Chapter 24 - Drake
I watched as Lucas continued working on Liv. My wolf paced with worry as frustration rippled through me. I couldn’t stand the idea of her being hurt.
At some point, Liv had passed out. I still held onto her hand, unwilling to let her go. It wasn’t until Oz tugged me to my feet and moved me away that I came back to my senses.
“Give Lucas some space. Are you okay?” Oz asked. The cut along the side of his face was likely going to scar.
“What do you think?” I snapped.
Oz nodded, his face uncharacteristically grim. “I was talking about you.” He pointed to the wound that still stung across my arm, blood still trickling from it. “That’s pretty nasty.”
“I’ll worry about it later,” I grunted, glancing back at Liv. “I should have been there,” I snarled, running my fingers through dirt-speckled hair.
“You were getting pinned by two demons,” Oz said. “It’s not your fault.”
“I shouldn’t have let her come in the first place.”
“If you hadn’t, then we probably would be dead, and Azaret would have the entirety of the oasis and the desert, and all its power,” Elias countered, coming to stand next to me.
“You saw what she did with the knives. No one else could have done it. Hell, she saved us when she managed to keep Rachel and Emma safe while they did their work on the wraith. If you had made her stay home, she wouldn’t have had a home for very long. ”
He was right, and I knew it. That didn’t stop the frustrated growl from reverberating in my throat as I glanced over at Liv, her breathing too shallow.
“You need some rest yourself,” Oz said. “At least sit.”
“Not until I know what’s happening,” I said.
Elias’s hand went to my shoulder. I hadn’t even realized he had approached. Sam stood next to him.
“I know what it’s like to have your mate get injured,” Elias said.
He did. He probably knew better than anyone, considering the wraith had kidnapped Emma at one point as well. At the same time, I didn’t want to listen to reason. All I could think about was the fact that Liv was hurt. She might die, and she would never know how much I cared about her.
“Emma and Rachel are working on getting the spring moving again,” Sam said. “Emma thinks she has a lead on how to go about it.”
I craned my neck to look across the cavern—impossibly bright, the way it had always been.
Something about that felt wrong, though, as if the entire cavern should be dark because the brightest thing in the room was in danger of being snuffed out forever.
Liv stirred in my arms with a weak groan, one that sounded feebler than the last, even as Lucas continued working as fast as he could.
It’s not going to happen, I told myself, fingers tightening around her. I wasn’t going to let her die. She couldn’t die, because if she did, I didn’t know what I would do.
Lucas sat back on his haunches, pushing his hair away from his forehead as he glanced down at Liv, taking a deep breath. His hands had smears of crimson on them, and the bandage he had wrapped taut around her midriff was already turning red, the stain blooming out.
“I’ve done as much as I can here,” he said, glancing back at the spring. “We could either try and move her out of the tunnel and get her back to town, or we could see what happens with the spring.”
I glanced over. Rachel and Emma were crouching by the edge of the pool, murmuring to one another.
Emma’s hands were dipped in the water. I couldn’t see her face from here, but I could see the tension in her shoulders and could tell from the frantic, uneasy mutters that whatever they were trying wasn’t working.
Turning back to Lucas, still grasping Liv, refusing to let her go, I asked, “What are her odds without the spring?”
Lucas grimaced. I saw him debating how honest to be with me. I didn’t know what he saw on my face, but he let out a low breath before speaking.
“Not great,” he admitted. “But better than if we leave her here and they aren’t able to get the spring working again.”
I glanced between Emma and Rachel over at the spring and the cavern entrance. “If the spring is her best choice, we’ll keep her here,” I said.
Lucas nodded, not letting on whether he agreed with me or not. “I need to take care of some other people, but I’ll send someone to the town to bring back some supplies that might help her, all right?”
I gave a short, sharp nod.
“We need to debrief and go over plans for Azaret,” Elias said.
“Later,” I growled. I wasn’t going to do anything until I knew more about Liv’s condition. To their credit, no one argued or tried to convince me otherwise.
Ignoring everyone else, I sat down and placed Liv’s head in my lap. She let out a low murmur that might have been a groan. Her eyes flickered, possibly peeling open for the briefest of moments, then closed again as her head lolled a little.
All I could do was watch Emma and Rachel as I continued stroking Liv’s hair as she fluttered in and out of consciousness. I monitored her, my eyes remaining locked on her chest, watching it rise and fall, each time a reminder that she was still okay. But for how much longer?
I didn’t know what I would do if I lost her.
After everything we had been through, I didn’t want to imagine a life without her, without her exuberant nature and friendly demeanor.
I didn’t want to imagine a life without her teasing me for being a grump.
I loved waking up and knowing she was in the house.
I loved smelling her scent as I wandered through the halls.
I loved spending time with her. I loved her.
I had always loved her. I had just been too afraid to admit it, to her or to myself.
And because I was an idiot, she had no idea how I truly felt.
You can’t die, I thought. Because I won’t be able to tell you the truth. You were right all along. You’re my mate.
I wasn’t sure when I had finally admitted that fact to myself.
Maybe it was during our earlier argument, maybe it was during the battle when I saw how incredible she was in action, maybe it was when I realized she might die.
It didn’t matter. At some point, I realized that my father had been full of shit and I should have listened to my instincts.
I should have apologized for my mistakes when I had the chance.
I should have told her the truth about how I felt.
Because, deep down, I had always known what Liv was to me.
I just wish that I had been smart enough to realize all of that when I still had the chance to tell her.
I would never forgive myself if she died before I could tell her the truth, before I could tell her I was sorry for putting her through everything I did when we were kids.
I could have had years with her if I hadn’t been so fucking stupid.
A shadow appeared over us. I craned my neck up to see Rachel hovering above us, looking as worried as I felt.
“What’s the status?” I asked.
“Emma’s working on it,” Rachel said. “We think we’re close. How is she?”
I glanced down at Liv. “I’m not sure,” I admitted.
Pain and fear flickered across Rachel’s face as she stared down at her best friend. She took a moment for a deep breath.
“She’s going to be okay,” Rachel said.
I grunted, but didn’t say anything, just kept stroking Liv’s hair. I didn’t know if I trusted myself to speak, not with the swirl of emotion running through me.
A wild, whooping cheer echoed around the cavern, reverberating and harmonizing with itself, causing everyone in the room to jump and spin around.
Both Rachel’s and my heads whipped around to the spring.
Behind the constantly moving cluster surrounding the pond, I could have sworn I saw the water gently rippling.
“I did it!” Emma said.
Everyone went rushing over. I stayed in place, still holding Liv, letting her rest in my lap as I continued stroking her hair.
Rachel stood next to Emma, bouncing on the balls of her feet, clutching Emma’s shoulder in celebration.
When she twisted to look back at me, delight and relief sparkled on her features.
“Drake, come over,” she called.
I was reluctant to leave Liv, even for a moment, but I slid her head off my lap and onto my jacket and clambered to my feet toward the spring, where everyone was clustered.
Where the spring had been still moments earlier, it rippled gently, bubbling just a little, the way it had the last time we had been here. A sort of glow seemed to shine from it, as if it had been rejuvenated. I gave a half-laugh of relief as the tiniest bit of hope began to swell in my chest.
Emma collapsed back, sitting down on the cool, damp moss as she wiped her forehead, a relieved and exhausted grin spreading over her face.
“It took a while,” she said. “But there it is.”
“Can we—”
“Yes,” Rachel said before Emma could open her mouth. “Let’s not waste any more time.”
Going as fast as I could without hurting her further, I bundled Liv in my arms and carried her over.
We dipped her into the shallow spring, making sure the water covered the injuries on her side and shoulder.
The water sloshed slightly as we lowered her in, then stilled back into its normal, unnatural, gentle ripple.
“What now?” I asked.
“We wait,” Emma replied.
“That’s all?” I said impatiently.
Rachel’s hand rested on my shoulder. “I know it’s not easy,” Rachel murmured. “Trust us. We’ve both been where you are. But it takes time.”
“How long?”
Rachel and Emma looked at one another, then gave identical shrugs.
“It depends,” Emma said. “I’ve seen it take a few minutes or hours. I haven’t been able to figure out why, since it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the severity of the injury.”
I let out a snarl and glowered at the spring, as if an irritated stare would somehow convince it to work faster.
Another hand rested on my shoulder. I turned, doing my best to hold back the biting snarl I wanted to let out. Emma looked up at me, her face sympathetic and reassuring.