeper I slipped into unconsciousness before being snapped back awake by a tug on my arm, then a cold nose against my cheek.
“Be gentle, little one,” came a smooth, male voice.
A rich scent perfumed the air, reminiscent of a cozy fire on a cold winter’s night. Like cedar and woodsmoke.
Oreo licked my cheek as something touched my head.
It felt like fingers combing through my hair.
I tried to open my eyes but couldn’t. Drowsiness hit me like a tidal wave, and I sank deeper.
Lake’s scent of peaches mingled with woodsmoke, one familiar and the other strange but somehow just as welcoming.
“Sleep now.”
***
I opened my eyes to a room illuminated by firelight. My body sank into a cloudlike mattress, and the crackling hearth and smell of burning logs reminded me of home. I’d never been more comfortable in all my life. That was my first waking thought. And the second?
Why wasn’t I wearing pants?
My bare legs slid under the silky sheets, the coolness of them offset by the warmth of the pillowy comforter draped over me. Still groggy, I tried to remember where the hell I was. It certainly wasn’t the bed I shared with my men.
I shifted up higher and looked around the room. A cushioned nook sat in front of a tall window to the left, with a stone hearth in the corner and a round table across from it, holding a bowl of red apples. Leather-bound books lined the shelves of a bookcase, not a speck of dust to be seen.
A sense of unease spread through my ribs. The unfamiliar place felt cold despite the warmth radiating from the fire. No signs of my men anywhere.
Wait. Memories stirred, breaking through the sleepy haze of my brain.
“Lake!” I lifted the heavy comforter off.
“Your wolf lives.”
I froze. Hair rose on my nape as I slowly turned toward the direction of the voice.
But no one was there.