Chapter 14 - Emma
The car peeled down the road as I went twenty over the speed limit, Rachel in the passenger seat. My mind raced, the same words swirling in my head like an out-of-control carousel.
Elias is hurt. Elias is hurt. Elias is hurt.
Those were the three words I’d let Rachel get out before I told her to take me to him, not giving her the chance to explain any further. I didn’t need her to. The fear and worry in her eyes, the concern etched through every inch of her body, was enough.
Normally, I didn’t mind that I couldn’t shift.
It was something I had never been able to do.
It was hard to miss something I’d never had.
However, I wished I could be at times like this when my legs never seemed to work fast enough, and I could practically hear the clock ticking over and over again in my head.
Even if the car was faster, it felt as though I was doing nothing.
I fidgeted in the driver’s seat, trying to soothe my raging, panicking wolf.
Rachel was still talking, but I didn’t hear a single word.
Blood pounded in my ears as my mind spun.
I tried to focus on the mating bond, the pulse there.
He was alive. I knew he was. I could sense it.
But I could also sense the pain, the danger.
My wolf howled anxiously, wanting to get to her mate as fast as possible, urging me to step on the gas even more.
Finally, finally, we pulled to a sudden halt.
A small crowd had gathered around the oasis.
I pulled to a stop and clambered out of the car, the engine still running.
I raced forward, heart still thundering in my throat as I pushed through the crowd.
They parted for me as I shoved my way through.
When I saw him, I came to a halt, my mouth opening in horror.
Elias lay face-up in the shallow part of the oasis, two inches of water lapping around his heels and his side—his side that currently had bandages wrapped around it.
I could see a thick line of blood through it in what must have been the size and shape of the wound, the edges jagged.
If that was how much blood had seeped into the bandages, I couldn’t imagine how bad the injuries themselves were.
His chest rose and fell in ragged, irregular breaths. Shallow, far too shallow. My stomach clenched in dread as I took in how pale he was, the sweat trickling from his brow that I doubted had anything to do with the heat.
“Oh my God.” I ran toward him.
I crouched next to him, interlacing my fingers with his, trying not to be alarmed at how cold and clammy his hand felt. Oh, God, please let him be okay. I could feel my wolf panicking even more as I stared down at our mate, who looked only slightly better than if he were at death’s door.
A figure appeared next to me, crouching so they were level with me. I turned to see Sam’s worried face staring first at Elias, then at me.
“What the hell happened?” I demanded.
“The sand wraith. It attacked. Elias was busy getting everyone to safety.”
Of course he did. I reached out and brushed the damp hair away from his forehead. I could sense the despair of everyone in the group, all worried about Elias. Unease and fear rippled through the crowd.
“He’s hurt bad,” Sam said. He hesitated as he lowered his voice. “I’m not sure he’s going to make it.”
The words rang in my ear, reverberating and distorting. There was no way they could be true. I glanced back up at the beta, who bobbed restlessly from foot to foot, clearly anxious to get back to Elias, but I couldn’t let him go yet, not without asking more questions.
My fingers found Elias’s and entwined with them again.
“That’s not going to happen. We won’t let it happen. Have you summoned the healer yet?” I asked.
“Of course. She’s done everything she could.” Sam hesitated as he glanced around, as if trying to figure out if anyone in the crowd could hear them from this distance. “It doesn’t look good at the moment, Emma.”
A lump formed in my throat, but I shook my head in defiance. “There has to be something else we can do. He can’t die, Sam.”
“I don’t want him to die, either,” Sam said. “But all we can do is leave him in the water. The oasis is his only hope,” Sam insisted.
Of course. Several of the shifters thought the oasis had healing properties. I shook my head. “Sam, has anyone actually been healed by the oasis—really healed? I’m not talking about a cut, just getting better over time.”
It was an old superstition about the oasis, one that I grew up hearing over and over again. That the waterfall, the oasis, had magic in it. I believed it to a certain extent. I had done enough research over the last couple of days to know there was magic in Silver Falls.
“Do you have any other ideas?” he asked. “I told you, the healer’s already done everything she can. We just have to wait.”
Already, people were beginning to trickle away, leaving for the oasis to do their work. Only a few remained now.
“You can’t just leave him here,” I said, not bothering to hide the desperation in my voice. Without realizing it, I had shot to my feet.
“What other options are there?” Sam hissed in response, keeping his voice low.
I didn’t answer, instead brushing back Elias’s hair, trying not to notice how feverish he felt. My stomach twisted in dread and anxiety.
“Look, I’ll stay here if you—”
“No,” I snapped. “I’m staying. You…you go get some rest.” I couldn’t come up with a plan if he was hovering over me.
He hesitated, licking his lips. At my stare, he finally relented.
“I’ll come check on you later tonight,” he said.
I nodded, not looking at him as he and Rachel walked away, muttering under their breath.
My fingers tightened around Elias’s as I stared down, watching his ragged breath with gnawing dread.
I groaned, forcing myself not to scream as I sat, still clutching Elias’s hand as I stared into the water that was doing nothing to save him.
Internally, my wolf howled and thrashed, panicking.
I could sense her fear, felt it seeping and melding with my own.
Our mate was hurt. He could die. Instinctively, I wanted to stay here, to be with him.
It would quell some of my wolf’s desperation.
She wanted to be near him, to curl up next to him.
But I knew that wouldn’t help him. All that would happen was that I would watch him die. And I wasn’t about to let him die.
I took a deep breath, and then another. I needed to get myself under control. I focused on the mating bond, searching for him there on the other side. I could sense him there, sense his pulse, his life force. He was still there, but weak. He wouldn’t live unless a miracle happened.
And I didn’t think the oasis was that miracle.
I doubted the oasis was the source of the magic, but I did believe there was one somewhere.
Rumors always had a kernel of truth to them, and this legend has been a part of this land for centuries.
It had to evolve and develop somehow. And of course, if the pack had heard of a magical water source, it was no surprise that they would think of the waterfall and its oasis, the largest source of water.
And it did feel as though it had a magical quality to it.
The lush greenery surrounding it and the perfect waterfall cascading into sparkling blue water, which you normally only saw in movies, gave it an almost mystical feel.
But it wasn’t. It couldn’t be, because Elias would be fine right now.
My hand slipped from his as I got to my feet and began pacing.
At first, my worries muddied my thoughts, making it near impossible to come up with anything.
Then an idea struck with such force that I actually gasped, coming to a halt mid-pace.
The underwater spring, the one mentioned in the book, where I had read about my great-grandmother.
The Spring Coven had believed there was a magic spring somewhere nearby.
What if it were true? And what if the reason the rumor about the oasis’s magic properties came to be was because the water came from the underground spring?
The instant the idea crossed my mind, I knew it was true. Something deep in my bones told me that I was right.
I stared at the water, the waterfall.
If you’re connected to the spring at all, please help me, I thought desperately, trying to tap into the magic that I had first sensed when I was here with Grace. Please let me save him.
I didn’t know what I expected. Nothing? A voice like the first time?
What I didn’t expect was a sudden tug right behind my navel, pulling me to the edge of the waterfall.
Almost trancelike, I followed the tug. It grew more insistent the further I walked, almost like a game of hot and cold.
Once again, that deep intuition wrapped around me, practically begging me to follow it.
Somehow, inexplicably, I knew it was the only way to save Elias’s life.
And despite everything he had put me through, despite all the heartache and grief, I cared about Elias.
And I sure as hell wasn’t about to let him die.
Taking a deep breath, I walked back to where Elias was lying. Without fully understanding what I was doing, as if some instinct I hadn’t realized I even had was guiding me, I lifted him to his feet.
“What are you doing?” Elias asked, rousing a bit.
“I need you to trust me,” I said.
“I’ll always trust you,” he muttered. I wasn’t sure if he even realized what he was saying.
I helped guide him up the slope as we followed the water until it disappeared through the cracks in the rock at the bottom of a giant mesa, one so steep that it would be impossible to climb.
My heart sank. Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe I had imagined the entire thing. Maybe I had just doomed Elias to death.
But then I felt that unmistakable tug again, this time stronger than it had ever been, pulling me to a certain part of the mesa. I forced myself to move forward, following the tug until we came to a seemingly unremarkable spot along the rock formation.
I couldn’t see anything from here, but I could sense in my bones that I needed to look closer. Gently, I set him up against the rock, bidding him to stay there as I followed that jerking motion, using it as a beacon, until I came to a spot on the rock face.
My eyes widened as I sucked in a breath. There was a gap in the rock, large enough to slip through, but hidden in a way that it was impossible to see from the outside unless you knew where to look.
Barely daring to hope, I went back to Elias, lifting him to his feet and wrapping one arm around my shoulder as I tugged him toward the crevice, nudging him through before taking a deep breath and wedging myself through the narrow gap.
I almost didn’t squeeze through, but when I managed to push past the narrow entrance, I stumbled into a large tunnel, too irregular to have been human-made, yet spacious. Something about it felt intentional, as if it was always supposed to be there.
I didn’t have the time to think about it.
There were other, far more pressing issues that I needed to address.
Slinging Elias’s arm over my shoulder, I helped him deeper into the tunnel, that telltale tug in my navel guiding me.
I didn’t like the fact that his breathing seemed to be getting worse, that he was putting more and more weight on me as we continued on.
Panic threatened to consume me. I didn’t know what would happen if this failed. If we got to the end of this tunnel, and those tugs I had been following turned out to be nothing at all.
I shoved those thoughts to the back of my mind. I wasn’t going to even entertain them. I couldn’t afford to. I just had to trust that whatever was calling to me would help Elias.
We kept maneuvering through the tunnels for what seemed like forever.
They twisted and turned. Time came to a standstill, becoming meaningless.
I couldn’t even tell you which direction we were going.
We came to forks in the tunnel from time to time.
Each one, the tug guided me down one of the tunnels.
I had no idea where those other branches led, and neither did I particularly care. It didn’t matter.
As we moved deeper and deeper into the tunnels, my certainty began to wane again, growing fainter as Elias’s breath began to fade.
Just as I was debating to turn back, to deem this a fool’s errand, a gentle sound began echoing from deeper down the tunnel.
My heart leapt at the unmistakable sound of trickling water.
“We’re almost there,” I said, and increased our speed.
I could see the tunnel widening, and what looked like a large space behind it. When we finally cleared those final few feet, I couldn’t help it. I gasped.
A large pool of deep water filled the center of the cave, the water gently rippling and shifting, as if fed by some underground water source.
Vibrant green moss clung to the stone walls.
Water dripped from overhead and trickled down the walls.
Cool air—crisp but not unpleasant—brushed across my skin.
It should have been pitch-dark, but the whole area was illuminated in silver light, as if the moon shone down from above. Except when I craned my neck upward, I saw no sign of an opening. Nowhere for the source of light to come from.
I blinked, then realized, perhaps a little prematurely, that I had no idea what to do. Then my eyes landed on the pool, crystal clear and stunning. And all of a sudden—somehow, inexplicably—I knew exactly what I needed to do.
I helped Elias into the spring, then stood back and waited, heart thundering in my throat.