Chapter 60
Valens
Itore into the bunker with Fiona over my shoulder. It was graceless, as if she was a sack of potatoes, but it was the best I could do alone and still be able to swing my sword freely with my right hand.
I hadn’t made it a single step inside before someone saw me and screamed as if an enemy had broken into their sanctuary. But the scream drew more eyes, and in seconds, Leigh was elbowing her way to the front to help.
“Goddess help us. What happened to her? Where’s Reed?”
“I don’t know. Out on the field still, but surely he’s felt this by now.”
“The healers are through here. Come on.”
I dropped my sword and carried her more gently through to a large, open room where healers were already working on people on every surface.
“Olivia! Emergency!” Leigh yelled, not wasting time hunting her up.
Less than two seconds later, the diminutive redhead appeared in front of us.
“Oh, Fi, what happened to you? Get her on this table. Quickly.” The second I laid her out on the stretcher-style table, I was shoved back, Olivia not so meek when she had a patient.
She barked orders any alpha would be proud of as she worked, and seconds later, a big, green bubble appeared around Fiona.
Leigh turned back to me, sadness and anger warring on her delicate features. “We’ve got her. Get back out there and find Reed. A mate’s touch can help.”
I nodded, spun, and charged back to retrieve my sword. I leaned down to scoop it up, my mind on Elodie and the conversation we were going to have, once all this ended, about how many risks she was taking.
That was when I felt it. The bond in my chest that I’d closed—which Elodie and I had agreed to leave closed for the duration of the battle, so neither of us was distracted by the other’s thoughts and slipped—began to freeze my chest, as if someone had pressed a block of dry ice into my bare flesh.
I was confused and worried, but my wolf panicked.
Open it! Now! She needs us!
If that cold was coming from Elodie… Dread filled me.
I wrenched the bond open, sweat breaking out on my forehead at the effort it took.
The cold enveloped me seconds later, spreading out from the bond like frost creeping across a lake. It was all-encompassing, entombing me where I stood.
I had to get to her. Something was very, very wrong. But my knees had gone weak, my eyesight going blurry.
My wolf snarled in my head, and then he burst from my skin in one engulfing wave of heat and pain as my bones snapped and my body re-formed itself.
He took control, a red haze over our eyes as he raced from the castle. Even from the back seat, I could feel that burning cold warring against the wolf’s natural heat.
Friends and enemies alike were a blur he wove through, rocketing at full speed toward our mate.
I still didn’t know what was happening. I could only feel his urgency that we needed to be at her side.
We spotted the maidens first, in a circle, each of them with a butterfly sword in hand, pointed outward like a human porcupine.
The wolf arrowed toward the young blonde one, whose name he didn’t concern himself with. She gasped and jerked aside at the last minute, her inexperience making her vulnerable. Then he leapt, soaring over the Alpha’s prone form to land at our fallen mate’s side.
He lay directly on top of her, licking her face and nuzzling her cheeks, whining sharply as he tried to rouse her.
But she was cold as ice and just as immovable.
Time meant little to a wolf, so I couldn’t say how long we lay there before she opened her eyes. He licked her again, and she coughed weakly.
“Brute, you’re crushing me,” she whispered hoarsely. My wolf was on his feet immediately, dropping at her side instead of on top of her. But he wouldn’t let his body lose contact with hers for a single second.
“S’okay. We’re okay.”
Her hand was weak, and the pulse I could hear from her wrist was thready as she lifted a trembling hand to my wolf’s cheek.
Brielle dropped to Elodie’s side and swore as she took in her pallid complexion, feeling her throat for her weak pulse.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t think… I should never have pulled so much. I’ll… I don’t know, I’ll try to fix it.”
A snarl rose in my chest. Brielle had done this to my Firecracker? She had nearly drained the life out of her, not an enemy warlock?
Rage was a war drum in my chest where my heart used to be. Brielle reached for Elodie’s cheeks, and I snapped at her fingers, warning her back.
“Brute, no!” Elodie said weakly, but she couldn’t even try to push me away.
“Please trust that this was an accident. I need to push the power back to her now. It’s the only thing I can do. I won’t hurt her.”
You already hurt her!
But the wolf paused, lip lifted in a snarl as he lay his muzzle protectively right over Elodie’s heart.
Brielle slowly touched her cheeks, eyes falling closed as her omega power poured into Elodie. Color came back to her cheeks as her heart began to beat more solidly.
It wasn’t long, and Elodie was still weak, when Brielle pulled back. “I’m sorry, that’s all the gas I have left in the tank. She’s going to be tired, but she should be okay. I’ll apologize to her in the morning. Can you shift back to take her home?”
Home? My wolf lifted his head, and I realized the field was empty of enemies. I didn’t know when they’d retreated, but the sun was nearly up. Wherever they’d gone, we had a temporary reprieve.
The shift back was slower but no less painful as I took skin once more. Without a word, I scooped my sleeping mate from the ground and carried her away from the battlefield. The only thing that kept me together was the knowledge of our bond, solid in my chest.
I got the impression she was dreaming, valiant dreams of victory over our enemies.
They were very Elodie dreams. It calmed me, and I stayed tuned inward, hanging on to the steady anchor of that bond in my chest when she felt so frail and lifeless in my arms.
My wolf was still furious that one of our own pack mates had harmed her.
If I’d guessed one thousand outcomes for the battle, that would never have been one of them.
I carried her straight to our shared room, even though my wolf was chafed that it was in the family wing, right down the hall from the wolf who’d done this to her.
I locked the door behind us and then looked down at my mate, then over to the pristine white sheets. She was covered in half-dried and starting-to-flake gore. Her hair was a sticky brown mass, and she would kill me if she woke up in bed like this.
So, I warmed up the shower and carried her in. After a few minutes of warm water, she woke up enough to stand on her own so I could help her wash and strip off the disgusting clothes.
I wrapped her in a towel, sat her down on the closed toilet seat lid, then hastily scrubbed all the muck off myself too.
She was dozing upright by the time I was done, even though I was fast. I pulled a nightgown over her head and tucked her into bed, and she snuggled up against me, her ear to my chest. And within seconds, she slept.
I didn’t.
I stared up at the ceiling, running it all through in my head over and over and over. Wondering what I did wrong, what I should have changed, and how we could move forward, knowing there were more battles to come.
Honestly? I was angry. With Brielle, yes. But also with Elodie. She’d put herself at risk by running off alone, and I’d felt honor bound to carry her friend in to the healers.
But did I fail in my duty to my mate by not being there to protect her?
I was angry at myself too.
Lying awake and simmering in anger wasn’t a recipe for success, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. My phone buzzed on the side table, and I sighed. There was no way I was fit for company, but it might be important. And I hadn’t heard an update on Fiona or Kane.
Day one, and we’d suffered two major injuries in our pack alone, not to mention the greater losses.
It was grim, and grimmer was still coming.
I picked up the phone, surprised to see a text from Savvy, asking if she could come check on Elodie. I texted her back a thumbs-up and carefully extricated myself from my personal sleeping beauty.
Savvy knocked softly not two minutes later, and I let her in.
“How is she?” She moved right past me to kneel next to the bed. She gently brushed back Elodie’s hair.
Elodie scrunched up her face, and Savvy whispered, “It’s just me. I wanted to check on you. But you rest, okay?”
Elodie mumbled something that sounded affirmative, and Savvy strode back over to me.
“I got the whole story from Dakota. It sounds like Elodie’s sacrifice saved the high alpha’s life.
There are rumors going around that he was nearly beheaded.
Brielle’s magic wasn’t enough. She leaned on Elodie, and he pulled through.
Is that true?” Her whispered recounting of the gossip surprised me.
I hadn’t asked questions, hadn’t worried about anyone but Elodie. “I have no idea.”
She rolled her eyes. “You were there! Dakota told me you carried her off the battlefield.”
I shrugged. “I was only worried about her. My wolf didn’t give a fuck about anyone but his mate.”
Savvy studied me with those shrewd brown eyes so similar to our mother’s, arms crossed over her chest. “You really do love her, don’t you?”