Chapter 32
I couldn’t stand still by the gate, so I paced, nervous energy running through me like an electric current. Apple came and tried to join the waiting group, but I got Leda to take her and the kids back to the canteen. I wasn’t sure what was coming, and I didn’t want them to see.
On one of my turns, I spun and nearly ran directly into Clarity. I stopped with a gasp, but before I could say anything, she seized my hands, her eyes going wide and completely black.
“Beware the gentle hand. The shadows cloak its biting smile!” she babbled.
“Clarity—” I tried to pull away, but her grip was painfully tight.
“The loom has woven a tapestry of lies,” she continued, her voice rising hysterically. “These shadows owe him no allegiance.”
I could hear the rovers approaching, and my heart leapt into my throat.
“In silence, the snare is set!” Clarity cried. “The snare is set!”
“Clare, it’s okay,” I tried to soothe her.
Her eyes returned to their normal color, but Nemo, Smith, and the other guards were all staring.
“Clarity!” Sky appeared, panting. “Sorry, Bones, she’s so fast.”
“It’s okay, just… get her out of here.”
Sky wrestled Clarity back as she continued to shout nonsense at me.
I’d have to explain to Nemo what that was, but I focused on the gate slowly opening.
The first rover roared through with Mac driving, and I almost burst into tears when I saw he looked bloody but mostly uninjured, but any relief I felt evaporated as I realized someone was lying unmoving in the backseat.
I started running, vaguely registering that Wolf’s rover came next, but Lee was driving it, and all the occupants were slumped over.
Griz drove Wolf’s second rover inside with more unmoving bodies, and Raven followed in the last rover containing her and Jax. They both looked rough but okay.
That meant?—
“I’m sorry, Em,” Mac’s voice was desperate and rough. “I tried to keep him safe.”
Oh fuck, Sam .
I scrambled into the rover almost before it stopped and hovered over Sam, fear choking me. His face was so grey, his body limp and eyes closed, but there were no injuries I could see.
“What happened?” I demanded, my shaking fingers trying to find a pulse in Sam’s neck. It was so faint.
“We managed to take out their leader, but he was rigged with some sort of chemical weapon… or something. As soon as he fell, this thick black fog started hissing out of him like a fuckin’ smoke grenade,” Mac said.
“Never seen anything like it,” Griz added gravely from the other side of the rover.
“It didn’t hurt any of us except Sam and your brother’s whole crew… minus Lee,” Mac continued.
I glanced over at my brother’s rover to see Lee bent over Wolf’s unconscious form, and my heart felt like it was about to explode from pounding so hard. I needed to focus.
“Em, you can’t—” Mac reached for me as I gripped Sam’s wrists.
“Don’t you dare try to stop me,” I snarled at him.
He looked startled at my ferocity but withdrew his hands and didn’t argue.
I called my healing power and let it flow into Sam, bracing myself for the pain of hitting that wall. Please, please, please ? —
I gasped as my powers connected with something, but it wasn’t the barrier I’d felt before.
It was a nauseatingly familiar roiling darkness that fought back—the Shadowbane.
I poured my power into Sam, determined to win, and after several minutes, I felt it begin to shrink.
I stared at Sam’s face, barely daring to hope, but I could see the color returning to his face and his chest rising and falling as he began taking deep, steady breaths.
“Oh my gods,” I breathed.
“Is it working?” Mac demanded, and I realized he had crammed himself into the backseat with us.
“It’s working,” I choked out.
The darkness vanished, but a wave of sudden, intense nausea went through me. I released Sam’s arms, and my hands felt numb and prickly as though I’d slept on them funny, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it because Sam opened his eyes and slowly focused on me with a grimace.
“Guess this is the part where you say ‘I told you so,’ ain’t it?” he mumbled.
I threw my arms around him, squeezing him tight as I burst into tears.
“Did you… heal me?” he asked, hugging me back and sounding confused.
“I healed you,” I sobbed.
“Em, your brother—” Griz started, and I jerked upright again.
“Let me out,” I told Mac, pushing him gently but urgently.
He stepped out of the rover but caught my hands; his gaze focused on the bandages around my wrists.
“What happened?” he demanded, eyes flashing.
“Later,” I said, pulling my hands free.
He glared at me, but I darted around him and ran to my brother’s rover. Lee looked up and met my eyes, his usually tan face pale.
“I’m so sorry?—”
“Do not talk to me,” I hissed at him as I went around the other side to where Wolf was slumped in the passenger seat.
“Freckles, please? I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m so sorry.”
I set my jaw and ignored him as I grabbed Wolf’s wrists and let my healing power flow. It felt the same as with Sam, the same as with Lana, the same as with the whole fucking hold. It was the Shadowbane. I was sure of it.
“What the fuck happened to your wrists?” Lee leaned across Wolf’s body like he was trying to examine my bandaged arms.
“Stay away from me,” I snarled at him, and his eyes snapped to my face.
I didn’t try to hide the pain and hurt and fury roaring through me as I held his gaze, and his face creased with distress. Good.
Mac appeared at my side, his entire body radiating tension. “What’s goin’ on?”
I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me, but I had to focus on healing Wolf. The Shadowbane was fighting hard. It took a long time to crush it, but finally, that darkness vanished. I didn’t move for a second, breathing hard.
“Em—” Wolf’s voice was weak, but the color had returned to his face, and his eyes were open.
I released him without a word, and Mac took my elbow, steadying me as I moved to the backseat where Sable and Kai lay. Sable was closest, so I healed him first. I tried to ignore the nausea and the pounding in my head when the Shadowbane vanished.
“Em—” Wolf tried again as Sable slowly sat up with a groan.
“Don’t you dare speak to me,” I said through my teeth.
“Em, what the fuck happened?” Mac demanded in my head.
“I’ll tell you…just… let me finish. ” Sweat trickled down my neck.
I felt him grumpily agree, and when Wolf tried again to speak to me, Mac snapped at him to shut up and let me focus.
As soon as Kai was healed, I started to storm to the other rover but took one step and had to cling to Mac’s arm as the world spun violently.
“Ember, are you hurt?” Sable asked, his voice hoarse.
I glanced up to see Wolf, Lee, Sable, and Kai all peering at me, their faces a mix of worry, guilt, and regret. It didn’t make me feel better. It made me want to cry, and that made me angrier.
“Fuck all of you.”
I forced myself to start walking toward the other rover, but after a few steps, Mac was supporting most of my weight.
“Em, please?” He sounded so worried.
“They tied me up in the clinic.” I knew he could feel my pain and fury and panic from the memory.
“They what?” he demanded, his fury rising.
“Let me finish healing first,” I begged, trying to focus as my vision swam. “I… I need you.”
He didn’t respond, but his arm tightened around my waist, and he didn’t let go as I healed Scar and Tuck.
By the time I finished, my legs were trembling like they had after a full day of healing the sickness.
Mac didn’t hesitate, crouching to sweep an arm under my knees and lift me like Trey had done countless times. His face twisted in a worried frown.
“Ember, wait.”
Wolf was on his feet, holding the rover’s side for support. Mac paused for a moment, glancing at me.
“You want to talk to him?” Mac asked.
“No,” I said fiercely.
“Em, c’mon?—”
Mac started striding away with me in his arms. I heard Wolf shout after us, but I didn’t look back, anger simmering in my veins.
“You want to go to the clinic? Mac asked.
“No.” I didn’t want to see my brother and his crew at all. “Can we go to the bunkhouse?”
“Of course,” he murmured.
I lay my head on his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his neck. Nausea came and went in waves, and I closed my eyes, trying to breathe deeply through it.
“I can’t tell what you’re feelin’,” Mac said quietly. “Did healing them… hurt you?”
“I think I’m just tired.”
He was quiet for a few breaths. “You sure?”
“I’m okay, Mac,” I murmured.
“So your wrists…”
“Wolf zip-tied me to one of the beams so I couldn’t come with them. I… panicked… and fucked up my wrists trying to get free.”
I could feel the rage radiating from him.
“I was so scared you all were hurt or… or worse,” I admitted.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I won’t lie, I’m glad you didn’t come with ’em, but tyin’ you up… that’s fucked up.”
“I could’ve helped,” I said with a deep pang of hurt.
“I know you could’ve,” he replied. “But I think the Voiceless… I think they were lookin’ for you.”
My skin crawled. “Wolf said they were.”
“What?” Mac said out loud, his voice sharp.
“He said they have a bounty out for me.”
“When the fuck was he plannin’ on sharin’ that?”
I opened my eyes so I could look up at him. His eyes were full of furious golden sparks, and I almost grinned. It was nice to not be on the receiving end of that look.
“I am not constantly mad at you,” he rolled his eyes.
“Anymore,” I corrected, my lips twitching. “And that’s all I know, but Mac, that weapon they used… it was the Shadowbane.”
I felt him tense, but his steps remained steady. “I was afraid of that.”
“They weaponized it?” I asked, half hoping he would tell me I was wrong.
“Seems that way.”
Fuck.
“Did it feel different from when you healed Lana or the rest of us?” Mac asked.
“Maybe?” I admitted, trying to keep most of the details out of my thoughts. I wasn’t entirely sure why I was concealing it, but I didn’t want him to worry. “It was strong… stronger than Lana’s.”