Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
Hiding in winter was difficult as hell. Caelan and I hadn’t thought of our attire when we’d barreled into Michigan on a rescue mission. We stuck out like sore thumbs.
“We should shift,” Caelan murmured. He looked over at me. “How long will it take you?”
“A few minutes. The snow makes things a little more difficult, but not impossible.”
“We’re having odd weather this year,” Christian remarked. “It’s colder than usual and snowed far sooner than it normally does.”
I stripped off my gloves and sat onto the freezing ground, wiping snow away until I hit the frozen ground. Caelan moved closer. When Pax and Christian noticed what he was doing, they moved as well, trapping me in a protective circle.
I closed my eyes and centered myself, shifting the Chimera magic away to focus only on my Floromancy. Concentrating twice as hard to prevent any of that other magic coming to the forefront because of the mixed company, focusing took me twice as long.
Once I felt completely in control, I placed my fingers on top of the soil and gently sent my magic forth, seeking anything I could find out about Ben.
Natural magic roared through my veins as I gently cracked through the frozen ground and down where the soil was softer. A shiver rolled over me, and I felt the heavy weight of something…another jacket or blanket, settling over my shoulders, already warm from someone’s body.
It didn’t take long for the ground to tell me a story. The land closer to the building was shaken at the violence. Blood lay at the surface close to the door. Not enough to be worrisome and probably from the same wound he’d sustained back at his home.
I examined the soil around the entire building, but the brunt of the information stayed by the front door. Easing a vine through the soil, I crept up the wall, searching for any vulnerabilities to allow me in.
The building was old, so there were several. Something to keep in mind if things went really sideways. Holding the vine there at the first tiny opening, I withdrew and searched for the supposed pothos inside.
It took far too long, and when I finally found it, it was so close to death, it was almost useless. Resisting the urge to boost nutrients in the soil and perk it up, I gently touched one of the leaves to read the plant’s emotions. I gasped in horror. Blood. So much blood. Violence. Anger. Despair.
I jerked away, coming out of my magic with a gasp. “Ben is seriously injured.” I swallowed hard. “That’s all I know.”
Caelan’s eyes glowed with power. “We go in. Right now.”
“We only have half an hour before the potion wears off,” I warned.
“If things go well, everyone will be dead in five,” Christian growled.
Three flashes of light revealed three wildly different wolves, Caelan looming over the other two. He nudged me once with his head. When I went to follow, he pushed me back and yipped softly.
“Stay?”
He nodded.
I scoffed. “I can help.”
He shook his head and nudged me again.
I crouched and looked him in the eye. “We talked about this. I’m going. I’ll stay outside, but I’m going with you.”
Caelan’s upper lip curled, showing off impressive fangs.
I patted his head. “Yes, you’re so impressive.”
A soft huff of air from the other wolves. Caelan bumped me again and turned.
When I followed this time, he didn’t react.
We crept silently closer to the building, sticking to areas of thicker brush as best we could, though the entire area was thin with plant life, even in the densest of areas. When we were a few feet away, Caelan nudged his head, and Pax and Christian veered off to the right.
Caelan speared me with a look and veered left. I sank to the ground and waited. All three wolves had their noses to the ground, carefully investigating. They disappeared around the corners, but it wasn’t long before they were back.
Caelan loped over to me and shifted in a flash of light. “Ben’s missing an arm. We’ll need your healing abilities, and I don’t think we’ll have time to get him home.”
I blinked. “An arm?” I swallowed. “Can a shifter regrow a limb?”
“Maybe.” He bent and pressed a firm kiss against my lips. “Stay ready.”
I nodded. He ran back over and waited by the door. Pax and Christian crouched, their lips pulled away from their teeth. Caelan braced himself and ripped the door off the hinges.
A high-pitched feminine scream rang into the quiet winter air. Savage satisfaction flooded my bloodstream. The back door banged open and two huge wolves barreled out, tangled together and tearing each other apart.
Caelan and another who had to be Donovan. Pax and Christian came out the front in human form, the younger wolf holding Ben in a bridal carry. Blood pumped from his severed arm. I sucked in a shocked breath and rushed toward them, gathering my magic as I ran.
“We have to get him back to the Keep,” Christian said as I struggled to keep up.
Ben’s face was white, his head lolling with Pax’s movement.
“I’m not sure he’ll make it.” My mind spun at the thought of losing him. “Is there a garden center around?”
Christian stumbled. “What?” He looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
“Indoors. Warmth. Dirt, plants. It’s too dangerous to heal him right here, and I might freeze my ass off. Or die. Shit, I don’t know. I live in Texas, and it rarely gets below freezing for more than a few days at a time. The ground is frozen, and my magic feels more sluggish than normal.”
“There’s a hardware store with a garden center a couple of miles down the road,” Pax said.
I looked at Christian. His nostrils flared, but after a long moment, he gave a sharp nod.
We reached the vehicle. “Lord Caelan?”
Caelan would be furious if I waited on him when his best friend was near death. “He’ll be fine.”
Christian blinked.
“I’m serious. Let’s go.”
Pax took off at a furious run, but Christian scooped me in his arms, ignoring my undignified squawk, and chased after him.
“Apologies, Miss Quinn. Wolves run much faster, and if Ben doesn’t have much time, we can’t wait.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep from bouncing everywhere. “No problem. I never was much of a runner.”
He bared his teeth in a smile. “No one expects that of Floromancers.”
We reached the vehicle in what felt like record time, and soon we were racing down the road while Pax and Christian dressed in extra joggers and t-shirts.
I held Ben’s head in my lap, magic pulsing from the hand I held pressed to the stump of his right arm.
With my other, I stroked his hair away from his face.
“I’m here, Ben,” I said quietly. “Probably not the one you were hoping would swoop in and help, but I’m what you got.
So, maybe don’t die, okay? Because I’m going to be super pissed if we went through all we’ve gone through, and I can’t save you.
And before you say, ‘Evie, this is not about you’, yes, it is, because it’s my turn to save you.
Also, we might wake up in a cage, and we might be naked—”
A choked laugh from the front.
“And that’s going to make Caelan really mad, but I can’t help it, and neither can you, okay? The earth wants what the earth wants.”
I couldn’t stop babbling. “Oh, and we might wake up in a hardware store, which will be really awkward if we’re naked, so maybe your nice wolves can bring us some extra clothing.”
The vehicle stopped. Pax and Christian barreled out. Someone opened the passenger door and helped me out. Pax scooped Ben up.
“Around back,” Christian said. “I’ll call the owner and let him know what we’re doing so we don’t get interrupted by the police.”
We ran around to the back. Christian unceremoniously broke the glass and forced his way in.
My boots crunched over broken glass, and I winced as I thought about the costs involved in what we were about to do, but Ben wasn’t just a shifter.
He was a Lord, and once upon a time, he’d been something more to me.
Now, I consider him a friend. Whether he considered me one was up in the air, but I don’t think he hated me anymore.
Even if he did, I wasn’t going to let him die.
“By the potting soil is the easiest place,” I said, following Christian as he ran through the store. Pax followed close behind.
When we got there, I looked around. It would do. There was room enough for the cage that formed over me when I performed healings like this. I pulled my cell out of my pocket and shared my location with Caelan. He’d come when he was finished. However, it ended.
“Lay him down,” I instructed as I stripped off my jacket, sweater, and undershirt.
Christian swore and looked away. “Is that necessary, Miss Quinn?”
“That’s good Merino wool and cashmere, and I don’t want the earth to eat it. If one of you doesn’t mind sharing a shirt, I’m happy to wear it, but even so, I’m thinking about stripping my bra off, too. It was expensive.”
Without a word, Pax shrugged his jacket off and pulled the t-shirt over his head, handing it to me. Once I had it on, he stripped off his pants, too. Christian sighed as he pulled several bags of potting soil down.
“Organic is best. Nothing with chemical fertilizers, please.”
I put Pax’s joggers on and lay beside Ben, scooting until I was spooning him. “Cover every inch of us, except for our faces.”
The shifters worked quickly. Moments later, my teeth were chattering like crazy. It was cold as hell inside the building, and the dirt was moist. But we weren’t outside, and there was no longer a real danger of getting hypothermia.
“You might want to stand back. Once I go deep enough, I can no longer control how the magic works.”
“We’ll be close, Evie,” Pax said, his eyes burning as he watched.
I closed my eyes and sank into my Floromancy.
Ben was in agonizing pain. Bruises and broken bones lit the inside of his body up like a Christmas tree.
So much damage it took my breath away. I started at the most crucial point first—his arm, sending power directly to the arteries and veins, tendons, and muscles, willing them to repair.
I’d never grown any body parts back and had no idea whether that was even possible, but I followed my intuition and the magic, allowing it to wrap Ben tightly in the power of the Mother.
I’m not sure how long I worked on the missing appendage, but finally, the blood flow stopped, his arm glowing with green and pink magic.
Keeping my senses open for any regression, I swept through his body searching for other pain points, slowly knitting bone and easing bruises and other damage.
Nadia and Donovan, if that’s who hurt him, had done a thorough job.
Ben was a Healer, a powerful one, and if even he couldn’t keep up with the damage, he was lucky to be alive. I only hoped this was enough.
As I worked, knitting and soothing his hurts, my magic waned, my thoughts turning away from coherency into feelings and emotion, and the Mother swept in, taking over my watch and helping keep Ben tethered to this world, safe in her arms.