Chapter 17 #5
I reached for the bottle of healing oil I’d placed at the pool’s edge, pouring a generous amount into my palm. The substance glowed brighter in proximity to the water, transforming from oil to luminescent foam as I smoothed it over Brody’s wounds.
“This is going to hurt,” I warned, just before pressing firmly against the worst of the gashes, forcing the healing foam deeper into the wound.
His body arched in my arms, a hoarse cry tearing from his throat as the three magical substances—the COL water, the Fae healing essence, and the malevolent venom—waged war inside him.
I held him tighter, tears streaming down my face that I couldn’t stop, wouldn’t acknowledge. “Stay with me, Brody,” I whispered against his ear, all pretense of detachment gone. “Please. Stay with me.”
His skin burned against mine as the fever raged higher. The water around us began to glow faintly blue where it touched the venom, the two substances reacting with increasing volatility. His body convulsed, muscles spasming as the toxin attacked his nervous system.
My inner cheetah clawed against my consciousness, desperate to help our mate. Do something, she demanded. Save him.
“I’m trying,” I whispered aloud. I shifted position, pulling Brody more firmly against me, maximizing skin-to-skin contact. Instinctively, I placed my palm directly over his heart, feeling its erratic rhythm beneath my fingers.
The mate bond flared between us, a tangible force that made the water around us shimmer with golden light where it met the blue. Something was happening, the two energies, mate bond and COL water, combining to fight the venom.
“That’s it,” I murmured, hope flickering to life. “Fight it, Brody.”
For nearly an hour, I held him in the healing waters, watching the battle wage across his skin. The glowing veins of venom would recede in one area, only to intensify in another. His temperature fluctuated wildly, burning hot one moment, teeth-chatteringly cold the next.
During a moment of lucidity, his eyes found mine, startlingly clear despite the fever. “If I don’t make it—”
“Don’t,” I cut him off, pressing my fingers against his lips. “You’re not going anywhere.”
His hand weakly caught mine, holding it against his face. “Need you to know something.”
My throat constricted. “I’m listening.”
“These past few days with you…” he managed, each word a battle against the venom’s paralytic effects. “Worth years of waiting.”
Something cracked inside my chest. “Save your strength.”
“No,” he insisted, a flash of the alpha showing through his pain. “I need to say it. Should have found you sooner.”
“We found each other now,” I whispered, pressing my forehead to his. “That’s what matters.”
A ghost of his smile touched his lips. “Still bossy as ever, Doctor.”
“Someone has to be,” I replied, my voice catching. “Just stay with me.”
“Trying,” he murmured, his eyes fluttering closed again. “For you.”
His body convulsed suddenly, another wave of venom surging toward his central nervous system. He lost consciousness completely, the second time for so long I feared I’d lost him.
My voice grew hoarse from talking to him constantly, reminding him of who he was, anchoring him to his human side as the venom tried to sever the connection to his wolf.
I told him about my research, about the plants we’d seen near the COL, about anything and everything I could think of to keep him present.
When the water’s effects began to plateau, I knew we needed to change tactics. The venom was still present, though its glow had dimmed, the tendrils retreating from his extremities but concentrating around his heart and spine. His body shivered violently despite the warm water.
“We need to get you warm,” I decided, propping him against the edge of the pool. “Stay here. Don’t you dare sink under.”
I climbed out, not caring about my nakedness, and rushed to the fireplace.
My hands shook as I arranged kindling and struck a match, relief flooding me as flames caught and began to grow.
Moving to the bed, I stripped it of blankets and pillows, dragging everything to the floor before the growing fire.
“Brody,” I called, returning to the pool. “I need you to help me. Just a little.”
His eyes flickered open, unfocused but aware. “Trying,” he managed, his voice barely audible.
“I know you are,” I said, sliding my arms around him. “Just a few steps.”
It took all my strength to help him from the pool, his larger frame dwarfing mine as he leaned heavily against me. Water sluiced down our naked bodies, leaving puddles on the stone floor as I half carried, half dragged him to the nest of blankets before the fire.
I eased him down, arranging pillows beneath his head before sliding in behind him.
His skin, slick from the pool, cooled rapidly in the air despite the nearby fire.
Spooning his larger body with mine felt like a reversal of natural order yet somehow right, the protector becoming protected, the alpha accepting care.
He needed me now, as I’d needed him last night.
I pulled blankets over us both, tucking them around his shivering form with meticulous attention, creating a cocoon of warmth.
The fire’s light danced across his features, highlighting the sharp angle of his jaw, the hollow at his throat where his heartbeat thrummed too rapidly beneath the skin.
Damp tendrils of his hair curled against his neck, and without thinking, I brushed them aside, my fingers lingering on the fever-hot skin beneath.
“C-c-cold,” he stuttered, his body trembling violently against mine, muscles spasming in painful contortions.
“I know,” I said soothingly, pressing myself against him, molding my curves to the hard planes of his back and thighs. I wrapped my arm around his waist, palm splayed across his abdomen, where I could feel each labored breath. “The poison is making you shiver. You’re going to be okay.”
I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince him or myself.
“You’re warm,” he murmured, his hand finding mine beneath the blankets, fingers interlacing with surprising strength given his condition. “I always thought that was funny.”
“What’s funny?” I asked, desperate to keep him talking, present.
“You.” His thumb traced circles on my wrist, the small point of contact absurdly important. “The clinical expert who’s hard on the outside but so warm and caring on the inside.”
His observation pierced deeper than he could know, cutting through defenses I’d maintained for decades. I pressed my face against his shoulder blade, inhaling the scent that was uniquely him beneath the lingering mineral tang of the COL water.
“Only with you,” I admitted, the words muffled against his skin. “Only ever with you.”
His breathing grew more labored, each inhale a struggle. The venom’s glow moved beneath his skin in time with his heartbeat, concentrating around his spine in a way that made panic rise within me. If it reached his brain stem…
“Brody,” I said, my voice breaking on his name. “Stay with me. Please.”
He tried to respond, but only a groan escaped. His body convulsed, muscles locking in a spasm so severe I feared it would break bones.
My vision tunneled to pinpoints, periphery fading to darkness as every sense focused on his faltering heartbeat beneath my palm. My own lungs seized, breath coming in ragged gasps. Something primal clawed its way up my throat, not a scream but a sound I’d never made before, it was so raw.
My hands shook so violently I could barely maintain my grip on his shoulders.
Cold sweat beaded at my temples despite the heat, trickling down my spine in icy rivulets.
My body was in full-panic mode, heart racing, sweat breaking out despite the cold, every nerve screaming danger.
My brain recognized the signs of pure fear, but that couldn’t explain the hollow feeling spreading through my chest.
The truth detonated in waves, each realization hitting harder than the last. I cared for him. I needed him.
I… God help me, I love him.
I may have always loved him. The admission drove the air from my lungs in a silent scream.
“You can’t die,” I said, the words torn from somewhere deep inside. “I won’t let you. Do you hear me, Brody? You are not allowed to die.” I tightened my arms around him, one hand splaying across his chest directly over his heart. “You are mine. Mine. The venom doesn’t get to have you.”
The declaration vibrated through my bones. Something inside me shattered, the last barrier I’d maintained between us, the final wall of denial. Heat gathered beneath my palm, pinpricks of sensation spreading outward like a thousand tiny needles.
“Fight,” I commanded, the word carrying power I’d never wielded before. “Come back to me.”
Where our skin touched, the venom retreated, golden light chasing poisonous green in visible waves. His back arched, a hoarse cry tearing from his throat—not pain this time, but something else. Release. Relief.
“That’s it,” I urged, instinctively understanding what was happening. The mate bond was neutralizing the venom, my energy flowing into him like an antidote tailored specifically for his biology.
For several minutes, the golden light continued to thrum between us, driving the venom back until its glow was barely visible, contained to the original wound sites. Brody’s breathing gradually steadied, the violent tremors subsiding to occasional shivers.
When he finally spoke, his voice was weak but clear. “Did you just claim me?”
A choked laugh escaped me, relief making me light-headed. “No, you idiot. That was just… first aid.”
He shifted in my arms, turning to face me despite the obvious pain it caused. His eyes, clear now of venom’s influence, searched mine with an intensity that made my breath catch.
“You’re crying,” he observed, reaching up to brush a tear from my cheek.
I hadn’t even realized. “It’s the venom fumes,” I lied. “Irritates the eyes.”
His lips curved in a weak smile. “Right. The venom.” His expression sobered. “It was bad, wasn’t it?”
“You almost died,” I admitted, my voice breaking on the last word. “The venom was targeting your central nervous system, using your pre-feral symptoms as a highway straight to your brain stem.”
His hand found mine beneath the blankets, fingers intertwining. “But you stopped it.”
“The COL water helped,” I said. “And the mate bond appears to have neutralizing properties specific to Fae-created toxins.”
“Rozi,” he said softly, squeezing my hand. “Look at me.”
I did, though it cost me. His eyes held none of the teasing light I’d come to expect, only serious intensity that made my heart stutter.
“I felt it,” he said. “When you called me yours. When you refused to let me die.”
Heat flooded my face. “That was just… instinct. My cheetah…”
“Was it?” He reached up, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, the gesture achingly gentle. “Because it felt like more than that.”
I couldn’t lie to him. Not now. Not after almost losing him. “I can’t lose you,” I whispered, the admission feeling like jumping from a cliff without knowing the depth of the water below.
His eyes never left mine. “You won’t.”
“You don’t know that,” I said, fear making my voice sharp. “The venom, your pre-feral symptoms—you’re not immortal, Brody.”
“No,” he agreed. “But I’m yours. If you want me.”
My mind scrambled for defenses, for reasons why this was a terrible idea, for all the ways he could hurt me again.
But my heart, so carefully guarded for so long, had made its decision the moment I’d seen him collapse on that forest path.
“If you fucking live through this,” I said, my voice rough with emotion, “I’m going to claim you, wolfie.”
Something like wonder dawned in his eyes. “Is that what it takes for you to claim me? Me almost dying?”
I choked on a laugh that was half sob. “Yes, apparently. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. Not anymore.”
His smile was slow and beautiful despite his weakened state. “I can’t wait to be claimed by you, Dr. Dhahabu.”
I leaned forward, pressing my forehead against his. “Then you better not die on me.”
“Not a chance,” he murmured, his breath warm against my lips. “I’ve got too much to live for now.”
We lay there before the fire, the immediate danger passed, but recovery was still uncertain. His body was warm against mine, the mate bond a tangible presence between us, no longer denied but not yet fully embraced.
Tomorrow, we would continue to the COL, collect the samples we needed, find a cure for the unmated males. But tonight, in this Fae dwelling with its healing waters and magical stones, I’d found something I hadn’t been looking for.
Something I’d spent years pretending I didn’t need.
Home.