13. Brinley
Chapter 13
Brinley
T horns sliced at Brinley’s legs as she ran through the forest. She’d barely managed to stop the first wolf from snapping at her face by throwing her cloak over it and racing away, but now a whole pack was chasing her through the dark.
Her foot caught on a fallen limb, and she fell to the dirt floor with a scream.
A growl sounded to her right, so she rolled in the opposite direction. She grabbed a thin branch from the ground beside her to swing at the approaching beast. Its sharp canines seemed too white, too contrasting with its dark gray coat. Two others circled her, closing in. Somewhere, she knew a couple more lingered. She’d seen at least five before.
One of them leapt at her, and she used the branch to fight it off. But another ran at her from the opposite side. She lifted her hand out of instinct and was rewarded with a small rush of magic flowing through her veins. It stopped the wolf in its tracks. Flicking her wrist, she tried to divert the power to throw him off.
The wolf flew back a few feet, thudding against the ground. She almost smiled at the small victory, but in her distraction, another reached her. It clamped down on her skirt, as if it intended to drag her away. She batted at it with her branch, but it didn’t stop. More descended, chomping their gruesome teeth at her.
A low growl sounded from the shadows, causing all the wolves to still. The one tearing at the hem of Brinley’s skirt released her, and she scrambled backward until she hit a wide trunk. She held a hand over her mouth to muffle her breathing as she waited. What could possibly be out here that was more frightening than the DeLoup? What would make them pause their attack?
There were legends of dragon shifters, but they’d all been eradicated from the queendom a century ago, according to the stories.
Before she could consider other possibilities, a hulking animal emerged from the dark. The other wolves barked at it. They shifted around, appearing as if they were preparing to fight. It was five against one, but the other creature had a more menacing air to it, not to mention it stood nearly twice as large.
The first rogue DeLoup jumped, setting things in motion. All five went toward the newcomer, who didn’t hesitate to return the attack. Its claws raked through one’s hide, and then it whirled and tossed another aside using its teeth, as if the wolf was nothing more than a plaything.
A bush next to Brinley rustled, and she tore her eyes from the fight to find a second monstrous wolf standing next to her. Except, it wasn’t some unknown creature. Green eyes met hers, and her mouth fell open. She knew those eyes, had seen them so many times the past couple weeks. She snapped her gaze back to the commotion.
To the large DeLoup fighting off the others. The alpha with fur so black he looked like a shadow come alive.
Gabriel.
Which meant next to her… “Paxton?”
The wolf looked over at her again, and she could have sworn he dipped his head.
A howl of pain echoed in the small clearing, and she returned her attention to the commotion as the sound seemed to rip through her very soul. One of the smaller wolves got in a good swipe. Gabriel was on the ground, and another moved in to bite his neck, but Pax was there to stop it. He snapped one of their necks with his teeth as Gabriel pushed to his feet to help with the remaining four.
As one lunged at him from behind, Brinley lifted a hand. “No!”
It froze midair, its paws swinging to get free. Gabriel glanced from her to the wolf, and then his jaw clamped around its neck. She released it, and he killed the wolf, tossing it aside.
The remaining three whimpered and raced off, seeming to understand they were no match for these DeLoups.
Gabriel turned toward her and slowly approached. She moved backward, cowering against the base of the tree. They’d come after her. And now, she was going to die for her foolish mistake of thinking she could escape.
But he stopped in front of her. In the dim starlight, she could see something wet glistening near his neck and realized it was blood. He looked her up and down, moving so close that his hot breath brushed across her skin, and it hit her. She wasn’t sure how, but she knew at that moment, he was searching for signs of injury. He hadn’t come to kill her.
He’d come to save her.
“I’m all right,” she whispered, unsure if he understood her. Though, Paxton had known the sound of his name, so she suspected Gabriel knew what she was saying. That theory was confirmed when he dipped his head.
Then, he collapsed. He fell to the hard ground with a thump, and she gasped. Paxton let out a short bark and nudged his unconscious friend. When he looked toward her, she shook her head.
“I don’t know what to do.”
He moved closer to her, and this time, she didn’t flinch away. Paxton bumped his head against her arm and then her hand. Her people had healing power, that was no secret, but she wasn’t trained.
She couldn’t even believe she was considering helping the man who took her captive. She should take this opportunity to run… but those other wolves were still out there. Who knew what else?
And Gabriel had saved her.
Groaning, she nodded. “Fine, I’ll try, but I need him to shift back to his human form. You too.”
Paxton moved his head back and forth.
“No?” she asked, not understanding. “I don’t know how to heal a wolf.”
She didn’t tell him that she didn’t know how to heal a human either. At least with a human though, she knew basic anatomy. It would be easier to try to heal a person. Paxton shook his head again, and she sighed. Realizing she still held the small branch, she tossed it to the ground and moved closer to Gabriel, kneeling over him.
With shaking hands, she felt his side. He was still breathing.
Paxton nudged her arm to get her attention. He lifted a paw and gently patted her and then his friend before looking out at the forest. He repeated the motion once, twice.
Her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what he was attempting to communicate. “Why won’t you just shift to talk to me?”
His paw thumped against the ground a couple times, clearly frustrated she didn’t understand.
Gabriel was bleeding too much; they needed to hurry. An idea came to her. She held up her arm toward Pax. “If you know what I’m saying, touch my hand.”
He nudged it with his head.
“All right… all right, let’s try this. If the answer is yes, do that again,” she said. “Can you shift?”
No movement. She thought about his motion before, the way he glanced in the direction of the village.
“Can you shift once we’re back in the village?”
He tapped her hand.
“So, we need to get him back there?”
Pax nudged her hand repeatedly, as if to say, yes, hurry.
“How? I can’t carry a DeLoup.”
He put a paw on her hand then deliberately looked toward one of the still figures on the ground. The wolf she’d stopped from attacking Gabriel. She’d stopped it midair. Her eyes widened in understanding. “I don’t know how I did that,” she whispered.
With a small whimper, Paxton moved closer, putting his head against her shoulder. On instinct, she reached up to run her fingers through his fur, as though he were a pet and not some monster from her nightmares. She looked at Gabriel lying in the dirt, bleeding. He had to have known how dangerous the forest was, yet they’d come for her. Why else would they be out here?
“All right.” She pushed to her feet. “Let’s try.”
Once standing, she held both hands in front of her. She tried to remember how she’d brought forth that magic earlier, but nothing happened. Gabriel made a soft sound of pain that nearly gutted her. This big, scary DeLoup was nothing more than a wounded animal right now, and that called to the part of her that couldn’t tolerate seeing anyone suffer. Paxton went to his friend and pushed against him with his head. Taking a deep breath, she tried again.
Something stirred within her. Magic hummed beneath her skin, just as she’d read about all these years, and she grabbed on to that feeling. Gabriel shifted slightly. His eyes didn’t open though, and with the way Paxton barked at her, she knew it had been her power working. Putting every ounce of concentration she had into it, she pictured him lifting from the ground. She tuned out the rest of the forest, trusting Pax to protect them if needed.
When Gabriel’s body hovered in the air, she nearly let out a cry, but he began to lower, so she doubled down. Sweat dotted her forehead as she focused, and she clenched her jaw.
“You’ll have to lead the way,” she managed to say to Pax without looking away.
To her surprise, he bit at the back of Gabriel’s neck and began dragging. She didn’t have to move him, just keep him afloat. Paxton would do the rest.
Slowly, they made it through the forest. It felt like a lifetime passed before she saw the village walls beyond the treeline. Fatigue struck, weighing down each step. Her magic wavered, but she fought to keep going, pushing everything she had at him. They were so close.
Shouts rang out, and the gate opened. In her peripheral, she noticed several figures waiting just inside, and she wondered for a second why they weren’t coming to help. Then, she remembered Paxton telling her he couldn’t shift out here. Could none of them?
Joel stripped to his underpants and ran toward them, shifting just as he passed through the gateway. She didn’t have the time or energy to watch in awe at how effortless it seemed. The wolf raced toward them. He took up an almost protective stance at Brinley’s back. She knew it was for their alpha, but it still surprised her.
Finally, they reached the gates.
From one instant to the next, Paxton changed from a wolf to his human form. He turned around and grabbed Gabriel with his hands, pulling him farther inside. Once they were all past the gate, it started to close, but Brinley’s eyes stayed on Gabriel as she lowered his unconscious body and fell beside him.
He didn’t shift though.
She met Paxton’s gaze. “Why isn’t he human again?”
“I—”
A soft whimpering cut him off, and she looked back down to Gabriel. She put a shaky hand atop his head as his eyes fluttered open. “I need you to shift.”
He blinked up at her, his chest heaving.
“Gabriel,” she whispered, running her fingers through his fur and leaning to put her brow to his, “please change back for me. I can’t help you like this.”
Another whimper escaped him, but then he started shifting. He wore nothing but underpants that ended above his knees, and the sight of so much of his bare skin, his toned muscles and intricate tattoos, caused her cheeks to flush.
Until she saw the three large slashes bleeding across his shoulder and chest. She straightened, ignoring the burning in the back of her throat as much as the exhaustion. His blue eyes closed once more.
“Here.” Joel handed her what seemed to be a shirt. She held it against the wounds without hesitation.
“Joel, get some of these people out of here,” Paxton said. “Get us some space.”
The man nodded and began herding the others away.
She peeled back the now-bloody shirt to see how bad it was. “I thought DeLoup healed on their own.”
“We do,” Pax said. “But something like this, cuts this deep take a lot longer. We need Brighid.”
Brinley shook her head. “He’s losing too much blood. We don’t have time.”
Tossing the shirt aside, she put her hands over his chest. Paxton grabbed her wrist, and she looked up to find fear in his green eyes.
“I won’t hurt him,” she whispered.
He stared at her, seemingly wondering whether to believe her. “Do you know how to do this?”
She swallowed. “No, but I have to try.” She blew a strand of hair from her face and glanced back down. “Besides, I didn’t know how to lift someone from the ground until tonight either.”
Paxton sighed but released her.
Closing her eyes, she focused her remaining energy on Gabriel. She called her magic forward once more, asking it to heal. Opening her eyes, she stared at the slashes and silently begged La Déesse to help her.
The bleeding slowed, and she poured more and more of her magic into him, willing the skin to knit back together. His breathing evened, the open wounds closing.
But the longer she tried to heal him, the worse she felt. Her head began to pound with such sharp pain, as if someone was cleaving it in two. Grinding her teeth together, she tried to keep her concentration through the tears blurring her vision. Something warm dripped from her nose.
When Gabriel’s bleeding stopped almost entirely, leaving nothing but shallow cuts, the last of her energy faded. The world around her went dark, and she began to fall into an abyss.
The last thing she heard before going under was Gabriel’s deep, soft voice saying her name.